Workshop: How to manage absence and work related stress effectively

Staff absence management

How is staff absence affecting your business and what can you do to minimise the impact?

Good questions given that recent evidence suggests that staff absence can be found to affect overall daily productivity anywhere between 20% to 40%. Ignore absence management at your peril.

Many organisations who do attempt to tackle absence fail to factor in the true cost of absence which typically equates to 35% of salary cost overall once the actual cost of sickness (staff replacement and compensation payments) are factored in.

We advocate that a proactive approach is taken by business managers in tacking absence through effective management and control.

Handling stress in the workplace

“Stress” is everywhere, good, bad or indifferent. So what is stress and as an employer at what point should we be concerned; what are the warning signs and what can we do about it?

One widely used definition of stress is "the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them". As an employer, the concern comes when it is the demands made by the employer that are deemed to be the cause of the stress and therefore the employer becomes responsible.

What therefore can an employer do to ensure that it is doing everything in its power to avoid placing undue pressure on its employees and indeed be able to demonstrate to a tribunal that this is the case should the need arise.