The facts and figures that surround the issue of absenteeism are stark. UK PLC suffers from over many day’s absence per year, now costing British businesses an estimated £15billion. We believe that reactive, remedial action is no longer enough. Tackling the root cause requires a fresh pair of eyes, and a new focus on attendance, rather than absence.
There is an unmistakable irony about the fact that the main cause of employee absence is not health related. The large majority of absences in the British workforce on any given day relate to a whole raft of reasons, most of which are to do with wellbeing, relationship or financial issues. This is further evidenced through our Employee Assistance Programme, and our analysis shared in the annual Clinical Director Report.
Clearly, these are also the key issues that often impact individual performance in the workplace. Managing the attendance and productivity of individuals at work, and understanding the impact of this on performance is one way in which organsiations can take a systemic proactive approach which provides benefits to both the organisation and individual.
Cost of Absence
Understanding the true cost of absence is perhaps our most frequently asked question. To work out a rough overview of the cost of absence to your business, visit the CIPD website, containing a great range of tools and techniques to help establish the true cost. In the meantime, it's worth thinking about two simple factors that can help evaluate the true cost of absence:
- The value associated with the time – e.g. adding up the salary or hourly wage for the time spent away from work;
- The opportunity costs of absence – The cost to the business for work which cannot be completed.
The second can be the hardest to pinpoint, but it is often the most enlightening, highlighting the value lost, not just the cost. But tackling absence is only one part of the equation. The remaining, and often missed element is the cost of presenteeism. Taking a comprehensive view and tackling the issues at a systemic level is at heart of our attendance management solutions.
Return of Investment
If your organisation gets to grips with a systemic approach to attendance management, what kind of return can you expect?
We believe there is a four fold return for every pound invested in attendance management. This principle is based on the following:
- Good communication and well applied processes will reduce absence.
- Providing a 'safety valve' to enable individuals to share problems, before they escalate, reduces absence
- Managing people back into the workplace after a period of absence is a critical success factor
To read more, why not take a look at our blog, which includes the findings of a recent investigation into the impact and cost of presenteeism.
Absence 101
The key reasons behind employee absence are rarely health related. Here are the top five reasons that prompt clients to use our Employee Assistance Service (EAP). They reflect exactly the same reasons behind employee absence.
- Organisational Changes
- Bullying, Harassment and Aggression in the workplace
- Support from Management, or perceived lack of it
- Control over workload
- Role Performance