The Canadian Paid Sick Days Calculator

How much can adopting Paid Sick Days save your business? 

Looking for our Turnover and Pay Raise Calculators?  Click here.

Why Did We Create This Calculator

No matter what kind of business you run – you don’t want your staff infecting others.  The benefits of Paid Sick Days are well known to business.

Statcan & Ontario Government data indicate employees take an average of 3.1 paid sick days per year.  A small investment to ensure consistency and health in your organization.

Whether you’re creating a brand-new program or increasing the number of days you offer, we’re here to help you figure out the math. That’s why we created this paid sick days calculator for you to use as a template!

Have questions?  Reach out and we’ll answer

Getting started with the calculator

If you’re starting with a blank slate on paid sick days, you probably want to wade in the pool before diving. Many of Ontario’s top health organizations recommend 10 paid sick days per employee/year. However, every business is different and, just like wages, finding the right balance for your unique business matters.

We’ve designed the calculator so that you can change the wage rate and number of paid sick days per year to determine the cost of starting a paid sick day program at your business. Some BWA businesses flex the number of days offered up and down throughout the year as-needed (think flu season) while others offer a set amount. Depending on your business, both models offer value.

Launching a successful paid sick day program for your staff requires constant evaluation and feedback.

How to Use the Paid Sick Days Calculator

In our example, the infamous wizard twins Fred and George Weasley offered a program of 4 paid sick days for all employees at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes (WWW) in 2021. 

WWW employed 4 staff that year and paid them each $20 per hour (paid out in galleons and knuts, of course). 

A terrible bout of Wizard Gout ripped through the wizarding population in 2021. Thankfully the Weasleys had a plan in place to cover sick employees. All sick hours taken were covered by a staff person paid $20 per hour.

 

Inputs in the PSD calculator

Here’s how Fred and George used the paid sick days calculator to figure out the cost of their program.

First, they plugged in the number of paid sick days that each of their staff members took (e.g. Employee 1, Employee 2, etc.) in the “sick days claimed” column.

Next, they wrote in the corresponding number of daily hours each staff member usually works in the “hours worked per day” column. For example, Employee 1 works 8 hours per day, while Employee 3 works 4.5 hours per day.

Finally, they plugged in each staff person’s hourly rate into – you guessed it – the “hourly rate” column in the paid sick days calculator. The Weasleys know it’s great for business to pay fair wages, and they offer a $20 hourly wage to all their employees. They also plugged in $20/hour in the Covering Employee’s “hourly rate” column.

Then the paid sick days calculator works it all out – as if by magic! 

Outputs from the PSD calculator

It turns out that employees took an average of 2.4 sick days each in 2021, compared to the 4 days offered to each person. Taking fewer days than offered is a common experience amongst Better Way Alliance member businesses and Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes is no different.

The paid sick days calculator also determines that it cost Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes a total of $1,605 to pay for all sick days taken in 2021.

Fred and George used the BWA’s Cost of Turnover Calculator to estimate that it costs them $7,000 every time an employee quits and they need to re-hire. On average, 1 to 2 staff per year have left Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes (an average of 1.5 people per year, although even in the wizarding world half a person doesn’t exist). Using the PSD Calculator, they found it costs $10,500 per year to hire and onboard staff.

Continued below 

 

How Much Can a Paid Sick Day Program Save?

The twins then compared this cost ($10,500) to the amount they’d need to invest in a paid sick day program for their staff. Since the program would cost around $1,605, they figured they’d save $8,895 per year by offering this benefit to staff, if staff decide they want to stick around to enjoy the benefits program!

Not only would WWW be able to avoid attrition by offering perks that staff enjoy, they’d also avoid spreading illnesses at work. Their staff would be able to stay home and recover, instead of infecting their wizardly colleagues by coming to work while sick. A pretty magical result!

Do You Need Help?

Launching a new Sick Day Program at your business may seem daunting – but many have done it to great success.  If you’re still lost, reach out to our expert team and we can help you figure out what’s best for your enterprise.