The cost
In 2018, Actons Employment lawyers Nic Elliott and James Symons took centre stage at The East Midlands HR Network event, ‘Effectively Managing Sickness Absence’, kindly hosted by Greene Tweed.
The event was attended by HR professionals from organisations across the East Midlands, and we asked them questions like, how should sickness absence be tackled? What’s the most common cause of it? And can anyone top a 19 year absence?
Using a live polling app, a series of key findings were uncovered by posing questions to attendees. We’ve put together a series of blogs highlighting the results which we’re delighted to share with you.
The session focussed on identifying the various legal risks associated with sickness absence and how to manage these effectively.
In the first blog, we look at the predicted cost of sickness absence to the UK economy by 2020.
What were the results?
Perhaps one of the most obvious responses was the consensus on how expensive the issue of sickness absence is – 70% of people were correct – the cost of sickness absence to the UK economy is predicted to be £21 billion by next year!
From these results, it’s clear why sickness absence is such a topical issue for employers regardless of the size of organisation. Employers must begin to effectively manage the problem in their organisations to minimise the impact and associated cost.
Nic and James went on to discuss some of the key ways of doing so. Things like policies, up to date employment contracts, good managers and robust medical advice were covered.
If you need help preventing or managing sickness absence issues in your organisation, please contact Nic Elliott or James Symons.
Posted on February 26, 2019
