Case study: Consistency, compliance and cost savings

Ealing and Hammersmith West London College is a busy further education college. In a bold move in their sector the college decided to proactively  tackle a culture of high absence in September 2015. They’ve achieved more than £150,000 in annual savings through absence reduction.

SITUATION

• Absence levels in excess of 3.5% or 8 days per employee per year
  • Likely under-reporting due to inconsistent reporting processes
• Limited management information to drive and guide management actions
• Full cost of absence not clear

“We didn’t have a real time HR system and so actually it could be two months before we truly knew what sickness absence was throughout the organisation”

GOALS 

• Reducing absence below 3%
• Empowering line managers with live absence data
• Ensuring consistency in absence management across the departments
• Fair and equal absence management for all employees

ACTIONS

• Honeydew’s Day-1 absence reporting service was rolled out Sep 2015

• Collecting full absence data consistently

• Online access to up-to-date absence data for all stakeholders

• Triggers for management action were revised to ensure early intervention

• Automated alerts when management action is due

• Easy reporting on compliance with College policy

• Review meetings with Honeydew to drive continuous improvements

“Managers can just go into one system and find all that they need”

RESULTS

• Direct cost of absence was calculated at £111.39 per day

• Absence levels reduced from 3.5% to 2.7% in 12 months: a saving of approximately £156,000 per year

• Return on investment in Honeydew’s Day-1 absence management service: £6.43 per every £1 spent

• 56% reduction in stress and mental health related absence

• Managers have full visibility of the information they need to manage absence