Alcohol and drug use costing Australian businesses $5.2 billion a year in lost productivity and absenteeism

A new academic paper written for the Australian Drug Foundation has found that alcohol and drug use is costing Australian businesses $5.2 billion a year in hidden lost productivity and absenteeism.

The paper entitled, “Workplace Alcohol and other Drug Programs: What is Good Practice?” estimates the annual cost of absenteeism due to alcohol alone to be close to $1.2 billion.

Australian Drug Foundation Head of Workplace Services, Phillip Collins, explains; “The costs of lost productivity or absenteeism due to alcohol and other drugs are well hidden in most businesses.” “Employers and HR departments simply don’t have enough information to attribute the days of work their staff are missing as being due to drug and alcohol use.

“With access to real-time information on absenteeism, employers can quickly identify; how often a worker is absent, how much working time has been lost, if there is a particular pattern forming, and in which area of the business absenteeism occurs most” advises Jamie Fitzsimons, Marketing Manager at Mitrefinch Workforce Management. 

Workforce time and attendance management systems specialise in recording unplanned absences and leave, producing a complete Absence Profile for an individual employee, group of employees, or department. Armed with this information management can determine how absence impacts the organisation's overall productivity and address potential issues before they get out of hand.

For more information on preventive alcohol and drug workplace programs and how they can help your business become healthier, happier and more productive visit the Australian Drug Foundation website: www.adf.org.au/programs-services/workplace-services.

New report reveals work is the primary cause of stress

Work is the biggest cause of stress in the UK, a study commissioned by mental health organisation Mind has revealed. 

The research showed that 34 per cent of those surveyed felt their job was either "very" or "quite" stressful and this was a bigger concern than financial or and health worries. 

One in five of the 2,000 people who took part in the survey said they had taken a day off sick because they could not cope with the pressure of going into work. However, 90 per cent made up a different excuse for their absence. 

Most cite excessive workload and/or long hours as the most significant causes of stress in the workplace. While the emergence of new mobile technology and the "alway-on" employee, as well as a lack of work-life balance are also common contributing factors. 

Employers can use the data collected by their workforce time management system to effectively monitor their employee’s time and attendance – analysing unpaid overtime, those who work from home, as well as absence statistics. 

Armed with this information they may be able to justify hiring additional manpower or bringing in contractors at times of increased activity, or at the very least acknowledge the effort being put in by their team - perhaps introducing some incentive or a Time in Lieu scheme for salaried staff who work overtime.

In the long run, this ultimately benefits the entire organisation as a motivated and happy workforce will lead to increased productivity, as well as reduced absence and staff turnover.

Chief executive of Mind Paul Farmer agrees, "Improving mental wellbeing in the workplace doesn't have to cost a lot. Our research shows that people whose organisations offered flexible working hours and generous annual leave said such measures supported their mental wellbeing."
 

Overtime and Absence costs Queensland Corrective Services $35m - what about your business?

Queensland Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis has raised concerns over “unacceptable” levels of sick leave, overtime and workers compensation amongst prison officers - with overtime and personal leave costing the state close to $35m last year*. 

Organisations need to establish an effective means of measuring and monitoring employee attendance and overtime, particularly across the Public Sector where they are under constant pressure to manage their wage bill more effectively.

Mitrefinch are currently assisting a number of Government and state agencies with their absence and attendance reporting needs, arming them with the information they need to optimise their workforce and eliminate costly overtime and contract labour.

With this information on hand, department heads and managers can quickly identify; how often a worker is absent, how much working time has been lost, if there is a particular pattern forming, and where absenteeism occurs the most (i.e. within a particular department, team). 

An automated Time and Attendance System is a powerful Workforce Management tool designed to accurately analyse employee attendance information and the associated costs. 

By recording unplanned absences and leave, a Time and Attendance System can generate a complete Absence Profile for an individual employee, group of employees, or department, for further analysis. As well as identifying how absence impacts the organisation's overall productivity. 

To help alleviate the problems associated with unplanned absence, in-built employee scheduling and rostering capabilities can help management to plan work schedules and shift cover according to available resources, skill sets, and pre-defined budgets. 

For more information on absence management, attendance recording and time tracking solutions contact the Mitrefinch team today.

* Source: HC Online

Safeguarding your business from an underpayment law suit with better workforce management

Yet another company is in the Fair Work Ombudsman’s sights for underpayment with SmartCompany reporting that an Adelaide windscreen company is set to appear in court over allegedly underpaying seven employees more than $100,000 over a period of four years.

In this case, the FWO argues the employees were paid flat hourly rates ranging from $12.50 to $21.62, "resulting in the employees variously being underpaid their minimum hourly rates, casual loadings and penalty rates”.

Employees were also allegedly instructed to work through lunch periods without a break, and then weren't paid for that time. One employee has also accused the company of underpaying annual and personal leave entitlements.

The FWO has been eagerly chasing businesses accused of underpaying workers, especially workers from other countries. However, business groups have complained the wage system is too hard to understand, with businesses likely to make mistakes because of the complexity of different awards and rates.

Safeguard your business from a potential Fair Work Ombudsman investigation

An automated time and attendance system can assist organisations with better workforce management by accurately capturing and recording employees’ work time and attendance information.

With this information a time and attendance system can easily calculate base and overtime pay, weekend and public holiday penalties, as well as leave loading and shift penalties and modern awards. This ensures consistent application of your business rules and compliance with federal and state workplace legislation.

A direct interface to your external payroll application further reduces payroll administration and the potential for costly payroll errors.

For more information download our White Paper "Howto choose the right Time and Attendance System for your Business".

Employees crying sick after Anzac Day to cost Aussie Business at least $36 million

The NSW Business Chamber predicts that about 173,000 Australians will pull a "well-known and obvious scam" by taking this Friday off after the Anzac Day holiday. 

Australia celebrates Anzac Day on Thursday April 25th

"It's amazing how many people get 'sick' on a Friday after a public holiday so they can create a long weekend," CEO Stephen Cartwright said in a statement on Friday. His advice to employees who want some extra time off is to plan ahead and talk to their supervisor or manager about booking annual leave*.


In dealing with unplanned absence, it is important for organisations to establish an absenteeism policy and make all employees aware of its content. A company can also gain significant insight into their operation by examining their workforce’s attendance and absenteeism information. 

If the business is small in size they may be able to track employee absenteeism manually. For larger companies this may not be an option, therefore they need to ensure that they implement a time and attendance tracking system that can: 

• Keep an accurate count of individual employee absences 
• Tabulate all employee absenteeism totals 
• Calculate the financial impact that these absences have on the business 
• Detect patterns where absences are particularly high 
• Differentiate between various types of absences 

The Mitrefinch Time and Attendance system can report on an unlimited number of absence codes. Each code represents a type of absence such as annual leave, personal day, sick certified, sick uncertified and bereavement, amongst others.

In addition, managers can keep a check on the percentage of absenteeism by employee, site, location, department and company on a whole, and then determine if an employee is above or below a plant or department average of absenteeism – and take appropriate action. 

The Mitrefinch Time and Attendance system includes a host of other features to assist with absence management and holiday planning including Leave Slots and Self Service tools. 

Leave Slots enable you to limit the number of staff that can book leave on a particular day, ensuring you have the right staffing levels to meet customer or production demands. Web-based Self Service tools make it easy for employees to view their leave balances and book time off, while supervisors can quickly approve or deny requests. 

Continue to our website to find out more information about automated time and attendance systems and absence management. 

*Read the full article on news.com.au