Employyee absence monitoring

[gj]

I have seen a lot of seminars etc advertised about absence monitoring - absence costs UK industries fortunes.

In conjunction with a Human Resourcse consultant, we are developing an absence monitoring software, which is easy to use, very visual and provides clear reports.

I would be interested to hear peoples views on whether businesses monitor staff absences and , if so, how they currently monitor them.

Regards


Graham

 

We try and be flexible about how people work. Its not important to us when they work, or indeed where they work. What's important is that the work is done.

People are sensible enough to manage their lives properly if you give them the responsibility to do so.

It strikes me as odd that so many companies hire people (surely because they believe they can do the job well) and then impliment strategies that suggest they don't trust their own staff!

 

[SPRone]

It's my understanding that an employer has a legal duty of care as regards their employees' well-being.

If, therefore, an employee is regularly absent through sickness then a responsible employer will meet with the employee to see if there is an underlying reason. It could, for example, be that the employee is finding their job very stressful and that they have regular bouts of stress-induced illness. The employer can then work with the employee to look at ways in which their job can be made less stressful. There may be other reasons. An employee may have run up enormous debts and is taking days off "sick" because they are too tired to work having done a 6-hour evening shift in a bar or club in order to earn some more money.

A good employer will want to help. Even a "bad" employer will want to make sure that they don't get sued by an employee who suffers ill-health as a result of stress at work that the employer has ignored.

Your monitoring product therefore has potential, particularly with the larger employers who may otherwise simply miss the warning signs of employee illness occurring because that 1 employee may be one of 10,000.

I know of a local authority where a meeting with the employee is triggered whenever an employee is off sick for more than a given number of days in a specified period.

Good luck.

 

[gj]

Thanks Phil

..and one of the key things that monitoring can identify is a poor manager (perhaps even a bullying manager), as absenteeism is often a symptom of this.

 

[MikeH]

Hi gj,

I would like to echo some of the comments made in this thread. Having studied in this area and also worked in a large organisation in the past I appreciate that for employers of large numbers, absence can be an important issue.

As SPRone highlights there are many reasons for absence. Whilst i do not wish state the obvious, it would probably help to try and remain objective when developing the software. I have seen examples when companies use statistics of 'absence monitoring' as tools to implement new policies and procedures without considering wider issues.

There has been much research done in this area by respected academics and this may assist in developing your software. You could take a look at the people management website. However, some of the information is limited to members of the CIPD. It will identify the articles though which you could then source from a local university library, many of which are open to all.

Good luck with the development.

Mike

 

There has also been alot of research into optimum 'community size', which suggests that large organisations are very inefficient because people don't know each other.

Breaking things down into smaller sizes is alot better for the business. Research suggests that no department should rise above 150 in number before things start to break down. This is because 150 is thought to be the maximum number of people an individual can realistically interact with and remember.

Worth considering.

 

[Anonymous]

I have seen a lot of seminars etc advertised about absence monitoring - absence costs UK industries fortunes.

In conjunction with a Human Resources consultant, we are developing an absence monitoring software, which is easy to use, very visual and provides clear reports.

I would be interested to hear peoples views on whether businesses monitor staff absences and , if so, how they currently monitor them.

Regards


Graham

Its the buzz word at the moment, I am amazed that people are running seminars on them, we had a speaker due to come to the chamber of trade a few weeks back, unfortunately it didn't happen as the speaker was sick.

absenteeism in our company causes stress, not least in myself, and we keep detailed records of absenteeism and basically if they are absent without leave its recorded and it often has a pattern to it that can develop into a culture.

its almost like some people get it into their heads, that 2 weeks sick is an entitlement almost like 4 weeks holiday.

but sometimes the workers come a cropper, I got a letter from one of these no win no fee outfits, claiming damages for a worker who had hurt his back.

he had been off 2 weeks every year since he started 5 years ago with a bad back and I had medical certificates to prove it, so I replied in that vein, the employee was very indigent and told his mates how unfair it was as most workers took decorating time off with a bad back.

the big ones to watch is drink related absence, that needs constant check, an employee can slip into being useless very quickly on that one.

Geoff

 

[gj]

Thanks for all your feedback


Graham

 

[shuv]

Hi,
I am Siobhan, an HR Consultant who has worked in public sector and FTSE 25. Sickness is an area that is familiar to all and I have spent a lot of my career writing policy, procedure,and lowering rates.

Absence monitoring is a key part of lowering absence. You have to understand how much absence you have, whether it is long or short term absence that mainly affects you and what the reasons for that absence are. Then you can develop a strategy to tackle it.

However, monitoring is only the first step. If you realy want to reduce it (and I assume you do as you have employed someone in HR to help) you really are dependant on your managers capability. Your managers need to be skilled in carrying out key stages such as back to work interviews and have the right approach(style) to be effective.

I have driven change in several organisations to reduce absence and monitoring is a key part of the strategy.

Hope this helps. Feel free to e-mail me.
Siobhan