For the first time since 2009, XpertHR annual absence survey 2017 shows an average absence level above 3%. Among the 588 survey respondents that provided data on absence rates for 2016, the national average stood at 3.2% of working time, equivalent to 7.4 days per employee. To help compare with the preferred metric used in CIPD annual absence survey, this year’s median figure in XpertHR data was 6.6 absence days per employee. In 2016 CIPD reported a median level of 6.3 days per employee. Continue reading
Tag Archives: surveys and research
Productivity in the workplace
Absence is one of many factors eating away at our productivity at work. Honeydew’s mission is ultimately to help organisations improve productivity – through better attendance, healthier workforce and more engaged employees. That’s why the Stoddard Review’s paper on physical workplaces as a factor in the productivity equation was such an interesting read. Continue reading
CIPD Absence Survey 2016
On 2nd November 2016, CIPD published its 17th annual absence management survey results. For me, the interesting finding were not the headline figures of the report but that the sample size had nearly doubled, reaching 1091 respondents. For years, the group size has fluctuated both sides of the 600 mark. Continue reading
Right to return within one year of absence?
The Resolution Foundation published a report titled Retention Deficit in June 2016 to discuss the challenge of increasing employment level among disabled people. This article provides a summary of the report and recommendations. All the recommendations put forward here are those of the report authors.
Despite the employment rate sitting at a record high, the government has positioned halving the disability employment gap as a central challenge for the UK labour market. Progress in employment rates among the disabled has been modest at best, but large geographic variations in disability employment rates give reason to hope that improvements are possible. Continue reading
Presenteeism vs work as means of rehabilitation
The Institute of Employment Studies (IES) published a review of presenteeism in May 2016. Occupational Health & Wellbeing reported that the headline finding of the report was that presenteeism can be beneficial. Reading the report itself, it is obvious that the writers use a different definition of ‘presenteeism’ from the one we at Honeydew would use. Continue reading
Get your line managers on board to reduce absence
XpertHR published results of a new absence management survey this week. The findings of the survey, which focused on how companies tackle absence, confirm what we already knew: Line managers are in a key role when it comes to managing absence. The respondents had ranked their most and least effective absence management initiatives and 4 of the top 5 had to do with getting line managers more involved in the process. Continue reading
CIPD Absence Management Survey 2015 – Cost of absence needs more focus
CIPD and Simplyhealth have released the results of their annual Absence Management Survey 2015. The headline finding is a slightly higher level of absence at 6.9 days per employee per year compared to last year’s figure of 6.6 days. The survey sample size this year was smaller at just 578 companies and, according to the absence levels breakdown table, only 396 (69%) of the respondents could report what their absence level was. Continue reading
XpertHR Absence Survey 2015 – Cost of absence still just guesswork
On 5th October, XpertHR published the findings from its Absence Survey 2015. Their survey respondents from 670 companies declared an average absence level of 2.8% or 6.5 days per employee per year. The CIPD annual absence survey normally reports absence figures using the median value to avoid the numbers being skewed by extremely high or low absence figures. To provide an easier comparison, XpertHR study shows a median of 2.5% (5.7 days). In 2015, CIPD reported a median absence level of 6.9 days per employee, up from 6.6 in 2014. In terms of cost of absence, XpertHR survey reports an average cost of absence of £561 per employee per year. This can be compared to CIPD’s median cost, which for 2015 is £554.
Flexible working makes for more productive employees
A recent survey of over 2,600 employees by FlexJobs found that 76% think the office is not their most productive work environment. 50% of the survey respondents would choose to work from home to be most productive or on important projects. The top five reasons why home working was deemed more productive were: Continue reading
Employers should do more for employee health
A survey of over 2000 UK full and part-time workers, commissioned by One4all workplace benefits company, found that employers should be doing more to help employees stay healthier – and that such efforts would be welcomed by the majority of employees. Continue reading