“Research increasingly shows that employers who manage attendance save money and improve effectiveness”
(ACAS)
Most companies have attendance management policies and many companies do offer managers training in attendance management.
That’s the good news.
On the other hand, stress is recorded as one of the reasons for around one third of absences in the UK with many employees reporting work related stress as the reason for the absence. Other reasons reported are muscular, skeletal, back problems, mental health problems, virus and colds.
Is it possible to easily reduce sickness absence?
Whilst employees cannot help being ill there are many other factors that contribute to employees being absent through sickness or being absent for longer periods than necessary. Consider the following reasons …
- Stress related illness due to pressure of work that could possibly be avoided or supported
- Muscular or skeletal problems due to lack of consideration to health and safety
- Longer period of absence due to lack of contact and support during absence
- Managers lack of awareness of how to support employees
- Lack of observation when warning signs become visible
- Ineffective application of return to work interviews – they become tick box exercises
- Managers not following the procedures
- Employees are not following procedures
- Lack of appropriate and effective training
- Managers and HR not working together on attendance issues
- Managers inaction because they believe it is HR responsibility
So how can training help?
Training alongside a clear strategy and programme does help to reduce sickness absence.
Good training should help managers and HR professionals consider three key reasons for being effective in managing absence which are…
- To support people who are ill
- To apply the company procedure
- To minimise absenteeism
When designing your training course, you may want to consider how to encourage good leadership where managers observe, listen and take action that may minimise situations where illness may at least in part be caused by work related situations.
Your training course can provide skills training in conducting return to work interviews or review meetings as well as case studies to develop understanding of policy and employee needs.
We tailor our courses to what is happening in your company. Typical sessions may include …
- Understanding of procedure and policy
- Strong leadership that gets results and supports team members
- The power of one to ones in minimising absenteeism and improving performance
- How to engage the team in supporting each other
- Skills training in return to work interviews and review meetings
- Supporting through long term absence
- Managing difficult meetings
- Balancing support and procedure
- The Manager and HR Partnership
And we make our courses fun with case studies, practical sessions, light hearted sessions such as true or false, "Did you know" and many other creative ways of getting the message across and developing skilled managers and team leaders.
Can we help you? – let us know
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