Now that’s a tricky one, and even more problematic because there’s no definitive answer. Shades of grey can be a tribunal case waiting to happen as the Land Registry v Houghton highlighted.
The starting point is to look at what your contract of employment specifies. Great if it spells out bonus payments will continue irrespective of the extent or frequency of sick leave, but what if your bonus terms are discretionary, what do you then?
Well, there are a number of options but be warned they all come with a ‘health’ warning.
If you continue with the bonus payments throughout spells of sick leave then how does that affect staff morale for those who are rarely, or never absent? Resentment can be a powerful player in undermining team harmony, and if there’s no incentive to attend then why not take just a few more days off to ensure a full recovery?
- Topic:
- Human Resources
As we approach the festive time of year again, staff may well be checking on what’s left of their annual leave entitlement and looking forward to next year. For some, the realization there’s none left to take may come as an unpleasant surprise, but it happens, and more often than you think. Then, of course, you may have to recalculate the maths as part-time staff challenge your workings out.
Getting ahead puts you on a good footing, and gives time to work out those tricky calculations, which can baffle the best of us if caught off guard. You see the problem most of us encounter is the vexed question of how we work out bank holiday entitlements? Throw in for good measure the fact most bank holidays fall on a Monday, and then ponder how you ensure your part-time employees, who do not work on Mondays, are not treated less favourably? It’s a conundrum many an office manager has had to grapple with.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
The negative impact of staff absence on business is obvious. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) estimates that it costs £522 per employee, taking into account average sick days and sick pay. That’s a significant amount – and very noticeable for SMEs with smaller budgets to swallow up the deficit.
So what can you do to keep an eye on absence and make sure you don’t have a problem?
Producing regular assessments of absence data is important – not only to allow you to see and quantify the issue, but also to spot any trends or to identify if there are specific areas in your business where you need to look more closely. A formal assessment will highlight where work-related problems are potentially the cause of more frequent absence, and thereby give you the opportunity to resolve them sooner rather than later.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
Having a clear view of both staff and volunteer availability helps to improve resource planning both day-to-day and at key times of the year. However, many organisations have manual systems in place that are time-consuming and make it difficult to manage availability efficiently, leading to unnecessary resource shortages. It doesn’t have to be that way. Here are the top six steps for better absence management:
1. Automate as much as possible
Get systems and processes in place to reduce the administrative burden on everyone. Online absence management makes it easier to track availability and have a clear picture of who’s in and when. This is particularly helpful when you’re dealing with volunteers who might only be with the organisation at certain times of the year or for limited periods of time.
2. Make sure the system is flexible and easy to use
Any absence management system needs to be flexible and easy to use, with the ability to control everything from holidays to time in lieu and flexible working. Seeing team views when you’ve got an event where you need certain people to be available, makes project resourcing easier to plan. Trying to do all of this manually is both a time drain and incredibly inefficient.
- Topic:
- Finance
Although recent research has shown that absences in general have fallen in the workplace, there are still concerns with regards to the impact employee absences can have on a business. This can be even more of an issue when a company has offices in different locations, and also when these are in different countries. However, it is possible to manage absences effectively without them having a detrimental effect.
Use data to your advantage
Looking out for trends in absences gives you a valuable chance to find patterns that could be addressed. For example, you may find that employees are absent more from a particular office or department, or when certain tasks are demanded of them. Finding out the reasons for absence can go a long way to preventing it. Respecting privacy, all of this data should be available to departments where it is needed – such as management, HR and payroll. The world of technology brings us lots of data – and we should use it.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
Ryanair, the Irish budget carrier, has blotted its copybook somewhat with its recent absence management challenges.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
The next stage is to analyse the data at its most basic level: calculating the days lost to absence. From there, you will be able to use this data and identify absence patterns and trends.
You need to ask yourself a few questions
• What is the balance of short and long-term absence?
• Is absence higher in a specific area of the business?
• Do absence patterns occur at specific days of the week or at certain times of the year?
• Is absence higher by age, gender, seniority or function?
Think back to the limitations of the spreadsheet
In order to gain detailed and easy to understand information about absence levels, you need to re-format the data. Undoubtedly, this involves some advanced knowledge of Excel at the very least. Moreover, each new report requires you to start from scratch. This is a time-consuming process and resource could be better utilised elsewhere. Finally, this method doesn’t help you in proactively managing staff absence cases.
How can an absence management system help me?
All good absence management systems should provide reports as standard, allowing you to run detailed absence statistics in just one-click and you should not spend your time re-keying or re-checking your work.
The software should be simple to use regardless of your mathematical knowledge and should be geared up to give you this information in a couple of clicks. Moreover, this kind of system will turn raw data into an easy to understand accurate, timely and professional report. It should then be available on demand to distribute via email or via the monthly board pack.
A mobile HR system with self-service facilities will also provide employees with crystal-clear visibility of their own sickness levels.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
To effectively bring down the cost of sickness absence, you'll need to know the common reasons for sickness in your organisation. So, what are the top reasons for sick leave in the UK and how can you tailor your approach to each type?
- Topic:
- Human Resources
