Absence
The most costly type of absence for a business is sick leave due to illness, or accidents caused by work. When an employee is absent for more than fourteen days the costs increase even more.
Having less employee absence from work will also mean that you:
- Save money spent on the direct costs of absence. These include paying the salary of the absent employee, any overtime incurred by other employees covering for the absent employee, any loss of output incurred by the absent employee and the costs of hiring temporary cover
- Keep valued staff and avoid unnecessary recruitment and training costs
- Maintain employees' positive motivation towards their work. Absence can cause staff to become less motivated and connected to their job
- Keep your business productive, maintaining your client-base with uninterrupted employee-client relations
- Avoid possible penalties for discriminating against disabled workers
- Maintain and improve workplace relations and the sense of teamwork
- Save money on the indirect costs of absence. These include the time taken for a replacement to learn the new role and become productive; possible diminished services and product quality; loss of business, continuity and reputation
- Save money due to less time spent arranging and providing cover, training and providing support to other staff.
Avoiding employee absence as much as possible leads to increased productivity and possibly increased profits for your business. The sooner you take positive action to reduce absence, the sooner your sick employee can return to work successfully and get on with helping you build your business. Improving health and safety measures at the workplace reduces the likelihood that people will need sick leave in the fist place, and bringing them back to work quicker means less disruption in the long run.
A Confederation of British Industry annual survey of absence and labour turnover in 2002 showed that time lost due to absence was on average 6.8 days per employee, and the average cost of absence per employee was estimated to be £476; equivalent to a cost to UK business, as a whole, of £11.6 billion.
In spring 2004, some 1.7 million scheduled working days were lost to sickness absence and 2.9 per cent of employees took at least one day off work because of sickness or injury.
Try this!
Here's a leaflet to help employers and self-employed people assess risks in the workplace. It is aimed at commercial, service, and light industrial sectors:
Five Steps to Risk Assessment