MANAGING ABSENCE
Is stress in the workplace affecting staff wellbeing and resulting in unnecessary absence issues?
If you have an ongoing absence management issue in your business, the likelihood is, you need to put wellbeing higher up your agenda.
Anyone who has experienced stress in the workplace knows the pressure it can put on all aspects of life and sometimes, the only way out is to take time out. This results in ongoing absence that will cost your business in both time and money.
The key principles for managing absence
Absence management will be different in each business as the metrics for monitoring absence will depend on different factors (sounds complicated we know but worry not, we can help with that). However, in all situations, there are some key principles you need to adhere to.
- Return to Works: make sure they happen and do them properly and consistently
- Occupational Health: this is a legal requirement and it is just as important for mental health issues as it is for physical issues
- Clear expectations: Set these out in all meetings whether they are formal or informal
- Two way approach: meetings need to take into consideration both perspectives; the employee and the company
Putting wellbeing to the top of the list of priorities
We are no strangers to the fact that some businesses are a little far behind when it comes knowing the importance of wellbeing. Wellbeing activities are viewed as costly, unnecessary ad overall, a bit ‘fluffy.
How about flipping it on its head? Conduct an exercise to calculate the cost of absence in your business (considering sick pay, loss of revenue and man hours overcoming ongoing problems) and the view your wellbeing overheads as a solution to that problem.
With a well planned, long term strategy, we guarantee you’ll see a positive change to the bottom line.