Alliance articles

Absence makes the losses grow stronger

Your people. Your greatest asset. You may even be an Investor in People. Or you possibly have a people-based business.

All very commendable. Except that a recent survey confirms that the self same people spent rather a lot of time not at work.

The previous national average of four per cent absenteeism (per person, per year) was alarming enough when highlighted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development. But a recent survey commissioned by FirstAssist (the leading health and wellbeing provider) puts the figure at as much as five per cent.

(Did we mention that bigger companies suffer even worse? Those with 500 or more employees can often clock up 8.3 days per employee.)

The same survey cites absenteeism as the burning issue for HR departments across Britain.

And yet...

...a fifth of companies didn't know their annual absence rate. Over half can't put a figure on what it's costing them. But, whatever the costs, a lot of respondents found them too high.

Well, we can put a figure on it. It equates to the best part of £500 per employee per year. That's £12.2 billion to UK plc.

Of course, there are various reasons for absenteeism, ranging from sickness to poor morale. But regardless, with so much at stake, everyone needs an Absence Management Plan.

Alliance can now offer this service, including use of a calculator to estimate your particular business costs of absence.

Our plan tackles all the gripes of your HR department head on. In order, the survey says HR are bothered about absence, staff retention, stress management, recruitment and performance management.

By managing absence, by examining the root causes, you can reduce it. This helps build morale that leads to happier staff who don't feel so inclined to leave. Happier staff tend to be less stressed (and their absence reduces the stress burden on colleagues who have to cover for them). Contented companies with contented staff attract more good people. And the whole environment leads to better productivity.

This sounds a little simplistic but it is simply true.

On top of this, our Plan can improve the value of your intellectual capital and provoke numerous cultural benefits.

All it takes is a regular six monthly meeting and an annual review.

For more information, contact your account executive or email
info@allianceweb.co.uk

In the meantime, here's an example of how, in the case of absenteeism due to sickness, planning works.

Case Study
For the last 3 weeks Miss S has started to complain of pain and discomfort in her right wrist and arm. She is right handed and when not involved in computer work is taking telephone calls with a handset phone. She has reported to her manager that she feels that the new workstation is not properly set up for the work in which she is involved.
Miss S has seen her GP who has diagnosed tenosynovitis and signed her off work for 1 month in order to rest her hand and arm, have anti-inflammatory and pain relief medication and gradual resumption of use of the hand once the inflammation has subsided. She has been referred for an x-ray and a wrist splint has been ordered. She has called her Line Manager to inform her of the situation who has referred her to the company occupational health sickness absence service.
On receipt of the referral, a case file is set up and she has been allocated to a dedicated Occupational Health Advisor (OHA). The OHA will check that there is a completed Medical Declaration Form and signed consent to contact the employee for an assessment call. The OHA will call the employee to gain a background history of her incapacity and to identify an appropriate management of her case.
The OHA explained what she planned to do and said that we would contact her Line Manager to outline the management of her absence. The OHA requested a report from her GP. Further to receipt of this report it was decided to refer her for a Work place assessment to ascertain the restrictions that her condition had on her ability to work. It was also agreed to do a follow up Work Place Assessment on her return to work once all the adjustments had been made.