Tackling Sickness Absence

The CBI and AXA carried out a survey recently and found that workplace absence is costing the UK economy £12.2bn per annum - and that £1.7bn of that cost is due to staff "pulling sickies", rather than absence resulting from genuine ill-health. Remember that the true cost of the “sickie” includes the cost of covering salaries for absent staff, the resulting overtime and temporary cover, and lost service or production time!

Office Control partners, Ellis Whittam, believe that the CBI/AXA survey underestimates the real cost of “sickies”. Ellis Whittam estimates that the real cost to the UK economy is at least £20bn per annum.

Unfortunately the Treasury has ruled out the idea of allowing tax breaks to employers that monitor their workforce’s health, so employers are left to carry the cost of sickness absence, both genuine and non genuine. This burden can be crippling if left unchecked.

What can you do? If you have a problem with sickness absence then Ellis Whittam suggests a three pronged attack:

Firstly, carefully and cleverly monitor the frequency of absence so that you quickly pick up on unacceptable attendance patterns. We suggest that you use a system called the “Bradford Factor” to monitor absence. The best way to do this is by way of Office Control software that will alert you to a potential problem at an early stage.

Secondly, consider putting in place an occupational health system to monitor staff health and to pick up problems before absence occurs. The occupational health process should start at the recruitment stage with health monitoring questionnaires. Once an employer has some base line data it can monitor employee health on an ongoing basis, including vision, hearing, lung function etc. This is an easy sell to employees because they get an annual health check and it provides invaluable information to employers. A good occupational health system should mean that you can spot patterns that may give rise to genuine claims in the future - and take action to avoid the problem.

Thirdly, as soon as you pick up on an unacceptable frequency of absence speak take expert advice and, if appropriate, move quickly to a formal disciplinary process.

Ellis Whittam works closely with Office Control to offer clients occupational health services and unlimited employment law support. If you would like more information about Ellis Whittam please email markellis@elliswhittam.com.