How hronline can help you combat absenteeism

Absenteeism is a concern for most employers and many bosses believe that there is nothing that they can do about it, however in reality there is a lot you can do. Having a software tool such as hronline will ensure that you can monitor absenteeism rates, for example you may well be able to identify trends, workers taking a Monday and Friday is quite common however without an absenteeism tool such as hronline you would not have been able to identify such trends. Clearly absenteeism costs UK employers millions of pounds, so hronline can be valuable in identifying problem areas whilst helping you save money in the long term. So once you have identified the problem, how do you resolve the issue?

Firstly when the employee calls in to report sickness ensure they speak to a member of management, it is no use them calling and leaving a message with a colleague. Having a strict policy in place will ensure that employees recognise that you take absenteeism seriously. They need to call you or a senior member of staff prior to their starting time and define what it wrong. Upon return to work you need to sit down with the employee and conduct a ‘return to work interview’, this can help you determine if the employee is fit enough to return whilst it will act as a deterrent. Employees will know better than take unauthorised time off work, they will understand that you treat absenteeism as a priority and it is highly unlikely they will ‘pull a sickie’ in the future.

Remember the vast majority of sickness is genuine, so you need to take into consideration all factors concerning time off. If an employee is a repeat offender, after it has been determined that he or she is falsifying sick days, then you can follow your disciplinary procedures.

However it needs to be stressed that using a tool such as hronline can very much help in determining who and when is taking a high volume of sick days and by using the tool you can determine the best course of action that needs to be taken.

Alan Price