How can we reduce employee absence and manage their health in the Office?
The biggest challenge for employers is that sick leave, unlike annual leave, cannot be planned ahead.
Apart from this, sick leave heavily impacts productivity and lowers the morale of other employees – and their managers – who are suddenly lumped with the workload of the sick staff member. Further it’s not just about the money. High absence rates put pressure on remaining staff, and can inevitably impact on the quality of your business operation.
Obviously you can’t stop people from getting sick. Also, you do not want people coming into work because they are braving it and fearful of the consequences or showing up coughing and spluttering their germs across you and the rest of the workforce. Although we can appreciate the work ethic of the brave, it probably costs you more in the long run.
How companies can reduce the number of sick leave occurrences;
- Reduction in Stress level
While a certain level of stress and urgency at the workplace keeps many employees working efficiently, piling on excessive stress easily turns the office into an undesirable place. Managers and employers should check in frequently to find out how team members are coping with their workloads, and re-assign tasks as necessary.
- Discussion about employee’s health
HR team in the company should introduce ways to help your employees become more health-conscious. Consider sending out weekly health tips, organising in-house exercise sessions or health talks, or providing preventive healthcare initiatives such as flu jabs. Many of these activities can double up as team building and cohesion opportunities as well.
Some companies also offer gym memberships as part of the employment package to encourage staff to sweat it out. Falling into a sedentary lifestyle is easy for the busy professional and a host of ailments follow suit.
- Better know your team and their lifestyle
Don’t let the warning signs go unnoticed. When there’s a spike in employees calling in sick, have a chat to find out the root of the problem. While it might be difficult to have someone admit to feigning illness, asking the right questions can give you an idea of an employee’s sense of stress or job satisfaction.
It takes time to cultivate mutual trust and regular check-ins show team members that you’re invested in their professional development and wellbeing.
- Encourage healthy employee and awarding them.
Reward employees who have a low sick leave count – this can take the form of gift vouchers, time off from work, health-related incentives such as gym memberships and much more.
There aren’t enough organisations that reward their staff – 80% of employees surveyed in Singapore said their companies do not provide any incentives for a low sick leave rate.
- Managing elder family member health of employees Family
Caring for elderly family members can be mentally and physically challenging, but many companies don’t allocate leave days for staff to help ease this process.
Elder care leave is currently being considered by the government, and would work in a similar fashion to childcare leave where employees are allowed time to meet certain family obligations.
- Increase annual leave more, decrease sick leave
This way we can encourage employee to take planned annual leave and reduce sick leave may results that they must take good care of their health otherwise that will become unpaid leave for them. So subconsciously they will start eating good stuffs and leave bad habits to a certain limit.
