ABSENCE MANAGEMENT
BAROMETER
David Hope
CEO, FirstCare
WELCOME
What better way to kick-off 2018 than a quickreflection on the absence trends seen in 2017, some of which may surprise you.
For example, did you know that the total number of days lost through absence in January in the UK was 22.9 million, the highest in six years? We’ll be sharing similar statistics from the year later.
As a rule, the trend for November saw a general increase in absence, with pretty much all stats at their highest since January. Our data is robust and the most comprehensive as it analyses real-time data across all industry sectors, regions, demographics and ailments rather than a snap-shot of a commissioned survey.
This is why our customers love it, and, following our survey held last year when we asked you what you wanted to see in future reports, we include a case study that demonstrates not just the ROI it delivers to an organisation but also the positive impact this can have upon employees and working environments.
At FirstCare we are all about relieving the demands upon UK organisations and helping them to manage their absence records, data and costs. This Index aids that process and will continue to do so through 2018.
FirstCare Index overview
• November sees the highest days lost per employee since January
• Trends demonstrate improving results over 2016
• Finance sector records lowest rates of absenteeism
• Mental health absence up 18% on November 2012
• Cardiovascular-related absence for November more than
double that of 2012
THE FIRSTCARE INDEX CONTINUES TO REVEAL THE STATE OF THE NATION
IN THIS THIRD ISSUE. AND, NOVEMBER SEES THE HIGHEST RATES OF
ABSENTEEISM SINCE JANUARY 2017.
This report examines the three months between September and November, and while across the board days lost per employee (DLPE) are up on previous quarters there is some good news, that being there is an improvement on 2016.
During the Autumn months we expected to see this trend continue. We predicted that absence caused by colds, coughs and flu-like symptoms would rise from 0.04 DLPE in August to 0.08 in November. It did in fact rise to 0.07. While this was expected it is actually a 13% decrease over the past five years.
Likewise, we anticipated that an increase in gastrointestinal illnesses over the three months as Norovirus, more widely known as the winter vomiting bug, kicked in. It reached 0.07 DLPE in November, just shy of the 0.08 we predicted.
The long-term view is slightly more concerning, however, as we have witnessed an 18% rise in mental health issues between November 2012 and November 2017.
A look into the demographics and sector splits reveal similar outlooks. Londoners account for the lowest amount of days lost while the NHS maintains top spot in the sector absence tables – in fact, it boasts the unenviable amount of 9.16 DLPE over the past 12 months.
And, utilities is the only industry that has seen a rise in absenteeism on January – all other sectors have bettered their January performances. We have seen some interesting trends, peaks and troughs since January. Many fall in line with seasonal expectations and mirror previous years, but some have surprised us.
• The total number of days lost through absence in
January
across the UK
population was
22.9 million
, the highest in six years.
• Total DLPE for men in February was
0.57
, a
19% increase on 2012
.
• There was a
49%
decrease in absence due to coughs, colds and flu in March,
compared with March 2016.
• DLPE for people in the North East for April was
0.85
; London recorded the
lowest absence at
0.45
DLPE.
• In May it was recorded that women accounted for an additional
2.8 million
more days’ absence than men for the
previous three months
.
• The
entertainment industry
recorded the lowest rate of absenteeism for
any industry in the UK for June, with
0.29 DLPE
.
• July sees a
40%
rise in absences due to
mental health
since July 2012.
• In August, the year-to-date days lost for the
NHS
was
9.21 DLPE
, the highest
of any sector in the UK:
•
Friday
was the most popular day to be absent in September, with a total of
4 million days
lost across the UK.
• For October, mid-term absence (6 – 19 days) was, and consistently is, the lowest,
accounting for
0.13 DLPE
. Long term (+ 20 days) was the highest with
0.33 DLPE
.
When these days lost are normalised to the working population of 31 million,
we can see the cost to the UK economy for mid term absence is more than
£487 million, while long term absence racks up a staggering £1.23 billion.
•
620,000
– the number of days lost through cardiovascular-related absence in
November in the UK. More than double that of the same month in 2012.
The cost to the UK economy, each year, due to absenteeism across
all sectors and demographics is
£18 billion
.
Here are some key highlights we have abstracted:
This equates to a cost to the UK economy of £2.34 billion
when normalised to the NHS working population of 2.1 million.
SEP – NOV 2017
UK KEY FACTS
In August, the DLPE was 0.64 rising to 0.7 in November.
When normalised to the working population this
equates to an additional 1.86 Million lost days.
Absence caused from coughs, colds and flu-like symptoms
has seen a significant rise over the winter months –
0.03 to 0.07 DLPE.
The trend for 2017 is down
on 2016. With November
seeing 930,000 less days
lost though absence than
this time last year.
DLPE for women is higher
than men, at
0.8 vs. 0.62.
Total DLPE for the past quarter is
1.99
which is up on the previous quarter’s
1.87
0.7
DLPE – Nov 2017
0.64
DLPE – Aug 2017
UK Key Facts
September - November 2017
The finance and insurance sectors
are the best performing with only
0.33 DLPE in November.
620,000 days were lost to cardiovascular-related absence in
November – more than double that for November 2012
Short-term DLPE
(1 to 5 days) has risen in
the past three months
from 0.16 to 0.21
Absence through
gastrointestinal
issues is up from
0.03 to 0.07 DLPE
NHS workers continue to account
for the most days of absenteeism
with
0.84 for November.
2012
2017
MENTAL HEALTH
is up by
18% on 2012.
Coughs, colds
and flu-like
symptoms are
down
13%
on 2012.
Across the year
people in the North
East account for
1.0 DLPE while
Londoners only 0.59
SEP
OCT
NOV
Spotlight on...
The consistency of managers
In our survey this year, this consistency was highlighted and we thought it was worthy of addressing.
Matthew Scrimshire, Business Development Manager, explains how relationships play a huge part in our working lives. In terms of absence, both the good and the bad can create ugly situations that can have a lasting impact – and stress-related absences that are attributed to work make up just over 10% of all stress-related absences.
The manager won’t cause all these, but in cases of good and bad relationships, the biggest challenge is the unknown.
We see these issues a lot where absence isn’t accurately recorded. The disparity between a true absence baseline and what’s recorded is 18%, on average.
Line managers have a central role to play in absence management but keeping absence hidden from their organisation, or not telling the whole story, can be very damaging due to:
• The employee being deprived of support services that would help them
• Trust being lost
• Compromised consistency • Increased risk
• Pay being incorrect
• Absence data being incorrect / inaccurate, skewing analysis
THE CONSISTENCY, OR INCONSISTENCY, OF HOW LINE MANAGERS
REPORT AND MANAGE ABSENCE ACROSS ALL THE COMPANIES AND
SECTORS WE SERVICE IS SOMETHING THAT WE STRIVE TO TACKLE,
AND SUPPORT ON A DAILY BASIS.
The challenges posed by a weaker relationship are easier to identify, causing different problems for your business. Managers may:
SHOULD MATTERS EVOLVE TO EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS THEN, IN
WORST-CASE SCENARIOS, AN ORGANISATION’S POSITION COULD BE HINDERED.
Having a neutral party, such as a nurse, who has no relationship with the unwell employee, who has the time to ask the right questions, who is focused on wellbeing, taking absence calls for your employees means absences are diligently recorded.
• Show less care, which can result in decreasing motivation for the employee and potentially extending an absence • Be more suspicious of the employee and record their perceptions rather than the facts
• Lack soft skills, required as a manager, leading to broader employment relations problems, such as grievances
• Not recording the absence due to poor organisation
Case Study:
Nuneaton & Bedworth Council
THE SOLUTION
With our reporting data, we were able to set-up alerts to enable line managers at the council to be informed when employees were off sick. Mariam said: “The alerts that FirstCare set-up enabled us to track and manage absences better. They’ve also helped us introduce reminders for welfare meetings and return to work interviews.
THE RESULTS
Our real-time data led to the council achieving a reduction in overall absence, and in particular, mental health absence.
Mariam said: “Overall we’ve seen a 36% reduction in our absence rates from 5.54%, to 3.55% in the rolling year of November 2017. This has resulted in 4.5 days saved per employee. And, the average length of mental health related absence has reduced by 64% from 45.9 days in 2015/16, to 16.6 days in 2016/17 – representing a saving of 29.3 days.”
Mariam Khalifa, HR Support Officer at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, explains: “We found that there were not a lot of organisations out there that could offer what we wanted.
“FIRSTCARE’S ABSENCE MANAGEMENT SERVICES APPEALED TO US.
THE REPORTS GIVE US ACCESS TO STAFF ABSENCE HISTORY, AND ENABLE
US TO FEED BACK TO OUR DIRECTOR TEAM WITH EASE.”
Absence Rate (%)
36% difference
5.54 3.55
Mental Health
(average length)
64% difference
45.9
16.6
Dec 2015 to Nov 2016 Dec 2016 to Nov 201712.71 8.23
DLPE
35% difference
Anticipating and tackling
future absence causes
Between November and February we expect to see a reduction in absence caused by
musculoskeletal ailments – from 0.13 DLPE to 0.11 DLPE. This is partly due to the break in work over the Christmas and New Year holidays, but also because we tend not to be as active in the winter months. It’s not until the warm weather breaks out later in the year that we see a spike in absence when summer activities and sports start to become more commonplace.
LOOKING FORWARD USING THE DLPE RATES FROM
SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER
AND
NOVEMBER TO PREDICT THE MONTHS AHEAD:
In the last Index report, it was predicted we would see absence as a result of coughs, colds and flu-like symptoms rise from 0.03 DLPE in August to 0.08 in November, as the winter months start to take their toll. It did in fact rise, but the prediction fell just short at 0.07.
Likewise, with Norovirus set to grip, we anticipated that absence caused by gastrointestinal issues would rise from
0.06 DLPE in August to 0.08 in November and once the summer holidays were finally over, mental health related absence would fall.
These predictions follow annual trends which allow us to be bold in our forecasts, but it also enables us to work closer with our customers to ensure they are managing their staff and absence data better to improve performance and wellbeing.
And, it’s not quite the end for all the winter ailments as we expect absence due to coughs, colds and flu-like symptoms to continue to rise to 0.09 by the end of February. This coincides with the “flu season” and we advise employers and staff to be vigilant over these next three months.
Click here to read our useful guide on how to protect your employees against the flu this winter and keep workplace productivity levels high.
Absence caused through respiratory problems should rise slightly over the coming three months also – and we anticipate this reaching 0.04 DLPE, from 0.03 in November. Cold air is dry air, and that can spell trouble, particularly if any of your staff members have asthma, COPD or bronchitis. Now is a good time to speak with your staff and understand the problems they are living with if they have such conditions and support them if they need time off to visit their GP, a pharmacist or should they need some discretion over the medication they may be taking.
