While we don’t get the extreme snow experienced in the US and Europe, the drop in mercury can often tempt employees to hit the snooze button and take a “Duvet Day” or “Chuck a Sickie”.
In addition, with the cooler temperatures an increase in cases of genuine sickness, like influenza (Man Flu doesn’t count!), can result in an average of 3 days absence from work*.
This 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. (Read More: Have you noticed a spike in sickies this week?)
As a result organisations need to be proactive and plan in advance to safeguard their business from the effects of Winter Absence.
So what’s the solution?
First things first, businesses need to establish an effective means of measuring and monitoring employee absence.
By effectively measuring absence and sickness in the workplace management can easily identify:
- how often a worker is absent
- how much working time has been lost
- if there is any particular pattern forming (i.e. a particular worker regularly calls in sick on a Monday morning)
- and where absenteeism occurs the most (i.e. within a particular department, team)
Armed with this valuable information, management can assess the extent of their absenteeism issues and decide on the best means of tackling the problem.
Clear policies and procedures for reporting sickness absence as well as dealing with unacceptable levels of absence must be established and communicated to all staff. This sends a clear message to employees that management take unplanned absence very seriously.
For example, making it mandatory for absent employees to speak directly to their line manager or supervisor and to attend a back-to-work interview on their return.
The introduction of flexible working arrangements and the opportunity to work from home may also help discourage employee’s from feigning illness to take a day off.
How might a Time and Attendance System help?
A Time and Attendance system is a powerful tool for analysing and managing employee time and the associated costs.
For example, the Mitrefinch Time Management system can record unplanned absences, holidays and paid parental leave, building a complete Employee Absence Profile for further analysis.
By measuring the work absences of individual employees the Mitrefinch Time Management System can identify how these absences impact the organisation's overall productivity, while real-time colour coded reporting allows management to quickly identify potential problem areas and resolve any issues before they get out of hand.
A built-in current and projected manpower planner also enables management to act or plan work schedules according to available resources, skills sets etc...
To faciliate flexi work patterns and working from home initiatives, Mitrefinch’s Mobile Time and Attendance solution provides employees with the ability to record their start and finish times, as well as allocating their time to specific jobs/projects regardless of where they choose to work from.
While, Employee Self Service functionality allows employees to check their own Annual Leave balances and request holidays. If they have accumulated a number of holidays they may be encouraged to book some time off as opposed to “Chucking a Sickie” or taking a self proclaimed “Duvet Day”!
For more information please feel free to call 1300 884 831 or visit us online.
Alternatively click here to download our Free Guide to Choosing an Effective Time and Attendance System.
* http://www.healthworks.com.au
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