The Hidden costs of using a spreadsheet to manage sickness and absence

Many businesses think they are saving money by using spreadsheets to manage their sickness and absence, but a quick analysis on the cost of annual leave alone proves that this is a false economy.

This typical customer example shows how a business with one HR Manager and 100 staff could save money with Activ Absence on administering annual leave alone:

Download our example

Whilst saving money is always welcome, most HR Managers are more excited about the time they save.  As one manager put it:

'I'm just grateful to not be interrupted 10 times a day by someone debating with me how much annual leave they have remaining!'

Of course there are other benefits and savings to be made in terms of sickness absence where the potential savings are even greater.  Overall, a business with 200 employees could expect to save £53,161 across a 12 month period.

We are happy to take the challenge, if you are still using spreadsheets, then give us a call on 01656 750858 and we will prepare an individual cost benefit analysis for your business free of charge.

New Annual Leave Year - Quick Recap on Annual Leave Entitlements

It may surprise you to know that if you have not set out an agreed date for your annual leave year, legally the leave year begins on 1 October for workers who started employment before 1 October 1998 and for new workers, the year begins on the anniversary of the start of their employment.  As this naturally results in multiple 'year ends' in practice most employers specify an annual leave year.

It isn't of course the same for every business, but many companies run their annual leave calendar in line with the calendar year.  The leave year may begin on any date you specify in your  contract of employment.  Most organisations have a standard year for every member of staff over which you can take your entitlement.

Activ Absence is a cloud based, easy to use solution for managing staff annual leave and sickness.   As well as being a superb tool for calculating and managing annual leave, its powerful reporting tools allow your business to quickly plan, monitor, analyse and manage the causes, effects and most importantly the cost and productivity implications of planned and unplanned absence.  Companies using Activ Absence have reported on average a 75% reduction in administration time and an average reduction in sickness of between 20 and 30%.

Managing annual leave is as you would expect an absolute breeze with Activ Absence, which is why more and more organisations such as British Airways Holidays, Hasbro UK and the NSPCC are choosing 'the absence people' as their software partner of choice in tackling holiday and sickness administration.  It is however worth revisiting exactly what the UK legal position is on annual leave for those businesses who haven't yet discovered the benefits of  Activ Absence

How much time off are my staff entitled to?

Since April 2009 all UK staff have the right to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday per year. This does however INCLUDE any time off for public holidays, so in practice in a 9-5 job, the legal minimum equates to 4 weeks holiday plus the 8 bank holiday days.

Leave can only be taken in the leave year in which it is due, unless sickness absence (or perhaps maternity leave) prevents this. Leave may not normally be replaced by a payment in lieu — except on termination of employment.   Annual leave is also continued to be accrued if an employee is off sick.

How do I calculate time off for a part time employee?

Part-time employees are one potential area for confusion.  For example, if a part time employee normally works a Monday, how does this work in relation to bank holidays?

Calculating how much time each part time worker is entitled to is actually quite straightforward, simply multiply the number of days they work each week by 5.6.  Part-time workers' annual leave entitlement is proportionate to the time they normally work, e.g. a worker who normally works three days per week is entitled to 16.8 days' annual leave, and so on  (paid holiday hours will be those normally worked, i.e. if they normally work 3 hours on those days then their paid time off would be 3 hours).    

Unless otherwise specified in your Contract of Employment, bank holidays will be included as part of your annual leave entitlement and therefore the employee would not be automatically entitled to their normal annual leave PLUS paid bank holidays, however it is worth making sure that this is made clear to both parties.

As you would expect,  Activ Absence makes it very easy for you to calculate and manage part-time employee allowances.

So do I have to give my employees Bank Holidays off?

There is NO automatic entitlement to take bank holidays off work. Many contracts of employment do give a right to take bank holidays off but this is not required by law.  Some jobs will always require the worker to work bank holidays and this will vary from workplace to workplace.  In these jobs, the worker will however be entitled to time off in lieu.  

Despite the popular beliefs about 'double and triple time', those workers who work a bank holiday are not legally entitled to be paid any more than on any other shift unless agreed in the contract of employment - but they are entitled to take the time off as normal annual leave.

Do my staff have to give me reasonable notice of time off?

An employer may require a worker to give notice of intention to take annual leave and the dates proposed. The employer may require this notice to be given at least twice as many days in advance of the start of leave as the number of days to which the notice relates. If giving due notice, the employer may also require the worker:

• to take leave to which the worker is entitled on particular days, or
• not to take such leave on particular days.

Employees should therefore be aware that leave requests can be rejected or accepted according to business needs. Activ Absence is particularly strong in managing leave requests, and has the flexibility of allowing a line manager to approve or reject requests instantly, even via a mobile phone if required.

The employer's notice that a leave request has been rejected must be given at least as many days in advance of the leave start date as the number of days of the proposed leave. All the provisions with regard to the provision of notices can be varied by a trade union agreement. 

Lisa Baker LLB, Activ Absence, January 2015

ABOUT THE AUTHOR    Activ Absence   'the Absence People' provide a cloud based easy to use solution for managing staff annual leave and sickness.   It allows your business to quickly plan, monitor, analyse and manage the causes, effects and most importantly the cost and productivity implications of planned and unplanned absence and reportedly saves 75% of admin time when compared to spreadsheets and manual systems.  It is the market leader in absence management.

We understand - its December!

Festive Fun means HR headaches!

Activ Absence are the absence people, so we understand only too well that end of annual leave year, seasonal sniffles and the fallout from a month of partying combine to make a perfect storm for your overworked HR team.

Just 15 minutes of your time to view Activ Absence now could really reduce your stress next year, saving you time and money - and as we know its a busy time, we'll even thank you with a free £5 M&S Gift Voucher just for viewing an online demo by the end of January.
 

Call 01656 750858 to book now - limited spaces available

Activ Absence to Attend CIPD Event 2014

We will be exhibiting Activ Absence as a leading provider of online staff annual and sickness absence management solutions at this years upcoming prestigious CIPD Annual Conference & Exhibition in November. 

This will be the third consecutive year that we have exhibited as it is a fantastic meeting place for everyone in the HR profession.  Why don't you come and join us together with like-minded peers to hear about the latest thinking, get practical ideas from industry-leading suppliers, and explore new ideas and solutions to your current and future HR challenges.

Activ Absence will be exhibiting on stand 398 and we'll be delighted to see you to discuss how we are working with organisations big and small take advantage of the cloud to manage staff leave and sickness absence more effectively.

When and where?

Manchester Central (formerly GMEX), Petersfield, Manchester.

Wednesday 5 November       09:00 - 17:00

Thursday 6 November           09:00 - 16:30

How much does it cost?

Entry to the Exhibition is completely FREE and if you pre-register here you will be sent a free-entry badge before the exhibition.

   

Adrian Lewis, Commercial Director will be delivering a showcase presentation in the HR technology area on:

Date: Wednesday 5 November

Time: 15:45-16:15

Adrian will be discussing the following topic:

Managing Staff Absence in the Cloud  - opportunity or challenge?

New cloud solutions are launched every week. How is HR making decisions on the advantages and opportunities of the cloud, against the internal resistance of deploying software outside of their IT infrastructure?

Come and find out about:

• Demystifying - what the cloud is all about.
• Could your organisation use cloud technologies to overcome the HR challenges you face?
• Do you need to be more strategic & forward thinking in your IT investments?
• Could you remove barriers to improved HR services by using cloud technologies? 
• How can cloud be used to support our organisations business growth.
• Will your organisation be left behind if your peers deploy cloud solutions more readily to employees.
• How can we provide our employees with fast start self-service HR business applications from anywhere from any device.

HR Software for Absence Management

Activ Absence Control provides an online environment to plan around staff shortages, providing HR and line managers with the information to coordinate existing HR resources; Helping you reduce payroll inflation, increase productivity. 

Wouldn't it be great in your work place if...

 
... you knew who was off today? Tomorrow? Next week? This month? 

... employees have the capability to manage their leave requests from any device.

... you could efficiently manage full-time, part-time and shift workers annual leave.

... you could easily provide the board with an absence report at the click of a button.

We understand that the management of staff leave and sickness absence can be a real HR headache that directly impacts the bottom line for many companies. 

Activ Absence Control is a leading online software solution for managing staff annual leave and sickness absence.

Online absence management systems give you the visibility of absence facts and figures, so your organisation can truly understand the direct and indirect costs of planned and unplanned absence.

In 30 minutes, we can demonstrate how Activ Absence Control is helping clients to reduce administration, improve visibility and reduce their staff sickness absence. The solution is being used to replace current inefficient manual, paper and spreadsheet methods of managing absence.

 
Looking for a smarter solution for managing absence? ... click here to find out more.

Activ Absence Control... the software solution to manage staff absence!