Every HR Manager’s dream is to wake up in the morning feeling confident that everything is going in the right direction. No delays and errors in this month’s payroll, no employee on long-term absence, and no outstanding recruitment requirements.
So you have fully-staffed departments but are you sure that this is enough for them to be productive?
Have you considered the impact on your costs and employee motivation of Helen’s 4th short-term sick leave this quarter or the fact that Mark rung sick on Monday third time in the row? Short-term sickness absence can be more damaging to your business than other types of absence, especially when the reported reason of the absence isn’t genuine.
The results of a recently commissioned report by Price Waterhouse Cooper revealed that one in three UK workers admit to skipping work. They do it mainly because they are bored with their jobs. With UK absenteeism levels doubling those recorded in the US, and costing British businesses a staggering £32bn a year the issue of tackling employee absence effectively is on the daily agenda of every HR manager.
Amongst the reasons why respondents decided to take time off work under false pretences were:
– Being bored and depressed about current job position (61%)
– Hangover (18%)
– Good weather (11%)
– Romance (5%)
Neil Roden, HR consulting partner at PwC, comments: ‘If people are bored and depressed with their jobs, employers need to think creatively about how they can get people back in gear. Rather than a sign of laziness, unwarranted leave can mean people are under-used.”
He also said that introducing or enhancing flexible working arrangements could make a difference, together with ensuring people felt they were not being taken for granted.
A third of workers think they’d be more likely to take unwarranted leave if they see their colleagues getting away with it and two-thirds say their sickies are more credible if they pretend to be ill for more than one day.
SO WHAT’S THE SOLUTION??
First things first, businesses need to establish an effective means of measuring and monitoring employee absence.
By measuring absence and sickness effectively in the workplace management can easily identify:
- how often a worker is absent
- how much working time has been lost
- if there is any particular pattern forming (i.e. a particular worker regularly calls in sick on a Monday morning)
- and where absenteeism occurs the most (i.e. within a particular department, team)
Armed with this valuable information, the management can assess the extent of their absenteeism issues and decide on the best means of tackling the problem.
Clear policies and procedures for reporting sickness absence as well as dealing with unacceptable levels of absence must be established and communicated to all staff. This sends a clear message to employees that the management takes unplanned absence very seriously.
For example, you could make it mandatory for absent employees to speak directly to their line manager or supervisor and to attend a back-to-work interview on their return.
The introduction of flexible working arrangements and the opportunity to work from home may also help discourage employees from feigning illness in order to take a day off.
How might a Time and Attendance System help?
A time and attendance system is a powerful tool for analysing and managing employee time and the associated costs.
For example, the Mitrefinch Time Management system can record unplanned absences, holidays and paid parental leave, building a complete employee absence profile for further analysis.
By measuring the work absences of individual employees the system can identify how these absences impact the organisation’s overall productivity, while real-time colour-coded reporting allows the management to quickly identify potential problem areas and resolve any issues before they get out of hand.
A built-in current and projected manpower planner also enables the management to act or plan work schedules according to available resources, skills sets etc…
To faciliate flexi work patterns and working from home initiatives, Mitrefinch’s Mobile Time and Attendance solution provides employees with the ability to record their start and finish
times, as well as allocating their time to specific jobs/projects regardless of where they choose to work from.
While Employee Self Service functionality allows employees to check their own Annual Leave balances and request holidays. If they have accumulated a number of holidays they may be encouraged to book some time off as opposed to “Chucking a Sickie” or taking a self-proclaimed “Duvet Day”!
