Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Help Desk Queries

CAM Solutions boasts a help desk where you can e-mail queries to help@camsolutions.co.za and we will endeavour to assist you with your absenteeism related queries. We recently received this query:

What is a normal absenteeism in the automotive manufacturing industry? How does it differ between those who earn $15.00 and those who earn $28.00 per hour?
The answer:
CAM Solutions deals mostly with sick absenteeism and other forms of unplanned absenteeism (AWOL, Family Responsibility Leave, etc). It is extremely difficult to determine the "normal" absenteeism rate in any sector of the economy as sick absenteeism is dependant on a number of factors, including:
  • The demographics of the employees
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Responsibility levels
  • The nature of the industry

Due to the above factors it's not possible to determine an appropriate norm for each sector but rather to determine the absenteeism profile of each employer and to consider each of the factors separately. The factors to consider are:

  • Average absenteeism rate
  • Average length of each sick leave absence
  • Average number of sick leave incidents per annum
  • Short term ratio versus long term ratio
  • Absenteeism rate per age category
  • Absenteeism per department/region etc
  • Absenteeism per earnings level (or better still per grade)

The above can be achieved by producing an absenteeism management report (AMR) and analysing this in detail. At a micro level each employee can then be measured against their peers using benchmarks such as:

  • Average absenteeism rate
  • Average length of each sick leave absence
  • Average number of sick leave incidents per annum
  • The CAMS Absenteeism Index (AI)
  • The CAMS Health Index (HI)

In general we find that sick absenteeism levels should not be more than 2% per annum. i.e. if an employee is expected to work 250 days during a year then they should not be off sick more than 5 days per annum, on average.
We have found the absenteeism rate is higher for lower paid employees versus the high income earners. This is however more related to responsibility levels rather than income levels. Low paid employees, generally, have less responsibility, which then affects job satisfaction and morale which has an impact on absenteeism.

The benchmark absenteeism rate for the Automotive Industry (based on South African statistics), which according to our records is 1.77%. This is calculated (incident days / exposed days as a %). According to our research the lower income earners take more sick leave, but one also needs to consider the impact of the indirect costs.

Should you have any query you'd like us to assist you with, kindly e-mail us on help@camsolutions.co.za.

Kind regards,

THE CAM SOLUTIONS' TEAM

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Affiliate Newsletter

Morning,

Sick absenteeism management is rapidly becoming an area where a number of consultants in the HR arena are offering their services to employers and creating an additional revenue stream.

Corporate Absenteeism Management Solutions (Pty) Ltd (CAMS) is a South African based company which is regarded as the leader with regard to sick absenteeism management and providing benchmark information on absenteeism. (A Google search using combinations of the key words “CAMS”, “Johnny Johnson”, ”AIC” will provide a number of results to support this assertion).

The company owns specialised software, called ABSOLV™, which is utilised by various consultants and employers to perform sick absenteeism audits and to provide ongoing consulting services aimed at reducing sick absenteeism. The software is also used as a tool to measure and monitor the health status of an employer in general and its employees specifically. A sample of the main output from the system, the Absenteeism Management Report (AMR™) can be viewed on our website - click here.

Currently CAMS has more than 100 000 active employees on the ABSOLV system and a historical database of more than 170 000 employees which is used to derive meaningful benchmark information.

This software is now available to all consultants with the major advantage being that it is available on a “pay-as-you-grow” basis. This means that the consultant can match their costs with revenues and there is no need to outlay large amounts of capital or to incur upfront or monthly costs before any revenue is earned. Flexible options are available which allows the software to be accessed via the internet (aimed at smaller employers) or loaded on your network, or web server, and accessed by a number of users, aimed at the larger employer or consultant with a large number of clients.

Consultants can also register as an affiliate; refer clients to the ABSOLV™, and earn a referral commission of 25% on all revenue earned from that client should they sign up as an ABSOLV™ user. Clients using ABSOLV™ through our web-portal will pay an initial sign-on fee of R1 250 and then R5 per employee per month thereafter. The affiliate will earn 25% commission on all incoming monies. The ideal clients for the ABSOLV™ web-portal are employers with 250 employees or less.

Ideally, affiliates should be involved in one or more of the following industries:
  • Health Management
  • Employee Benefits
  • Human Resources
  • Risk Management
  • Productivity Improvement
  • Absenteeism Management
  • Corporate Wellness
  • Disability Management
  • HIV/AIDS Management

Consultants in the HR industry can increase their revenue by offering an additional sick absenteeism management service to their existing clients with little effort through the use of ABSOLV™. In addition CAMS offers a two day sick absenteeism management training programme aimed at equipping consultants with the necessary skills to offer this service.

The individual earnings of employees is recorded and utilised to calculate the overall cost of sick absenteeism and can also be used, together with the job grades, to provide useful remuneration information at a later stage. Should you be interested in becoming an affiliate, kindly log onto http://www.absolv.co.za/affiliates to create an account. Kindly bear in mind that your application will need to be approved by CAM Solutions first.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries in this regard.

Yours faithfully,

Michelle Bennett
EXECUTIVE PA

CAM Solutions
Providing Software Solutions in Health and Absenteeism Management
Tel: 041-368 1068
Cell: 084-236 6388
Fax: 086-524 1819

View our Absenteeism Blogs:
http://camsolutions.blogspot.com/ or http://www.absenteeism.iblog.co.za/

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