With absence remaining one of the biggest priorities and most difficult problems to overcome for UK organisations, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has teamed up with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Acas to develop an on-line absence management tool for line managers.
CIPD research has consistently highlighted the importance of line managers taking responsibility for managing absence. However, many small organisations lack HR support to help managers carry out this role, and even some larger organisations struggle to provide line managers with the advice and knowledge they need to manage absence effectively.
In response, the CIPD has collaborated with the HSE and Acas to develop a free online resource for line managers, to provide them with information and best-practice guidance on effective absence management at the click of a mouse. It will be available via the CIPD, HSE and Acas websites.
The tool covers managing both short- and long-term absence and includes information on such matters as policies, trigger points, conducting return-to-work interviews, liaising with individualsí GPs, the Disability Discrimination Act and making reasonable adjustments.
It also provides more in-depth advice on how to develop an absence strategy and how to measure and benchmark absence levels.
Ben Willmott, employee relations adviser at the CIPD, said: ìEmployee absence is running at 8 days per employee per annum at a cost to business of 600 per employee per year. Poor absence management impacts negatively both on business performance and employee wellbeing.
This toolkit will provide a resource at the click of a mouse to help line managers make the right decisions when managing absence. It provides information on all the key aspects of absence management and will hopefully help employers put in place the right policies and procedures to manage short and long-term absence.
High levels of employee absence incur hidden costs on productivity, on quality of service or product and customer satisfaction and loyalty. Not to mention the impact of absence on employees in terms of increased workloads and pressure on remaining staff, as well as on morale and staff retention.
Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission, adds: The sustained health and well being of working age people is paramount and this calls for leadership and commitment from the top, as well as determination and innovation throughout the organisation. This tool, developed jointly by the CIPD, HSE and Acas, will facilitate this.
New absence management tool to help organisations tackle stubbornly high cost of absence
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