Myths of absence management: Day-1 Absence Reporting increases absence because employees don’t have to speak with their manager. In fact, Day-1 Absence Reporting – initially – increases absence levels because all absence is recorded. Relying on managers to report absence data is prone to under-reporting and gaps in the data. Furthermore, with Day-1, the absence […]

Yesterday, September 26th, The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) released its annual Health and Wellbeing at Work survey report. The survey, which was conducted in March and April 2023, showed the highest absence levels measured in the last decade with 7.8 days of sickness absence on average across all sectors and sizes of […]

Our new absence cost calculator is now live. With just a few metrics about your business, you can get an instant result of your direct absence cost per day and per annum. The results are shown in a donut diagram that splits the overall value to sick pay and replacement staff costs.

“THERE MUST BE SOMETHING BETTER OUT THERE” “We looked at other systems that were available and obviously Honeydew appealed to us the most at the time and we stayed since – and it has proved its worth.” Portesbery School provides schooling and support for children and young people with Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD), sensory impairments, […]

“WE NOW HAVE ONE SOURCE OF TRUTH” Infinis is the UK’s leading renewable energy company and prides itself on being one of the few companies leading the charge to make a positive impact on climate change. Infinis is headquartered in Northampton and employs around 300 staff across 150+ UK sites. 65% of the workforce are […]

Throughout the pandemic, the uncertainty and worries have heightened the mental health issues everyone has to deal with in their daily lives. On 9th February, Boris Johnson announced that the last Covid isolation rule could be scrapped a month early. That would mean we’ll be back to ‘normal’ life, in terms of work and socialising, […]

I am going to be bold enough to assume that no absence policy was ever written with a global pandemic in mind. Until now. At the time of writing this, we are still in the midst of the chaos caused by Covid-19. The disease has been with us for nearly two years and the situation […]

Your absence policy should be a blueprint for managers to follow but not so rigid that there is no space for discretion. Discretion doesn’t mean that managers should be able to pick and choose when to implement the policy. Quite the opposite, meetings and discussions should be held on all occasions.

28 calendar days is a common definition of long-term absence. There’s nothing wrong with this definition in itself. However, waiting 4 weeks to offer support or consider referral to support services is a missed opportunity. This often means that medical appointments don’t take place until the 6th or 7th week of the absence. It also […]

Absence costs are made up of a lot of parts you may not have considered. The direct costs are perhaps more obvious, but are you aware of everything that makes up the indirect cost of absence?