Sickness absence in the manufacturing sector hits record low

Employees in the manufacturing sector are taking 4.9 days off sick per year on average, which is a new record low, figures obtained from the most recent EEF survey suggest.

The 2014 Sickness Absence survey, published by manufacturers’ organisation EEF and Jelf Benefits UK, highlights the fact that, while the number of working days lost to sickness absence has reached a record low of 2.1 per cent among manufacturing employers, almost two-fifths of companies report an increase in long term absence in the past two years.

The survey also revealed that manufacturers increasingly recognise the importance of managing the well-being of employees, with almost half (46 per cent) of employers paying for medical interventions, and 68 per cent offering occupational health services as a benefit for all staff.

However greater support is needed from the government and other stakeholders to help reduce the effect of long-term sickness absence.

“Driving down absence rates, helping more employees return to work earlier and, encouraging their well-being is critical for our economy. But, despite employers increasing investment in managing sickness absence and, providing their employees with more health related benefits, the improvement in overall absence rates has more or less now plateaued,” said professor Sayeed Khan, chief medical adviser at EEF.

Tensor plc supplies an extensive range of solutions designed specifically to help employers thoroughly monitor and manage absence, with our flagship WinTA.NET integrated workforce management solution incorporating a dedicated Absence Planning and Entitlement Management feature.

Our comprehensive, yet user-friendly software comes pre-loaded with graphical calendar charts that provide a colourful way of viewing an individual’s or a department’s absence records.

Each employee can be allocated different entitlements for absence such as annual leave or allowed sickness. As absence is booked and taken, the remainder available for each entitlement is updated. Entitlement formulae are used to calculate more complex entitlements calculated on a rising scale based upon length of service.

WinTA.NET supplies the relevant managers with information on employee’s absences through warning email notifications or via hardcopy reports. After that, the system would rapidly identify missing employees that are expected to be at work and then informs you via automatic email reporting reports distributed by email.

If you’d like to find out more about the Tensor workforce management solutions, just contact our team or Book a Demo, we’ll be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.