Are you an Absence Hazard?

Research has found that 44% of HR leaders claim that absence and its impacts are only discussed ‘sometimes’ at the board level.

If this sounds familiar then you could be in trouble.

A common sign of an Absence Hazard is a reliance on manual processes to manage absence (we’re talking excel spreadsheets, printed paper forms, email confirmation, etc.). Interestingly company size rarely plays a factor, as, at e-days, we have seen the big and the small fall prey to the Absence Hazard.

Falling into this category is fairly easy to do. A lot of the time, absence management doesn’t fall high enough on the agenda, and HRs feel they don’t have a seat at the table to make it a bigger priority to start working on. Budget often plays a part too where organizations have invested in HRIS systems and are only now realizing that they don’t do what they need them to. As with a lot of these things, time plays a massive factor, and tackling a change management project on top of your already busy schedule seems like a hassle that’s just not worth the effort. But trust us, it is!

The risks are high! If you are an Absence Hazard then health & safety and employee burnout become big issues. It can lead to absenteeism and presenteeism issues which ultimately impact the productivity of teams. And on top of all this, there are non-compliance and data security issues to deal with. The absence ripple effect (which you can find in our free downloadable report) highlights the repercussions of being an Absence Hazard. It’s worth a look because the potential damage manual systems can cause a business are huge.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to rectify your situation. The starting point is simple, although we appreciate it is not always easy to action. Operationally, businesses need to move away from paper and spreadsheets. Encouraging the business to think strategically and highlighting the benefits to gain from incorporating better absence management practices into the business is the first step.