BBQ-itis... has it hit your office? Beware this Bank Holiday weekend!

Bank Holiday Tuesdays have a high rate of attrition – whether its down to the after effects of too much alcohol, too much sun or food poisoning down to badly cooked barbecue food, adding to delayed onset ‘Mondayitis’, I’ll hazard a bet that in many workplaces, there will be at least one empty seat Tuesday.  Of those that are present and correct, there will be more than just a few dosing themselves up on caffeine pills, aftersun lotion and painkillers to combat excesses of one form or another!

With such a huge variance in indulgences, as well as absenteeism, the increase in staff absence is predictable, but there are steps employers can take to help.  Actively encourage your staff to have a great time off – safely.  

Ahead of this coming bank holiday:

• Promote fun activities in your area over the weekend (the local venues will welcome your support!)
• Encourage your employees to have safe ‘fun in the sun’, with advice leaflets on sun cream (a gentle, timely reminder may avoid sunstroke and sunburn)
• Get staff to share barbecue tips and recipes to share with staff, which you can accompany with food safety advice on barbecuing without the hazards
• Make sure that your staff are aware of the safe drinking limits and promote sensible drinking at company events
• Keep good, accurate records on staff absence, and if you spot a pattern of sickness, software can help you take action.  It may help you spot stress early on, as well as tackling the sickie-takers who cost your business money.

For the HR Managers, working tirelessly through summer’s challenges of annual leave and absenteeism – maybe your bosses will be kind enough to replace your spreadsheets with absence management software that makes the season run more smoothly. 

Good luck with BBQ-tis staff today... you can do this!!

As new ONS figures show reduced sickness absence, we ask, are employers just scaring sick people back to work?

It seems an ironic question for an absence management software company to ask, but as a new ONS report shows the lowest recorded absence levels since records began in 1993, it is important that employers ask themselves honestly whether any change in sickness absence is down to fear and presenteeism trends rather than a healthier workforce.

Many larger organisations have simply 'toughened up' on their absence management policies for dealing with staff sickness, rather than investing in systems which would deliver more support for unwell staff and distinguish sickies from genuine employee illness.

Here's how HR News reported the issue, with comment from Activ Absence's absence management expert, Adrian Lewis:

Minor illnesses most common reason for sickness absence

Minor illnesses (such as coughs and colds) were the most common reason for sickness absence in 2016, accounting for nearly a quarter of all sick days (24.8% of the total days lost), closely followed by musculoskeletal problems (including back pain, neck and upper limb problems) at 30.8 million days (22.4%).
11.5% of sickness absence was attributed to mental illness (including stress, depression and anxiety) which resulted in 15.8 million days off sick (11.5%).

Older workers and public sector workers taking less time off

Those with the highest rates of sickness absence included women, older workers, those with long-term health conditions, smokers, public health sector workers and those working in the largest organisations (those with 500 or more employees).
Reductions in sickness absence rates over the last 2 decades include workers with long-term health conditions, workers aged 50 to 64, and those working in the public sector, with public sector organisations responding to calls for them to tackle absence after traditionally higher rates than those seen in the private sector.

Staff need to be healthy, not scared and sick in work

Absence management expert Adrian Lewis of Activ Absence gave the figures a cautious welcome, but expressed concern about possible presenteeism where organisations have implemented new absence management policies without investing in new technology.  He said:

“It’s great to see any reduction in sick days, most notably in the public sector.  We know that this has almost certainly come from concerted efforts to manage sickness absence better, and we’ve enjoyed working with our public and private sector clients to put the tools in place to support sick workers more effectively.

“My concern is that some employers are still not be getting the balance right – it’s not just about improving the figures, we want staff to be healthy, not scared to take time off.   Many employers have ‘tightened up’ on policies without any analysis or investment in tools to give meaningful data.  

"I recently heard of a public sector employee with pneumonia, clearly too sick to work, who was afraid of being disciplined under a sickness absence policy, so went into work anyway.  Ironically, the sickness monitoring system being used by that organisation only measured long term absence and could not even identify the ‘odd sickie’ trends which are far more disruptive to the business.
Presenteeism is a very real concern.”   

Nation of ‘mucus troopers’

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady agreed, saying:

“We are really a nation of mucus troopers, with people more likely to go to work when ill than stay at home when well.

“Sickness absence rates have fallen steadily over the past decade, and let us not forget that working people put in billions of pounds worth of unpaid overtime each year.”

Statistics are not always accurate

Adrian also expressed concern about how organisations calculate sick day statistics, saying:

“Many manual spreadsheets and payroll-only systems do not give accurate estimates of staff sick days anyway, so for some organisations these figures will be a guess at best.  In my opinion, a proper automated absence management system with good reporting tools will not only accurately measure absence but will also distinguish between employees who swing the lead and identify those genuinely sick employees in need of support (not discipline).

“The right systems need to be followed up with best-practice HR policies, such as conducting return to work interviews, even for short term absence – with the focus being on support, not judgement.  The resulting analytics can also be used to identify opportunities to improve staff health and wellbeing – and can help make sure your benefits strategy is aligned with these goals.

“Any strategy to reduce sick days should never include scaring genuinely sick people back into work.”

Could double ‘Black Fridays’ impact staff productivity in Welsh SMEs?

In Wales, Black Friday is the last Friday before Christmas, and the most popular night for office parties.

It’s thus called because historically, miners coming out of the pits covered in coal (and therefore black) would hit the town for a drink after work. As time has passed, the tradition is endemic in many Welsh industries, but spare a thought for the emergency services who find it incredibly hard.

This year is looking particularly challenging – with double the usual challenges.  That’s because many business owners are unwilling to hit the town on the Friday before Christmas Eve, so many of the parties have been booked the week before – however, most of the staff seem so far to be regarding this as an ‘extra night’ of partying and have made their own plans for the following week.

Trying to make plans for our own team meal was challenging – everywhere on both days was full, and that was before the end of October.  A friend who owns a bar in Cardiff is rubbing his hands with glee!

Whilst it’s indeed, great for hospitality, as an HR Software specialist, I see the other side of workplace Christmas parties.

On the day itself, HR sees increased holiday requests to get ready early, and hit the beer before the rest.  It’s easier if you have HR software with a built in leave planner, like Activ Absence, because you can restrict leave during busy periods using the system.  However, that’s not a common scenario in Wales.

Doing it over the phone or with a wall planner, faced with 10 leave requests all at once, lots of pleading faces, and 10 sob stories, managers can easily feel overwhelmed and just give in, leaving the office short staffed, or say no to some, leading to accusations of nepotism and a bad atmosphere when everyone is supposed to be socialising.

Then, after the party, there’s almost always fallout.  The faux pas, the post-party photos on social media, the well-intentioned teasing that got out of hand, incidents, allegations and alcohol fuelled arguments - the scenarios that mean HR rarely relax at staff parties.

Even if managers get through all that unscathed, Black Friday almost always heralds the start of a winding down at work that can escalate into further sickies, poor performance and a general lack of care among those who have to work up until Christmas Eve.

Normally, we are only talking a day or two, but with most Welsh businesses hitting the town a week earlier than normal, there’s a full week of potential low productivity followed by, in many cases, more partying at the end of it – I doubt there will be many minds focused on work in the week in between – and then, on the next party Friday, it starts all over again.

For managers, it doesn’t end there.

After the Christmas break, there’s more people-challenges because it’s a new Annual Leave Year.

Tech can really help here, but there are only a few SMEs who have invested in absence management software in Wales (it’s a different story over the border).

While all the other staff are chatting about what they had for Christmas, HR will therefore have the annual joy of merging spreadsheets and manually calculating the end of year leave report, deciding who can carry what over to the next year, who did and didn’t use all their holiday and what next year’s leave allowances are for every member of staff.  These annual leave calculations can be complex for part time workers, and it typically takes 4 or 5 days in organisations with 100 staff or more.

Of course, not everyone has an HR Manager – small business owners are often left to figure it out themselves.  They, too, would really benefit from a system like Activ Absence which takes some of the pressure off at this challenging time of year. A new appraisals system is also probably on their wish list, so that when appraisals meetings start, usually at the end of January, they aren’t passing bits of paper to and fro and are actually delivering performance reviews that deliver improved performance!

There are lots of new rules expected for 2017, especially about contractors, pay rates etc. expected over the next 12 months and a looming Brexit, so without an easy way of communicating staff policy handbooks using software, managers could also be facing a long wait at the Photocopier.

For those managers who don’t get Santa’s software wishlist, this December is  harder than most – so we hope that staff will not judge them too harshly if they aren’t celebrating quite so loudly as everyone else.

As for those who are reading this thinking “I will do better next year”, it is still possible to get cloud based HR software in place by 1st January – and it costs less than you may think.

Either way, I wish the people who keep welsh businesses running a very Merry Christmas, and hope you escape the double Black Friday unscathed.

Here’s to a prosperous 2017 (and a Six Nations win) for Wales!

Adrian Lewis

Getting the best from Activ Absence in Winter

By Richard Hocking, Technical Director

While everyone else is planning Secret Santa, HR are balancing challenges,
not least avoiding staff shortages at busy times.  It’s a perfect time to use the built-in
functions in Activ Absence to their best advantage.  Here’s some ways HR can make best
use of the system in Winter:

Restricting leave on key dates

You may need all hands-on deck, for example in a busy run up to Christmas, during stock-taking or Just to ensure enough staff attend important meetings.   

Activ Absence can help by restricting leave on key dates. This means that if staff try to place a leave request on a restricted day, they are reminded why the day is restricted and asked to give a reason why they are asking for the day off. This information is then sent to the manager to allow them to make the decision.  Here’s how you set it up:

How to restrict leave during Key Dates using Activ Absence:

1. The setup of restricted days is within the public holiday configurations. 
2. Add a record for a new public holiday but change the type from Public holiday to the restricted day.
3. Select the departments you wish to apply the restrictions to and click save. 

The restricted day will then appear on the calendar for all staff members in the departments you have selected.

Remind Employees to take leave

1. Setup a Trigger Point Notification, select the rule Leave Remaining’ and the number of days e.g. anyone with more than 5 days remaining. 
2. On the schedule tab select specific date and enter the date you wish the reminder email to be sent. 
3. On the notifications tab select to send the email to the employee and enter your email reminder message under custom email. 
4. Now all you need to do is enable the trigger point, click the Details tab and set Enabled to Yes and click save.

Avoid staff shortages due to stock-piled annual leave 

If you are running a January to December leave year you might find the office deserted during December as everyone tries to use up their remaining leave.   

You can help prevent this by using conflict groups & trigger points.

Define Cover Levels Using Conflict Groups

Conflict Groups allow you to define a minimum cover levels as either a number or percentage of employees in the department that must be working at all times.  

Tackling Absentees in Winter

The return to work process will help HR keep a close eye on any absenteeism that strays in during party season, but sending out policy reminders ahead of time can help set the tone early on!.

Users of Activ Handbooks can instantly send out policy updates to your employees, and record their acceptance.  

If you don’t have policies, or if they need updating, our HR Partner Law Firms and HR Consultants will be happy to help.

Overall, there is much HR can do to keep absence under control, even when the weather is cold and the season of sniffles gets underway - and above all else, the Activ Absence support team are here 

to help - call them on 01656 667009.

Opinion: What can Welsh Companies do to stop employees coming to work sick? - Cardiff Business Week

Opinion: What can Welsh Companies do to stop employees coming to work sick? - Cardiff Business Week: New research of 1,300 employees published by the independent job site, CV Library, has found that two thirds of UK workers turn up at the office when they are sick, despite the fact the majority of them (84.3%) believe that employees shouldn’t come to work unwell. It appears that guilt is the main driving force …

Two thirds of UK Employees claim they work whilst sick, citing guilt as the reason

Two thirds of UK Employees claim they work whilst sick, citing guilt as the reason


Activ Absence Director Adrian Lewis comments on this story from CV Library.

Flexible working boosts staff performance – so why aren’t we promoting it?

Activ Commercial Director Adrian Lewis has written the following guest blog for HR News:

Flexible working boosts performance – so why aren’t we promoting it?

"I love using spreadsheets to manage staff absence!" said no HR Manager, ever!

How do you manage your staff sickness absence and staff holiday planning?

Many organisations still use time-consuming spreadsheets and paper forms, but they are rarely popular with the people who use them everyday, because they are prone to human error and result in a lot of telephone and email interruptions for the HR team.

Bridgend-based software provider Activ People HR have come up with an easy-to-use alternative, which saves time and money and provides managers with an instant overview of the whole team.

Activ Absence enables HR and line managers to keep track of staff sickness absence and staff holiday planning. Sickness absence is costing UK businesses £29 billion a year, and whether down to absenteeism (sickies), unofficial “duvet days” or genuine sickness, these absences can have a massive impact on your business.  Activ Absence supports your HR policies, reduces absenteeism and improves staff engagement.

Activ Absence runs on a web browser, so it can be accessed on any device with an internet connection.  It tracks, records and manages sickness absence and identifies patterns of sickness.  For example, it can report on who typically takes Mondays and Fridays off.

HR Managers have access to detailed real time reports that identify patterns both across the team and in individual employees – they can then offer targeted support and prioritise their wellness initiatives accordingly.

Although reports can be run with one click, they can also be set to run automatically and email managers on a given schedule if preferred.  Built in trigger points can be configured to suit your policies and will then automatically alert HR or line managers when action or a review is necessary. The system has been shown to reduce absenteeism by 20-30%.

Activ Absence also handles staff holiday planning, study leave and parental leave brilliantly, reducing pressure on line managers and HR.  The dashboard can be configured to show at-a-glance appropriate information for different levels of staff, including managers, and can show overall leave by individual, department, team or company.  Individual Bradford Factor scores are calculated automatically (though this can be disabled if desired).

Employees find the software useful - they can see their own sickness information; they may perceive that they 'only take the odd day', and that no-one really notices,  Activ Absence can quickly dispel any illusions!

However, it is the staff holiday planning features that really engage employees.  Staff can login on any device (even a smartphone) anytime, anywhere and can check how much annual leave they have left, (and who else in their section or skillset has already booked the dates they want, as many companies have a policy of limiting numbers being on leave at any one time.)   They can then send their holiday request to HR with just one click – even from the travel agents!

Managers will see relevant department planning information when the request is received, enabling them to make a quick decision to accept or reject the request with one click.
Another popular feature is a trigger to remind people to use up their annual leave entitlement, avoiding a build-up of leave at the end of the year.

Activ Absence is highly flexible, and can be configured to suit your requirements.  Being part of Activ People HR also offers the ability to add extra HR functions if needed.  Activ Documents allows you to keep track of employee documents, such as your drivers’ licences, ensuring they are up to date.  Activ Appraisals offers a complete system for delivering feedback and setting staff goals, and Activ Handbook automates your staff policy handbook, distributing documents at the touch of a button, and recording receipt.

The company are thrilled to have been nominated in the South Wales Business Awards for Technology and Innovation and also for the Business of the Year.

For more information about Activ Absence or Activ People HR, please visit the web sites, www.activabsence.co.uk and www.activpeople.co.uk, or telephone on 01656 750858

As the summer holidays start, is your leave planner up to scratch?

As the little ones break up and staff with families are set to head for warmer climates, there's a lot of tension in the air.   Employers have probably noticed their staff eyeing currency movements with anxious eyes, keen to get the best deal as the pound bounces up and down in line with the latest dire post-brexit predictions.

You could be forgiven for thinking that fears about business performance and the need to make a profit have been replaced by bigger fears about economic concerns as the UK sits in a post-brexit shock.

That said, despite the extra concerns, the usual staff leave planning issues still exist for both businesses and staff.

Your staff will also still need to plan their holiday spending, make sure they have passports and visas, and make sure they pack enough sunscreen -a lesson one of our staff members learned the hard way earlier this year!  The world may be more uncertain, but the basics haven't changed.

It's the same for businesses - the issues that were affecting UK businesses before the brexit decision and recent terror attacks have not gone anywhere and UK businesses still need to tackle them, if anything the new period of economic uncertainty makes tackling them even more critical.

Having an adequate leave planner is still a massive issue for the UK, with even huge businesses relying on spreadsheets, wall planners and paper forms to manage annual leave.

This inevitably leads to staff holiday clashes, frustration, syintetressed co-workers and often a big agency bill to cover the leave.

The HR Manager overseeing the process often finds themselves asked to make judgement calls on who can take annual leave, when, often with the wisdom of solomon.  They can find themselves constantly interrupted with annual leave queries and berated by angry staff if they feel a decision is unfair.

It doesn't have to be like that.  Simply changing the staff holiday management process to one using the latest online technology saves businesses time and money, and staff are often enthusiastic about the technology because they can request leave anywhere, even at weekends, on their smartphones.

One leading provider, Activ Absence, also uses the same technology to manage sick leave, enabling managers to plan staff holiday, tackle absenteeism and improve staff engagement all at the same time with one handy online application.

Adrian Lewis, Commercial Director explained how it works:

“With our online system, staff see their own leave entitlement and can request leave in 2 clicks from any device, even a smartphone, and their line manager, who can see who else is off at that time in the email, approves or rejects an annual leave request in one click. Staff love it, and it's visibly fair.

"We use the same module to manage sickness absence, with a return to work process built in, and users have the option to add on an appraisals and training system, automated staff handbook and document management system.   Staff love how easy it is to use and managers enjoy the simplicity.

"Finance managers, on the other hand, are mostly impressed with the cost savings against a manual system, which are an unexpected side-benefit for most businesses."

Users of the system include one of the UK's largest travel businesses, creative teams, recruitment agencies, NHS teams, charities, schools, local councils, engineering companies and financial institutions.  Users seem full of praise:

“Activ Absence has transformed the way we manage holiday & sickness absence.  It has freed up my time dramatically and is a very welcome addition to our company."

Heather Turner, HR Manager, William Turner & Son

Lewis says the system will work for any organisation:

"We recommend the system for organisations with 40-4000 staff, although in practice we have organisations ranging from 3-5000 staff using the system, in over 30 countries worldwide, with different leave allowances calculated for each country."

In a post-brexit climate, fraught with economic concerns, whilst we are far from business as usual, Europe or not, there is never a bad time to look at improving business processes.

Staff holiday planning sounds a good place to start - why not start here?

New Quick Video Presentation for Activ Absence

Neil Taylor: There will be sickies for Wales this Wednesday

We've been saying for years at Activ Absence that key sporting events create a rise in sickness absence - but this week we have an unusual ally.

As Wales prepare to bring the game to Portugal on Wednesday, welsh defender Neil Taylor suggested that the nation should ‘declare a bank holiday’ this Wednesday:

 “Perhaps they could do it for the Portugal game or there will be awful lot of people taken sick that day.”

Now, as it's not even the final of EURO16, it was never going to happen and Wales will be in work on Wednesday.  Fortunately kick off is at 8pm, so we won't be missing the game - thank goodness.

Our absence management expert Adrian Lewis did however agree with Taylor that the Wales game could lead to sickies, though he expects Thursday to be more affected than Wednesday.

Adrian said:

“When a game kicks-off at 8pm, that day should be fine.

"However, I’d worry about Thursday, when the hangovers kick in – and that's dangerous, one day before the weekend people are more likely to take a two day sickie, especially if Wales win.

“Employers should therefore get a good team spirit going in the office ahead of the game, to make it a fun place with an atmosphere that makes people want to come in and celebrate with their colleagues!"

On being asked what happens if Wales lose, Adrian dismissed the possibility:

“I’m proud to be welsh and 100% behind the team so I'm not considering the prospects of them losing - I'm already thinking about the final!"

 
Win or lose, Thursday should be a day when welsh businesses let their staff celebrate how far Wales have got this year in work, perhaps with a more relaxed demeanor than normal.

Here in our Bridgend-based office, even the die-hard rugby fans are suddenly embracing football enthusiastically.  We're all looking forward to a welsh match, and like the rest of the Nation are pinning our hopes on a welsh win.  Adrian summed up the mood:

“After all the divisions and unpleasantness arising from the EU referendum, sport has reunited Wales and lifted our mood.  I sincerely hope that the dream continues past Wednesday and that our National team bring home the EURO16 cup.”  

Here at Activ Absence, we're always looking at unusual ways to promote health and reduce sickness absence.

One US company has taken the concept of a 'dream' job one step further - by monitoring it's employees sleep habits and paying a $300 bonus to employees who sleep 7 hours a night or more.

Insurance giants Aetna invite staff to participate in this unusual benefit, and participants have the choice of automatic recording using a wrist monitor that connects to Aetna's computer system, or can manually record how long they have slept every night.  Staff earn $25 for every 20 nights in which they sleep seven hours or more, up to a limit of $300 every 12 months.

The scheme was first introduced in 2009, and just under half of the firm's 25,000 employees elected to participate last year.

The National Institutes of Health recommends adults, including the elderly, get seven to eight hours of sleep per night.  Good levels of sleep have a wide range of benefits including promoting staff wellbeing, which in turn can reduce sickness absence.

Vice-president of employee benefits, Kay Mooney, explained that monitoring sleep was only "one of many different healthy behaviours we wanted staff to track".

The firm's staff also earn bonuses if they do exercise.  Read more...

Ready for sporty sick days? Research says you should be!

With some key matches scheduled during work hours, including this Thursday’s England -v- Wales match, the European Championship is expected to be the biggest cause of unauthorised leave in the UK during 2016.  Many organisations have conducted research ahead of the games, and the results for British businesses don’t give good predictions.

Research from ELAS last week indicated that 40% of employees would pull a sick day if they wanted to watch a sporting event in working hours.

Whilst this summer has more sporting events than any other, new research from Kronos has revealed that more than a third of employees (35 percent) expect Euro16 to cause more absenteeism than Wimbledon (18 percent) and the Rio Olympics (11 percent) combined – though the fallout from all three could be catastrophic.  Read more

Activ Absence expert joins industry call to tackle sickness absence

Britain’s manufacturers have today urged the Government to consider giving tax breaks to tackle the UK’s chronic sickness absence problem, to help employers to pay for private treatment for employees and ease the burden on an overburdened NHS.

The call was made today by EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation on the back of the UK’s biggest business survey on sickness absence and ahead of a Green Paper on workforce health to be published this summer. The survey, published with Jelf shows that long term absence is continuing to increase while, at the same time, the NHS is proving unable to support the working age population by providing timely and effective rehabilitation and medical treatment.



Read more

‘Tackling absence? It’s all about reporting!’ say absence management experts.

There is much to celebrate for absence management software experts Codel, who this week celebrate 10 years of helping UK and international businesses tackle absence challenges with their software, Activ Absence.

It’s been a massive year for the team, whose 10th anniversary coincides with their best ever year which has seen turnover double and the company’s welsh workforce triple. They now have thousands of users in 33 countries – and growing.


Absence management expert and Commercial Director Adrian Lewis explained why the company has proved so successful:    Keep Reading

Sunburn, Food Poisoning, Absenteeism and Hangovers: Welcome to Bank Holiday Tuesday!

Guest blog by Adrian Lewis, Director, Activ Absence

I arrived in work this morning to find my Head of Marketing sat on the pavement outside the office looking somewhat like a lobster.  She informed me she had been dropped off extra early by her other half en route to his GP – both had spent yesterday on the beach with inadequate sun protection and he was suffering from sunstroke with nasty sunburn.  Naturally, he won’t be fit for work today, and given the number of pale people on the beach yesterday and a conspicuous shortage of suntan lotion bottles, I’m guessing he won’t be alone.  South Wales was fortunate to get beautiful weather over the Bank Holiday.

Bank Holiday Tuesdays have a high rate of attrition – even amongst managers with the best staff holiday planning processes.  Whether its down to the after effects of too much alcohol, too much sun or food poisoning down to badly cooked barbecue food, adding to delayed onset ‘Mondayitis’, I’ll hazard a bet that in many workplaces, there’s at least one empty seat today.  Of those that are present and correct today, there will be more than just a few staff dosing themselves up on caffeine pills, aftersun lotion and painkillers to combat excesses of one form or another!

Read More

How to tackle absence in a season of sport.

With the Olympics due to hit British screens later this year, it's a good time for HR teams to get planning so that they aren't swamped with leave requests and absenteeism during the sporting season.

Why do businesses need to tackle absence?

We know through experience that sickies soar during key sporting events – every summer we see Cricket, Wimbledon and Soccer tournaments that create all manner of ‘mystery bugs’ and this year HR will have the Olympics to contend with too.

The increase in summer sport could be scary for HR Managers, who are already used to seeing unauthorised sickness absence rise if Andy Murray is playing well on Centre Court!  Of course, that's on top of planned annual leave which is already higher during the Summer months.

So what steps can HR Managers take to tackle the perfect storm of annual leave, leave clashes and absenteeism that can mar an otherwise sporty summer?

Here are our tips:

1. Keep an eye on sporting fixtures, even if you aren’t a fan yourself.  Make sure that you are prepared for possible sickies in advance, especially in staff-critical environments, such as nursing.  It’s harder to get temporary cover during major sporting events or the day after bank holiday, so plan in advance based on previous experience.  Who was off last time?  Reports are your ally!

2. Fair play is important in sport - it also extends to fair handling of leave requests.  Decide ahead how you will handle multiple requests for staff holiday, especially during sporting tournaments – if you can’t authorise all of them, could you compromise and let people watch the fixtures at work instead?  How will you decide who gets the time off?  Make sure that your system is fair and visible, so that staff are aware of it in advance.  Remember that staff who may not want to watch the game may need time off for other reasons - consider these requests on their merits.

3. To stop absenteeism, make staff aware of your policy on sickness absence and enforce it equally throughout your organisation.  More than half of employed adults believe their work performance is negatively impacted when attendance policies are not fairly enforced throughout an organisation, so make sure your rules treat management and staff equally.

4. Educate your staff.  Staff who take sick days to ‘watch the match’ don’t realise that short term absence has a big impact on the company’s bottom line and is more disruptive to the business than long term sickness.  Raising awareness can encourage them to book planned annual leave days rather than faking a ‘sickie’.

5. Always use return to work forms and interviews.  Sporting absenteeism seems to have regular offenders – by having to complete a return to work self-certification form, or experiencing a return to work interview it’s less likely to be brushed under the carpet.  Inaction sets an example to the rest of your workforce, so if your reports spot a trend, act on it.

6.  Consider your systems in advance - spreadsheets and paper forms are less than ideal for managing both staff holiday and sickness absence, especially if more than one person is able to authorise leave.  One council last year had highly paid technical staff covering photocopier clerks, all because a paper leave system administered by several different line managers allowed a whole department to take holiday at the same time.  HR only found out at the last minute and were unable to obtain agency cover.  In practice, by the time HR get involved, it's often too late.  Absence management software is designed for purpose, prevents leave clashes at line manager level and usually saves more than it costs - it's also visibly fair!

 7. So far we’ve only looked at the down sides of the sporting season, but in my experience the best way to deal with sports tournaments is to recruit them as a cure!  Here’s just a few ways HR Managers can use the sporting season to build teamwork, engagement and motivation at work:
· Have sports themed team challenges at work, maybe even get two tickets to an event (with the time off work!) as a prize for the best performers
· Have themed days in the office during matches/events and show them on TV to encourage attendance (who wants to be left out?)
· Consider running an exercise challenge throughout the Olympics to improve wellness
· Keep an eye out for any team sports a company team could take part in
· Sport often promotes more interest in health so have healthy drinks and snacks available at work and see if your local gym will give your staff a free trial

Just because planned and unplanned absence is a serious issue, doesn’t mean it has to be boring or arduous.  This sporting summer can be fun for HR people too, tackling absence with a little planning and setting out the rules of the game before play will go a long way!

Adrian Lewis, Absence Management Expert, Activ Absence

Would your business be able to cope with a sick-out?

This week, RMT members have faced accusations of organising an unofficial 'sickout'.  The dispute is getting ugly on both sides, with the union alleging bullying and harassment and Southern Rail blaming network problems on a high number of conductors off sick.

Southern Trains have stopped short of making direct allegations, but have blamed 'unprecedented' levels of sickness among conductors as the reasons for recent cancellations and disruption to its services, leading to MP Peter Bottomley accusing the conductors of organised industrial action in the form of a 'sickout'.

Whilst many UK businesses are familiar with strike action, which sees staff unpaid, a sick out takes the form of employees calling in sick en masse as a form of protest.

If enough staff take part, a sick out can seriously interrupt the daily operations of the target company or agency.   Examples where sickouts have been used are in Detroit, earlier this year, where it is illegal to strike, so teachers phoned in sick for two days, and by a large number of British Airways workers in July 1997, who did not officially take part in a strike but phoned in sick on days where other staff were striking, meaning they would still be paid.

Employers without a suitable provision in their sickness policy could see themselves left vulnerable. With no appropriate policy in place,  employers could be left with no choice but to pay sick pay during a 'sickout'.

Aisleen Pugh, Associate at Bircham Dyson Bell explains on her blog how employers could prepare for this eventuality in advance:

"Employers should consider in advance of any strike action how they will deal with employees who call in sick on strike days -  particularly those who offer enhanced sick pay, for example requiring a medical certificate for one day’s sickness absence even though this is likely to depart from your normal sickness absence reporting procedures (which typically provide for self-certification in the first seven days' sickness absence) and/or a referral to your occupational health provider (bearing in mind, of course, the associated costs of this course of action). 

"It will be important to ensure that any departure from your standard sickness absence reporting procedures is carefully communicated to employees prior to the intended strike action. 

"Employers should also be mindful of the forthcoming changes to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 proposed in the Trade Union Bill 2015 which provides that workers in important public services (which includes education of those aged under 17) will only be able to take industrial action if, in addition to the amended 50% turnout requirement, at least 40% of those entitled to vote have voted in favour of the action."

While sickout could be considered a form of strike, it is not quite the same thing as a strike, and therefore the UK could see it used as a future tactic where a union cannot get the required turnout to support an official strike mandate.

"If the use of this tactic increases, then a consistent sickness and absence policy will become even more important for employers," says Adrian Lewis of Activ Absence.

"It is concerning to note that most businesses manage sickness and absence via a spreadsheet, and keep limited records on their return to work process (if they have one at all).  This means businesses would struggle to pull out accurate data that would support any allegations of a sickout, which may not even be officially admitted by union members.

"There are many reasons for employers to put in a sound return to work process and to automate their absence management - not least that it increases employee engagement, and makes it easier to defend against claims of harassment in sickness absence disputes.

"It's interesting to note that Southern Trains have as yet failed to release any data about the exact numbers and nature of illness of the staff it says are off sick, one wonders what tools they use to manage and monitor sickness?  

"Whoever is giving the accurate picture is not a matter for us to comment on, but we hope that the underlying dispute is resolved quickly and that the company and union are able to work together to get services running.  All these very public allegations are likely to have a huge impact on customer confidence - with staff, customers and the business, all coming out worse off." 

Lanarkshire Council: Sickness Absence costs £2.8 Million in 3 months

A meeting of North Lanarkshire Council’s Policy and Resources (Human Resources) sub-committee for the last three months of 2015 heard that the cost of sickness absence payments made to council staff whilst off work could reach a whopping £2.8 million – that’s without taking into account the cost of overtime and/or temporary cover as their colleagues struggled to cover the workload.

Read more: Lanarkshire Council: Sickness Absence costs £2.8 Million in 3 months

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