Absenteeism Indices

CAM Solutions has differentiated between the reasons for absence. You will get those people who abuse their sick leave, and those who are genuinely ill and require some sort of medical intervention. With our two indices, we have successfully managed to calculate into which category an employee will fall. The Absenteeism Index (AI) looks specifically at employees abusing the system, i.e. your one day claimers, Monday/Friday claimers, before/after a public holiday, etc. Our Health Index (HI) looks at people who are seriously ill and would need some sort of medical or social intervention.

For more information on our ABSOLV system, or the above indices, kindly contact CAM Solutions via e-mail on info@camsolutions.co.za


Regards,
THE CAM SOLUTIONS' TEAM

What is presenteeism?

What is absenteeism?

Wikipedia.org describes absenteeism as:

Workplace - Frequent absence from the workplace may be indicative of poor morale or of sick building syndrome. However, many employers have implemented absence policies which make no distinction between absences for genuine illness and absence for inappropriate reasons. One of these policies is the calculation of the Bradford factor, which only takes the total number and frequency of absences into account, not the kind of absence.As a result, many employees feel obliged to come to work while ill, and transmit communicable diseases to their co-workers. This leads to even greater absenteeism and reduced productivity among other workers who try to work while ill. Work forces often do excuse absenteeism caused by medical reasons if the worker supplies a doctor's note or other form of documentation. Sometimes, people choose not to show up for work and do not call in advance, which businesses may find to be unprofessional and inconsiderate. This is called a no call, no show.

Another concern is presenteeism - where people who are sick are too scared to stay at home, thereby infecting other people in the office. This is defined on Wikipedia.org as: Presenteeism is the opposite of absenteeism. In contrast to absenteeism, when employees are absent from work, presenteeism discusses the problems faced when employees come to work in spite of illness, which can have similar negative repercussions on business performance. It can also refer to the expectation of employers for their employees to be present at work regardless of whether any work is available or accomplished.

While presenteeism has existed in some form or another for centuries, the term itself, which has been coined by employers' groups, is relatively new. Presenteeism is widely thought to be caused by a fear of loss of income or employment on the part of the employee. Critics of employers' groups, which include trade unions, allege that presenteeism has developed as a result of a gradual relaxation of employment protection laws and reductions in benefits, most notably sickness benefits. For example, a number of companies in the United Kingdom do not offer sickness benefits for illnesses lasting up to three days. In the United States only half of workers have any paid sick days. Employers' groups in turn allege that other factors are contributory to presenteeism, including an increase in health care costs, most notably in countries such as the United States and Germany, which has rendered employees more reluctant to seek medical attention when it is necessary.

Presenteeism can have catastrophic effects on a company's output and present hidden long-term costs and wider social problems beyond the enterprise. An employee who arrives at work despite illness may only operate at a fraction of his or her normal capacity despite requiring the same expenditure in wages, social contributions and taxes as an employee operating at 100%. They may also be more prone to mistakes, and in the case of contagious diseases (e.g. Influenza), they may transmit the illness to fellow employees, causing a larger fallout in work efficiency.
It has also been alleged that presenteeism can result in more long-term health issues.
This new concept is considered one of the leading threats to employee efficiency and workplace safety. Employers' groups have thus far been reluctant to address the problem of presenteeism but a number of individual employers have recognised the problem to tackle it head-on, including initiatives to invest in occupational health and provisions allowing workers to work from home when sick. Some employers have begun asking employees who normally come in to work while sick, to stay home. Many employers, fearful of the avian influenza epidemic, are beginning to take preemptive actions against this new threat to the workplace.

In the United States, one proposed response has been to require that paid sick and family leave be provided to all workers. In November 2006, San Francisco became the first jurisdiction to pass such a law.

(Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presenteeism)

For more information on controlling absenteeism, log onto www.camsolutions.co.za or www.absolv.co.za.

HOPE FOR CURE FOR SERIAL SICKIE

BC-LABOUR-SICKIES LABOUR-SICKIES JOHANNESBURG

Jan 26 Sapa

HOPE FOR CURE FOR SERIAL SICKIE

A caring catch-up chat may be all that is needed to cure the "serial sickie" and improve work attendance on a Monday and a Friday, an absenteeism monitoring company recommends. "A good place to start would be to institute a return to work policy whereby employees are always interviewed by their managers on returning to work," said CAM solutions, which produce software that tracks sick leave.

"This makes employees uncomfortable if they have been fraudulently ill, and it makes them feel cared for if they have genuinely been sick." Managers can't assume an employee has been lying about being ill, but the meeting leaves the abusers feeling embarrassed, an effective way of stopping the abuse, they advise. A study of sick leave information from more than 60 companies in South Africa with over 150,000 employees showed that Monday and Friday are the favourite days for sickies. Flu, gastro and lower back pain are the serial sickies' ailments of choice, statistics show. "These illnesses are relatively easy to fake and so lend themselves to employees as good reasons to take a day off. The illnesses have quick recovery times, making it more likely that a person who took the false sick leave could show up the next day looking fine, without raising too many suspicions," said CAM's CEO Johnny Johnson.

Doctors can also be fooled when a patient says they have a headache, or describe the same flu virus symptoms as everyone else. "A lot of employees feel they are owed the sick leave and if they don't use it, they lose it. But it is really only there to cover an employee if they do get sick, so that they don't lose their jobs, and abusing it is paramount to fraud," said Johnson. The company also recommends rewarding managers whose team is rarely off sick and who are all happy and productive. Study exposes opportunists in the workplace – they use the same excuses, in the same patternIf an employee gets sick for just one day, on a Monday or Friday, and sites flu or gastro as the reason, bosses might just be justified in feeling suspicious.

Recent information provided by CAM Solutions, a specialist absenteeism software company, shows that employees abusing sick absenteeism tend to use the same excuses and follow the same patterns in terms of the day they choose to be absent - all around the country. The information is based on sick leave information from more than 60 South African companies with over 150 000 employees. According to statistics generated by CAMS software ABSOLV, most employees abusing the system chose to do so on a Monday or a Friday and they only took one day’s sick leave per incident. When it came to the reasons for being sick on these one-day absences, 2.23% of employees in the sample said they had influenza, followed by gastroenteritis for 1.49% of the 150 000 strong sample, and 1.47%of the sample said they had lower back pain for a day.

“We call these one-day sick days – taken on either a Monday or a Friday - opportunistic, because they mostly, but not always, occur when employees are looking for an opportunity to take the day off without taking annual leave,” says CAMS CEO Johnny Johnson.

“These illnesses are relatively easy to fake and so lend themselves to employees as good reasons to take a day off. The illnesses have quick recovery times, making it more likely that a person who took the false sick leave could show up the next day looking fine, without raising too many suspicions,” says Johnny Johnson. Johnson says it’s generally easier to fake a cold than to walk around pretending you had pneumonia, for example. And if a doctor’s certificate is required, doctors generally can’t argue with someone who says they have the same flu virus every one else has. A bad headache or an upset stomach is not something that is easy to detect without relying on what a patient tells them.

“A lot of employees feel they are owed the sick leave and if they don’t use it, they lose it. But it is really only there to cover an employee if they do get sick, so that they don’t lose their jobs, and abusing it is paramount to fraud.

“Companies looking to manage rife sick absenteeism abuse can be guided by wellness management companies. A good place to start would be to institute a return to work policy whereby employees are always interviewed by their managers on returning to work. This makes employees uncomfortable if they have been fraudulently ill, and it makes them feel cared for if they have genuinely been sick. Managers can’t assume an employee has been lying about being ill, but this return to work meeting generally makes the abusers very embarrassed and it’s very effective in stopping the abuse.” Johnson says another strategy is to reward managers who have a team of employees that is rarely off sick and who are all happy and productive.

“It’s easy to pick up the serial sick leave abusers using our software, because they take one day sick leave around the weekend, every few weeks and this is detected by our unique indices and report. “These serial abusers are costing the economy R 1 billion a year, and they are holding jobs that could go to more worthy, willing candidates in a difficult economic climate,” Johnson adds.

ends

Newsletters

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Kind regards,
The CAM Solutions' Team

Manage your Absenteeism!

Good Day,

As you may well know, absenteeism costs the economy in excess of R19 billion a year. And that just covers the direct costs; indirect costs could count for two to three times that figure. There are many reasons for absenteeism - people who are genuinely ill and those people who abuse the system. Sick leave is a conditional privilege, not a right to be taken at will.

Do you know how your company contributes to this figure of R19 billion a year? Do you know what your current absenteeism rate is? Do you know how to filter through the abusers of sick leave from those who are genuinely ill? Are you targeting specific people within your organisation - or are you dealing with the problem at hand?

Absenteeism could be costing your company huge amounts of money each month and you can't fully handle the problem, or resolve your absenteeism crisis, until you start to measure and benchmark where you currently are.
And this is where Absolv comes into play. Absolv is a software program, that can be purchased or rented as software or run over the Internet (www.absolv.co.za) that aids you in monitoring your absenteeism as a company and per individual. Not only can we aid you in reducing your absenteeism cost, we can highlight all areas that require your attention in creating a work force working to combating absenteeism. It is vital to know what your absenteeism rate is and then look at ways of bringing down this absenteeism rate through various interventions.

CAM Solutions deals mostly with sick absenteeism and other forms of unplanned absenteeism (AWOL, Family Responsibility Leave etc) that is measured and reported on through our ABSOLVTM software. This software produces a report called the Absenteeism Management Report (or AMRTM for short). A sample of this report can be viewed on our website and this will give you a good idea on what type of information you will be able to receive for your company.

Please note that 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)

Once the absenteeism management report (AMR™) has been produced, the above can then be analysed 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.

This report also aids employers in assisting those employees who are genuinely ill by highlighting those diagnoses that require attending to.

Should you be interested in using this software, kindly log onto http://www.absolv.co.za for more information.

To use our software online, log onto: www.absolv.co.za
To register as an affiliate partner, log onto: www.absolv.co.za/affiliates
For more information on CAM Solutions, log onto: www.camsolutions.co.za

Kindly confirm receipt of this e-mail by return e-mail.

Yours faithfully,
Michelle Bennett
EXECUTIVE PA
CAM Solutions
Providing Software Solutions in Health and Absenteeism Management
Tel: 041-368 6742
Fax: 086-524 1819
View our Absenteeism Blogs:
http://camsolutions.blogspot.com/ or http://www.absenteeism.iblog.co.za/

IMPORTANT NOTE: This e-mail contains confidential information and any unauthorised use or interception is illegal. If this e-mail is not intended for you, you may not copy, distribute or disclose the contents, including any attachments, to anyone, nor take any action in reliance on the content. If you receive this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

A Positive Mindset

A positive mindset keeps the doctor away
Absenteeism specialist software company CAM Solutions has released statistics, outlining the employees in a sample study who don't take any sick leave at all during a one-year period. The statistics, generated by Absolv absenteeism software, shows that in the 2007 cycle (Oct 2006 - Sept 2007), 47.2% all staff in the sample of more than 150 000 employees in over 60 South African companies did not take any sick leave at all. For the same period in 2008, the percentage of employees in this sample who did not take any sick leave had risen to 51.3%.
CAMS Chief Executive Johnny Johnson says, “Trend analysis over the last 10 years has shown that absenteeism rates are lower at times of downturn in the economy. As the economic situation worsens employees might feel their jobs could be threatened if they don't go to work. Wellness programs have also become more popular with employers and this could be contributing successfully to healthier lifestyles and positive mindsets for employees, or it could simply be that less people are getting ill and are not allowing minor illnesses to get them down."
Counselling psychologist Robin Farrington says as with any type of human behaviour, psychological and social factors intervene and influence the way people behave when they become ill. Individuals with a positive mindset often do not let life's problems get to them and have better resources to cope with stress. Stress has a direct effect on the immune system so it is often the cause of, or can exacerbate, illness. “Also, positive people tend not to take up the sick role; they don’t give an illness the time and space to develop. Whereas others who become ill, make sure that they have the time and resources to take up the sick role fully. A positive frame of mind also leads to a better lifestyle, inclusive of exercise and healthy eating, and therefore better health follows.
“A change to a positive mindset involves lifelong application, but a good mental attitude can help people who are always getting sick to become healthier,” notes Farrington.
HR Consultant for national insurance brokers Frontline Underwriting Managers, Tanya Bonner, says their firm has a very low absenteeism rate in their branches in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban.
“We believe this is because we continuously monitor our company’s wellness. When you take a genuine interest in the lives of the people who work for you it places you in the position where you can be firm without rubbing people up the wrong way; as well being compassionate and making appropriate allowances. It’s also a two way street. The company and its people are interdependent. Our employees know that we attribute our successes directly to them. With that comes significant ownership of the job. They treat the business as if it were their own.

She says, "The way people manage their lifestyles can also determine whether they are absent often or not.

“For example, if someone is unhappy with their job but don’t make changes or do anything about it then they will simply stay off work and may even get physically ill because they are fundamentally unhappy. Also, if women don’t have a proper support system in place for their young children, they then have be at home with their children if needed.

"If an employee complains month after month about an ailment but never seeks medical care then physically and psychologically the ailment festers and they stay off work. The same applies if they are prescribed a diet, medication, stretching exercises for a sore neck and don’t follow this diligently.

“Then there is the arena of psychological wellbeing, where people may have marital problems; problems with abusive relationships; and then still the vast and often unidentified area of substance abuse.

“If a company manages their leave schedules correctly then everyone is alerted to a problem that might otherwise have gone on forever,” she notes.

Johnson adds, “What companies should be doing is focusing on the percentage of staff who are not taking any sick leave at all and aiming to make that as high as possible. Absenteeism statistics that point out illness issues in employees or per department/manager for instance, and also supply benchmarks with regards to industry norms, make understanding and managing these figures a simple process. Once the figures are known, wellness and employee management is much easier and more effective.

"If companies follow their absenteeism statistics carefully and make sure that issues are resolved quickly, and with compassion, they will find that they are employing positive, healthy staff who don’t need to take sick leave because they like being at work, and thanks to their positive mindsets, they are also most likely going to get sick at lot less than employees with consistent negative mindsets.”

To view this and other articles, log onto our website at www.camsolutions.co.za. For a online demonstration of our ABSOLV software, log onto www.absolv.co.za.

Absenteeism Over the December Holidays

Does your company's absenteeism increase or decrease over the december holidays? Why not e-mail us on info@camsolutions.co.za and let us know?

Regards,
THE CAM SOLUTIONS' TEAM