Let’s have a look at the factors that contribute to high absence rates in UK businesses.
- Illnesses and injuries are common reasons for employee absences. This could include both short-term illnesses like colds and flu, as well as long-term health conditions that require extended time off for treatment and recovery.
Potential solutions: What I would ask here is how good are you at keeping in touch with those team members who are off sick? How long do you leave it before you make contact? Statistically the tipping point into long term sick is just over 2 weeks off. Once you get beyond three getting a person back is much more difficult.
- Work-related stress can have a significant impact on employee well-being and absenteeism.
Potential solutions: There is no doubt that mental health and wellbeing are real factors and are now more widely known about and more quickly recognised. High workloads, tight deadlines, lack of control over work, and poor work-life balance can all contribute to increased stress levels and the need for time off to manage mental health issues. As employers and managers, we need to take the time to watch out for the signs of overload. Workload and deadlines are within our gift to change. Some employees may need to be helped when it comes to planning time off, for their own good too!
- Poor work-life balance, which in layman’s terms is typically defined as the amount of time you spend doing your job versus the amount of time you spend doing what’s important to you outside of work, whether that is with loved ones or pursuing personal interests and hobbies.
Potential solutions: When employees struggle to find a balance between their work responsibilities and personal life commitments, it can lead to higher levels of stress and burnout. Taking time off to attend to personal matters or to prevent exhaustion becomes necessary. As an employer you can help with this. Why not help employees with occasional benefits, like an extra day off for their birthday or a duvet day they can take at short notice when they really need it. Or some other flexibility if you can see there is a tension. Creating more socially based activities and interests around your business can help too. They don’t have to cost loads of money either.
- Workplace dissatisfaction: Employees who are not happy or motivated by their work environment, job responsibilities, or relationships with colleagues and superiors are more likely to have higher absenteeism rates. Unhappiness at work can lead to decreased motivation and a higher likelihood of taking time off to escape a negative workplace.
Potential solutions: Create engagement! Make the workplace somewhere employees want to be. Start out by conducting a satisfaction at work survey or just speak to your team members and find out what it is that ruins their work experience. You might find there are some simple fixes. Particularly around the environment. Changes to their working area or rest areas, toilets etc can make a massive difference. If there are relationship issues, then identifying these and offering tools to manage conflict can really help too.
- When employees feel disconnected from their work, disengaged, or undervalued, they are more likely to be absent. Low engagement can result from a lack of recognition, limited opportunities for growth and development, or a mismatch between employee skills and job responsibilities.
Possible solutions include making sure you acknowledge and celebrate what your team and individuals in that team are doing on a regular basis and how that is connected and impacts on the overall strategy and direction of the organisation. This will help them feel connected. Making sure they know the part they play, what their narrative is in the story of the business. Making sure that everyone has an up-to-date job description that reflects what they do. When was the last time you reviewed your job descriptions?
- Presenteeism refers to employees coming to work despite being unwell, which can have negative consequences. While employees may feel pressured to be present, their productivity and effectiveness may be compromised, and they may also risk spreading illness to their colleagues.
Possible solutions include making sure everyone knows that if they are ill, they should stay away from work. This could be helped by the culture you have in the workplace. If you have a diehard “we never go off sick, ‘cos sickness is for the weak” then that culture will stop employees from taking time off. What you need is a culture that fosters permission as one of its attributes. Making it okay to be ill – if you really are ill. Let’s face it, if we conduct back to work interviews on a regular basis, then we will soon dissuade any nefarious activity! Equally making your sick member of staff go home when they should be at home is the right thing to do for you and them. Presenteeism is destructive to health and work quality and output so it’s one to get to grips with.
- Poor management and leadership: Ineffective management practices can contribute to higher absenteeism rates. This includes a lack of clear communication, inadequate support, limited feedback and recognition, and a failure to address employee concerns and needs.
Possible solutions include making sure you and your people managers are trained and developed, particularly when it comes to effective communication, promoting a positive work environment that promotes employee well-being, work-life balance, and engagement. Ensuring there are clear succession plans in place and implementing flexible work policies, providing opportunities for training and development, fostering a supportive and inclusive culture.
Author: Mark Rollé, Managing Director – Beyond Benchmark Consultancy Ltd
If you would like some help with a solution that meets your business’s needs or want more information on any of the factors discussed. Please drop Mark a line at mark@beyondbenchmarkconsultancy.co.uk or call him on 07761708747.
