Have you noticed a spike in sickies this week?

Managers around the country are preparing for a rise in sudden sickies this week, as the midweek public holiday for Australia Day prompts many to take an unofficial extra long weekend.

Absenteeism expert Paul Dundon, of Direct Health Solutions, told the Herald Sun that employers could expect a 15-20 per cent increase in sick leave on the Thursday and Friday after Australia Day.

While Chris James, spokesman for the Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry, agreed some employees would attempt to take two "sickies" to turn the public holiday into a five-day weekend.

Interestingly, a recent report, also found that public servants, especially those living near the coast, take more sick leave than their counterparts in the private sector, with an apparent spike in days off before and after weekends and public holidays.

Unplanned absenteeism is a major concern for many organisations and employers must consider both the direct and indirect costs incurred when an employee is absent.

Direct costs are the benefits paid to the employee to provide income during an absence i.e. Sick, holiday and vacation pay as well as a disability benefit. However the indirect costs associated with unplanned absence are typically ignored or poorly tracked yet they can have a considerable impact to an organisation’s bottom line.

Some indirect costs include;

• A decrease in productivity, resulting in missed business opportunities or reduced customer service
• Fees of the temporary staff required to cover for the absent staff, or overtime costs for other staff covering for their absent colleagues
• Weaken morale of staff forced to cover for absent colleagues, may have a knock-on effect, establishing a culture for “chucking a sickie”

So what can you do to control the impact of absenteeism?

As the old adage goes, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”. Organisations need to have an effective means of measuring staff absence in place, enabling them to assess the extent of the issue and decide the best means of tackling the problem.

A Time and Attendance system can monitor and record patterns of absenteeism, sick leave, and productivity, allowing you to establish any regular patterns or sudden unexplained changes.

For example, the Mitrefinch Time and Attendance solution, includes advanced Absence Management functionality allowing employers to profile staff by absence tracking. The system measures how the work absences of individual employees impact your business - by recording the number of absences and the duration of each incidence and providing a ‘score’ for each employee.

With this information readily and quickly available, management can identify workers suspected of abusing sick leave and possible absenteeism trends – allowing them to deal with problem areas before they do any more damage to the organisation’s bottom line.

So want to enjoy your Australia Day festivities without having to worry about a loss of productivity for the rest of the week? Then give us a call today on 1300 884 831 or visit Mitrefinch to find out more about effective Absence Management.

(Sources: “Sickies by the seaside: report points the finger”, SMH 8/12/10, Brian Robins and “Bosses brace for sickies following Australia Day”, Herald Sun 22/01/11, Staff Writers)