New Directions in Managing Employee Absence:
An evidence-based approach

Description

How can case-sensitive data help you in your approach to absence management? What factors must be considered in understanding patterns of individual sickness absence? And how can you develop more accurately targeted cost-beneficial intervention strategies? Sickness absence costs organisations hundreds of pounds per employee per year. This report analyses data collected from 40 different organisations and comprising over 80,000 absence spells of 30,000 individual employees to help you understand absence and develop a systematic approach to managing it.

The method used in this study:
- allows the analysis of both sickness spells and the absence record of a particular employee in relation to a
reference group
- extends current thinking about HR interventions by facilitating precision and sophistication in managing
individual cases
- improves the potential for making early and preventative interventions
- shows the cost benefits of managing risk by identifying and anticipating patterns of absence.

Benefits for you:
- Privileged access to real-time data held within a unique sickness absence database
- Recommendations for managing short and long term sickness absence
- Advice on managing the causes of absence

Contents

Introduction: Background to the Project
Results of the Analysis
Reasons for Absence, and Risk Impact
A Risk-based Approach to Managing Absence
Reasons for Absence and Absence Spells
Main Findings of the Study

Authors

Peter Spurgeon


Patti Mazelan


Fred Barwell


Hugh Flanagan

Reviews

'This report shows how important it is for organisations to have accurate data so they can really understand patterns of individual sickness absence and take a strategic and proactive approach to helping people remain healthy at work. This sort of detailed sickness absence data means employers can focus on the things they need to do to tackle issues, such as mental ill health, and enables managers to develop and target preventative, supportive and case-managed approaches so sickness absence can be managed effectively and individuals can be supported in their rehabilitation and return-to-work.'
Chris Rowe
Head of Strategy and Business Development
Health and Safety Executive Stress Programme Team