Absent workers cost Tas $68 million a year

Sick leave and carer's leave among Tasmania's public sector workers is costing an estimated $68 million a year, according to a new report by the state's auditor general.

Figures released on Tuesday show that for the year ending June 2014 each full-time employee cost on average $2834 in absenteeism, up $259 from the previous year.

Spread across a workforce of almost 24,000 employees the annual cost increase stretches to several millions of dollars and the report's authors made a number of recommendations to try and reel in absenteeism levels, including addressing what they describe as a sense of entitlement to take time off work.