England may be out of the World Cup but today’s workplaces are made up of a hugely diverse workforce. Employees may still be supporting other nationalities.
While this may not involve taking time off to watch the game – it could lead to an increase in ‘duvet days’ for those who have celebrated a tad too hard.
There are three ways you can treat absence management:
1. The ‘heavy-handed’
* requiring staff to make up time for doctor/dental appointments
* reducing holiday entitlement pro rata
* ‘inviting’ staff to return-to-work interviews, even for just a day’s absence, to show ‘employer concern’
* assessing as part of performance reviews
2. The flexible
* A ‘bank’ of hours or ‘Paid Time Off’ for staff to use as they wish, instead of separate accounts for sick, holiday and personal time
3. The preventative
* Quizzing applicants and their old bosses on their absence history, as a predictor of behaviour.
Before you prescribe...
Look before you leap – issues to consider before settling on an absence management policy:
The stricter, the better?
+ An IRS survey claims ‘notable success’ in firms using strict procedures eg formal reviews and absence logs
Get senior level input
+ The CBI found that absence rates are lower in firms where senior managers are responsible for dealing with the issue.
Target relevant workers
+ Manual workers: take an average four more sick days p.a. than white collar colleagues (10.8 vs 6.8)
+ Public sector workers take nearly two days more than their private sector peers (9.3 vs 7.4)
+ Those left behind: in a Training and Enterprise Council survey of 600 workers, 50% admitted to being frustrated by the extra workload even if colleagues really are sick
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