Most employees who fail to show up for work, however, aren't physically ill, according to the survey. In fact, only 38 percent of unscheduled absences are due to personal illness, while 62 percent are for other reasons, including family issues (23 percent), personal needs (18 percent), stress (11 percent) and entitlement mentality (10 percent).

According to the 2004 CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey, conducted for CCH by Harris Interactive, the annual cost of employee no-shows can range from an estimated $60,000 for small employers to over a million dollars annually for large companies.

"The tight economy seems to have helped companies in holding the per-employee cost of absenteeism steady, but with the rate of unscheduled absences increasing, the overall out-of-pocket cost to employers rises accordingly," said Lori Rosen, J.D., CCH workplace analyst. "This trend makes it all the more important to closely examine why employees aren't showing up for work and what work-life and absence control programs can be used to help stem the tide."

One trend that also may be influencing the higher rate of unscheduled absences is the fact that the number of employers allowing employees to carry over sick time from one year to the next is trending downward and has dropped from more than one-half of companies (51 percent) in 2000 to 37 percent in 2004. As a result, employees may be saying, "I'd rather use it than lose it," noted Rosen.

Companies with low morale saw significantly higher rates and costs of unscheduled absences. In fact, rates of unscheduled absenteeism are more than one-third (35 percent) higher among companies with Poor/Fair morale (2.9 percent) than those with Good/Very Good morale (1.9 percent).

The survey also found that organizations increased the number of work-life programs offered, after two years of pulling back on such benefits. Surprisingly, however, about one fourth (23 percent) of those surveyed expect demographic changes in their workforce will affect the work-life programs offered by their company.

"We know with certainty today that morale has an impact on unscheduled absence rates and the associated costs to employers. Now, with a workforce that for the first time includes four generations of employees -- all at different life stages with different needs for balancing their work and personal lives -- it is concerning that little attention is being given to the intergenerational issues in planning, developing and revising work-life programs," said Theresa Houck, a CCH work-life benefits analyst. "This short-sightedness could have long-term ramifications, not just on the costs and rates of absenteeism, but on many other issues around recruitment, retention and morale."