TORONTO, Ont. — The 2003 Trucking Operations Report, published annually by Cerno Research, says that 4.2 per cent of survey respondents reported an increase in absenteeism compared to last year.

Ontario showed a 2.9 per cent increase in absenteeism rates over last year’s results, while Eastern Canada showed a 3.3 per cent increase and Drivers in Western Canada reported a five per cent increase, which is above the national average.

Employee absenteeism costs a company time and money in the loss of employee productivity and according to Cerno, 61.5 per cent of national respondents kept no formal records on employee absenteeism.

Chris Morgan, vice-president of sales and marketing for Cerno, says more trucking companies are moving towards adopting human resource strategies and practices because issues, such as absenteeism and driver turnover, have been increasingly evident throughout their operations.

For more information about Cerno’s trucking operations data, contact Chris Morgan at 416-595-0160 ext. 281.