How To: Rate your Absence Management?

Recently, there has been a national focus on wellbeing at work and corporate health responsibilities. However, it may be unclear to organisations just how much Absence Management schemes could actually help them; especially for small organisations. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has acknowledged this and constructed an online tool to enable employers to work out how much money could be saved by introducing absence management measures. It also gives data on how much time per working year is lost due to injury, presenteeism and illness; essentially ‘How well do you manage absence?’, of which the results could shock you. The aim is to help HR build a convincing business case including rates of return on investment which is also calculated by the tool.

But there is an easier way to know How To: Rate your Absence Management. We call it the acid test and by answering just a few ‘Yes or No’ questions, we can tell whether you’re doing a great job or if there is room for improvement:

1. Do you know your company’s absence levels? 
2. Are your unplanned absences below 3%?
3. Do you have Trigger actions that managers apply consistently?
4. Do you refer employees that are absent for 4 or more weeks to OH?
5. Do your line managers regularly meet long term absentees in person?
6. Are your return to work interviews carried out on the day or return?
7. Are your sick pay costs down compared to last year?
8. Are you sure you’re not paying absentees you should not be paying?
9. Is your client retention affected by your absence levels?

How many Yes’s have you ticked?

If your score was between 8-9 yes’s then your absence management is excellent!

You are among the 3.5% of companies that understand and collect data on absence management. It is likely that you are saving your company a lot of money already.

If your score was between 5 -8 then you company is doing very well!

It seems that you have made a great start at managing absence within your company however a lot more could be done. With such a rewarding challenge ahead, outsourcing your absence management could be beneficial. It is too important for trial and error so let the professionals get it right first time.

If your score was between 0-4 then you could definitely do better!

It appears that absence management is not on your list of things to do and even though your time could be of the essence, you could save up to £300 per employee per year! Honeydew Health can relieve you of the stress and take on all of the responsibility of setting up your absence management plans. Even better, try out our 30 day free trial. Just get in contact to begin saving your company time and money.

Throughout Honeydew Health’s series of ‘How to’ guides, we have published a number of interesting and useful articles explaining how to implement wellness schemes effectively and the effects it can have on your organisation. This includes ‘How to measure wellbeing at work’, & ‘How to implement absence management’ amongst others. If you still have questions that need answering, please do not hesitate to get in contact.