SICKNESS in the civil service is at a nine-year high - with one in eight staff on long-term sick leave.
Figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) showed that civil servants took around 13 days in the last financial year.
Sickness absence was at its highest level since a new human resources system was introduced in 2008/09.
However, the 2017/18 figure was still lower than the peak of 15.5 average sickness days which was recorded in 2003/04.
Trade union NIPSA said the figures, which are released annually, are a "witch hunt" against civil servants.
NISRA estimated that sickness levels cost around £33.8 million - around 4 per cent of the total civil service pay bill.
It said staff absences due to colds and flu were higher than usual last year.
More than a third of absences were attributed to anxiety, stress, depression or other mental illnesses.
Although just under half of staff had no sick leave last year, one in eight people had at least one period of long-term absence which lasted around three months on average.
Long-term absence was at its highest rate in five years and accounted for nearly three quarters of all working days lost.
The Northern Ireland Civil Service employs around 20,000 people.
NIPSA said civil service management needs to do more to tackle work-related stress.
The union's general secretary Alison Millar said it had offered to work with management to see how the service could better handle mental illness amongst staff.
She claimed management are continuing "to make cuts, attack terms and conditions, change how people work and pile on more pressure whilst totally failing to address the root cause of the problem".
"It is time to stop this annual ritual of a witch hunt against civil servants and for the civil service and others to understand that the pressures on civil servants both economic and workplace pressures are the cause with the resultant adverse impact on health and morale," Ms Millar said.
"Rather than taking the current approach and being focused on ill-informed target setting I again call on the management to sit down with NIPSA to seek real and meaningful resolutions to the causes of ill-health in the workplace."
The Department of Finance said the rise in sickness levels was "disappointing".
"Reducing sick absence remains a priority for all departments and it is vital that work on this area continues," a spokesman said.
"The challenge for the NICS is to ensure all staff have the necessary health and wellbeing support at the right time in the right place."
