Managing absence in the workforce

• HR managers are optimistic that absence rates - across all areas - will improve.
• A significant minority of employers (a margin of 47%) believes that overall absence levels within the workforce will improve
• Just under a tenth more of employers (9.5%) anticipate that absences due to stress will reduce next year.
• Almost a quarter (23.6%) more employers believe that absences due to back problems will reduce
• A fifth more of employers (21.1%) see levels of bullying diminishing further
• A third more (33.7%) employers believe long-term absences of four weeks or more will be reduced in the next 12 months.

IRS Employment Review Absence and Attendance editor Neil Rankin said:

“There are important reasons why HR specialists are more optimistic about absence management. First, some organisations believe that they have introduced or improved as many attendance-management measures as are cost-effective to do so. These organisations consider that the issue will not go away, but cannot remain a top HR priority forever. HR managers also believe that as they have given priority to absence management, the results are about to be seen.

“However, with this optimism, comes a word of caution. While employers generally expect their experience of absence to get better, they are less optimistic about stress-related absences.

“And in relation to workplace bullying, while there is an optimism that this problem will reduce in the coming year, far more employers - a quarter of all those we contacted - were unable to provide an answer about bullying’s incidence than were uncertain about any of the other four issues. We have to wonder whether bullying is adequately monitored by organisations’ systems.”