For our latest newsletter, focusing on absenteeism management, click here: http://www.camsolutions.co.za/newsletter-april-2008-a-27.html?osCsid=e9979a9e6623a3b60874b511e1156b60
Regards,
THE CAMS TEAM
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
How do you handle absenteeism?
How does your company handle absenteeism? Do you have problems with absenteeism? Why not e-mail us on info@camsolutions.co.za and tell us what you think?
THE CAMS TEAM
THE CAMS TEAM
Thursday, January 31, 2008
New Website
Our new website is up and running and includes interesting interviews and articles on the new Absolv software, aimed at helping you manage absenteeism.
Log onto www.camsolutions.co.za for more information.
Regards
THE CAM SOLUTIONS TEAM
Log onto www.camsolutions.co.za for more information.
Regards
THE CAM SOLUTIONS TEAM
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
In the Media: I Can't Come IN
I Can't Come In
Thomas McLachlan
27/10/2006
Absenteeism is the largest cause of lost time and poor productivity facing this country
Bunking work costs the country about R19billion a year, and Mondays and Fridays are the worst days for absenteeism, a survey by Corporate Absenteeism Management Solutions (Cams) showed on Thursday.
"Absenteeism is the largest cause of lost time and poor productivity facing this country," said labour specialist Andrew Levy, who studied the poll, "The Vanishing Workforce".
The major causes of bunking work and abusing sick leave were low pay, less responsibilities and repetitive work, said Cams chief executive Johnny Johnson. He said manual employees had consistently higher levels of absence than their white collar counterparts.
The research showed that more than half of all absenteeism measured in the sample was less than two days and 35 percent of cases involved an absence of one day or less.
Less than 20 percent of absenteeism periods occurred for longer than four days.
Most companies said there was a pattern to absence. The survey showed that most absences were recorded over a Monday or a Friday, or before and after long weekends or public holidays.
Levy added that companies could monitor their absenteeism effectively because of this.
"This becomes a relatively easy manifestation of abuse to identify and deal with. It is highly unlikely that there are medical conditions that arrive at the weekend with such reliability and regularity," said Levy.
The study found that the most challenging period for employers was December. The month was generally considered a period of lesser overall economic activity as the nation takes summer break.
Levy said employers' options during this period varied from compulsory leave for employees, to accepting that staff who were there physically might not be there in spirit.
The study follows a similar one by Cams, which found that 52 percent of South African employees who were booked off sick in winter had respiratory illnesses such as flu.
"Unfortunately, flu and respiratory illnesses are one of those things we will never be able to control completely," said Johnson.
Thomas McLachlan
27/10/2006
Absenteeism is the largest cause of lost time and poor productivity facing this country
Bunking work costs the country about R19billion a year, and Mondays and Fridays are the worst days for absenteeism, a survey by Corporate Absenteeism Management Solutions (Cams) showed on Thursday.
"Absenteeism is the largest cause of lost time and poor productivity facing this country," said labour specialist Andrew Levy, who studied the poll, "The Vanishing Workforce".
The major causes of bunking work and abusing sick leave were low pay, less responsibilities and repetitive work, said Cams chief executive Johnny Johnson. He said manual employees had consistently higher levels of absence than their white collar counterparts.
The research showed that more than half of all absenteeism measured in the sample was less than two days and 35 percent of cases involved an absence of one day or less.
Less than 20 percent of absenteeism periods occurred for longer than four days.
Most companies said there was a pattern to absence. The survey showed that most absences were recorded over a Monday or a Friday, or before and after long weekends or public holidays.
Levy added that companies could monitor their absenteeism effectively because of this.
"This becomes a relatively easy manifestation of abuse to identify and deal with. It is highly unlikely that there are medical conditions that arrive at the weekend with such reliability and regularity," said Levy.
The study found that the most challenging period for employers was December. The month was generally considered a period of lesser overall economic activity as the nation takes summer break.
Levy said employers' options during this period varied from compulsory leave for employees, to accepting that staff who were there physically might not be there in spirit.
The study follows a similar one by Cams, which found that 52 percent of South African employees who were booked off sick in winter had respiratory illnesses such as flu.
"Unfortunately, flu and respiratory illnesses are one of those things we will never be able to control completely," said Johnson.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
CAM Solutions
CAM Solutions will be re-launching their website before the end of the year. Watch this space.
Your CAMS team!
Your CAMS team!
Monday, November 26, 2007
The virtual office set up and productivity levels
Employees working from home in a virtual office environment are generally more productive than their counterparts in the “traditional office” environment. This is according to Johnny Johnson, CEO of Corporate Absenteeism Management Solutions (CAMS), and absenteeism management specialists that generate statistical data, which companies can use to monitor their absenteeism levels.
CAMS owns sick and health management software which is used by various service providers to optimize their consulting services for their clients. In addition, CAMS collates sick absenteeism information and provides benchmarks and overall sick absenteeism statistics. The actual sick absenteeism management consulting services can be provided by preferred providers contacted with CAMS.
Johnson says that among the major causes of absenteeism in South Africa are work and life issues, which include stress and burnout as well as personal needs and family crisis. When people work from home, they are less stressed, have more time to do their work and can take care of family issues because of their flexible working hours.
“According to our research, there were 524 incidents of sick leave related to psychological reasons, such as stress and depression in 2005, which means 4.5% of all sick leave days taken were due to stress. This particular form of sick absenteeism is no longer an issue in those who work from home as they can manage their time, and thus their stressors, more effectively, “ says Johnson.
“CAMS recently sold the wellness management and absenteeism consulting portion of its business and now my team and I work in virtual offices which are connected via a network. Whereas before, I had 10 people on the payroll, now there are a handful of us connected via the latest technology. I found that the payroll and overheads of the larger company became the tail that wagged the dog. I spent more time dealing with personnel issues than I did with growing the business.
“Now I prefer to work with other free agents on a contractor basis. Finding a good contractor is as difficult as finding a good employee but the relationship is more businesslike and less paternalistic. I work with IT personnel, designers and my PR on this basis,” he says.
“It’s the Information Age and the virtual office is the way of the future. In terms of traffic congestion, the expenses of running a large office, employee cost of travel, as well as sick absenteeism due to the stress of not being at home to solve crises, it makes perfect sense to do business this way.
“My team meets up regularly to discuss matters needing attention. We also visit clients on site when needed. We use wireless networks connected over the Internet via broadband with secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections between each other. These methods increase our productivity and help keep our costs down, thus making the business more efficient and increasing the value we can deliver to our clients,” Johnson notes.
Executive PA Michelle Bennett at CAMS says, “Working from home has actually been a huge adjustment for me – I really miss the corporate set-up. What I do like though is that I can work on my own time, there are times when I can’t sleep and am up at 05:00 and I start working. Or there is nothing good on TV in the evenings so I work. The flexibility is great, but I miss the interaction and believe it or not – I miss dressing up for work.
“I think that I am more productive when working from home, as there are no interruptions, meetings or traveling to worry about. I easily add about an hour or two of extra productivity time to my workday. And its pretty much stress free.” she adds.
CAMS owns sick and health management software which is used by various service providers to optimize their consulting services for their clients. In addition, CAMS collates sick absenteeism information and provides benchmarks and overall sick absenteeism statistics. The actual sick absenteeism management consulting services can be provided by preferred providers contacted with CAMS.
Johnson says that among the major causes of absenteeism in South Africa are work and life issues, which include stress and burnout as well as personal needs and family crisis. When people work from home, they are less stressed, have more time to do their work and can take care of family issues because of their flexible working hours.
“According to our research, there were 524 incidents of sick leave related to psychological reasons, such as stress and depression in 2005, which means 4.5% of all sick leave days taken were due to stress. This particular form of sick absenteeism is no longer an issue in those who work from home as they can manage their time, and thus their stressors, more effectively, “ says Johnson.
“CAMS recently sold the wellness management and absenteeism consulting portion of its business and now my team and I work in virtual offices which are connected via a network. Whereas before, I had 10 people on the payroll, now there are a handful of us connected via the latest technology. I found that the payroll and overheads of the larger company became the tail that wagged the dog. I spent more time dealing with personnel issues than I did with growing the business.
“Now I prefer to work with other free agents on a contractor basis. Finding a good contractor is as difficult as finding a good employee but the relationship is more businesslike and less paternalistic. I work with IT personnel, designers and my PR on this basis,” he says.
“It’s the Information Age and the virtual office is the way of the future. In terms of traffic congestion, the expenses of running a large office, employee cost of travel, as well as sick absenteeism due to the stress of not being at home to solve crises, it makes perfect sense to do business this way.
“My team meets up regularly to discuss matters needing attention. We also visit clients on site when needed. We use wireless networks connected over the Internet via broadband with secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections between each other. These methods increase our productivity and help keep our costs down, thus making the business more efficient and increasing the value we can deliver to our clients,” Johnson notes.
Executive PA Michelle Bennett at CAMS says, “Working from home has actually been a huge adjustment for me – I really miss the corporate set-up. What I do like though is that I can work on my own time, there are times when I can’t sleep and am up at 05:00 and I start working. Or there is nothing good on TV in the evenings so I work. The flexibility is great, but I miss the interaction and believe it or not – I miss dressing up for work.
“I think that I am more productive when working from home, as there are no interruptions, meetings or traveling to worry about. I easily add about an hour or two of extra productivity time to my workday. And its pretty much stress free.” she adds.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Calculation of Absenteeism Rates
By Johnny Johnson – CEO of absenteeism management specialists, CAM Solutions
Many employers do not pay enough attention to absenteeism, both the measurement and affects of absenteeism and its control. Almost all employers understand that high absenteeism rates have a negative affect on their business but the monetary effect of abnormally high absenteeism is usually not quantified.
AIC Insurance specialises in the underwriting of the direct cost of absenteeism and proactively managing the time that employees are not at work. Through contact with over 60 South African companies, we have found that in most instances employers are not aware of their absenteeism rate or they have not measured the absenteeism rates correctly. The old adage “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” applies and we have found that in the cases where there is uncertainty concerning the level of absenteeism there is almost always a low level of management control accompanied by a high level of absenteeism.
It is also common for employers, who have calculated their absenteeism rates, not to quantify the monetary cost of the absenteeism. This is particularly important with regard to unplanned absenteeism, which is mainly sick absenteeism and absence without leave (AWOL). The absenteeism rate multiplied by the basic earnings will provide management with the direct cost of absenteeism.
The indirect cost of absenteeism is often overlooked. This includes the cost of replacing the absent employee in critical positions, possible overtime payments to these replacement workers, as well as the affect the absenteeism has on workforce levels, medical aid costs, group life and disability premiums. We estimate that the indirect cost of absenteeism is at least 200% of the direct cost of absenteeism at normal absenteeism levels. This factor will be different for various industry types and will also increase when the absenteeism rate increases.
The general lack of focus on absenteeism is possibly due to the fact that the costs of absenteeism are not shown separately on management reports. This could be due to the fact that the amount incurred for paid absence is usually grouped with all staff costs. This includes the unproductive portion as well as the cost of replacement workers and overtime. The indirect costs are more problematic and it is very seldom that employers quantify the monetary affect that absenteeism has on the indirect areas such as production volumes, quality and morale.
Steps to manage and control absenteeism
It is important for any employer to follow a focussed approach and it is recommended that the following steps be considered when developing a plan to manage and control absenteeism.
Develop a company attendance policy and communicate this to all employees. The importance of attendance should be stressed and the policy should be communicated to all employees as a means of developing a culture of attendance. A balance between being firm and fair is suggested.
Evaluate and modify company policies and procedures to ensure that the correct framework exists within which to manage and control absenteeism.
Design a detection, monitoring and reporting system which will provide accurate and reliable data for reporting on absenteeism. This should ideally be based on information extracted from the time and attendance system, which is then filtered until final absenteeism data is obtained.
Calculate absenteeism rates and break these down into the various forms of absenteeism - both planned (annual leave, study leave, training leave, paternity, maternity leave, etc) and unplanned (sick leave, AWOL, family responsibility etc). It is recommended that these are incorporated into the monthly management reporting system.
Determine the appropriate level and department that will be responsible for absenteeism management. The best results are achieved when the departments where unplanned absenteeism has the greatest negative affect assume direct responsibility for managing absenteeism. The Human Resources Department should play a support role only - by assisting with setting policy and providing guidance for counselling and disciplinary procedures.
Prepare a detailed study to determine the affect that absenteeism has on all costs, determine appropriate factors and apply these to the direct absenteeism rates to obtain the total cost of absenteeism for the entity. This can be done by department or more accurately per employee.
Over time, develop benchmarks for certain absenteeism indicators and measure employees against these indicators.
Based on the broad results and individual profiles determined over a reasonable period of time, establish the causes of high absenteeism. The causes could be due to, among others things, social problems, occupational risks, employee morale, poor management and control systems, health problems, poor working conditions as well as delinquent employees.
Formulate attendance management guidelines which will focus on:
Policy
Ongoing monitoring and reporting
Introduction of employee assistance programmes
Calculation of sick absenteeism rates:
The calculation of sick absenteeism rates can at times be complicated with various methods evolving. As a rule, the rate should be based on productive lost time as a percentage of total available productive time for a certain period.
We recommend using the following formula:
A = B / C
Where:
A = Absenteeism rate for the period
B = Total number of mandays lost due to absenteeism in the period
C = Total number of working mandays available in the period
And where:
C = D x E
D = Total employees planned to work in the period
E = Number of available working days in the period
Where shifts are worked the calculation is more accurate if the “days” in the above formula is changed to hours.
The calculation and accumulation of the mandays/manhours lost due to absenteeism and the total planned working mandays/manhours per working period or shift will improve the accuracy of the measurement.
In addition the calculation should be performed per department to provide further indications on where possible interventions are required.
The higher sick absenteeism rates in the lower income groups are due largely to their poor living conditions and also reflects the type of work, mainly manual, that these employees are involved with. The level of income is also an indication of the level of responsibility. We have found that employees with lower levels of responsibility have higher levels of absenteeism.
Sick Absenteeism in Large Companies versus Smaller Companies:
Small employers are more successful at limiting sick leave abuse than the larger companies.
Many employers do not pay enough attention to absenteeism, both the measurement and affects of absenteeism and its control. Almost all employers understand that high absenteeism rates have a negative affect on their business but the monetary effect of abnormally high absenteeism is usually not quantified.
AIC Insurance specialises in the underwriting of the direct cost of absenteeism and proactively managing the time that employees are not at work. Through contact with over 60 South African companies, we have found that in most instances employers are not aware of their absenteeism rate or they have not measured the absenteeism rates correctly. The old adage “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” applies and we have found that in the cases where there is uncertainty concerning the level of absenteeism there is almost always a low level of management control accompanied by a high level of absenteeism.
It is also common for employers, who have calculated their absenteeism rates, not to quantify the monetary cost of the absenteeism. This is particularly important with regard to unplanned absenteeism, which is mainly sick absenteeism and absence without leave (AWOL). The absenteeism rate multiplied by the basic earnings will provide management with the direct cost of absenteeism.
The indirect cost of absenteeism is often overlooked. This includes the cost of replacing the absent employee in critical positions, possible overtime payments to these replacement workers, as well as the affect the absenteeism has on workforce levels, medical aid costs, group life and disability premiums. We estimate that the indirect cost of absenteeism is at least 200% of the direct cost of absenteeism at normal absenteeism levels. This factor will be different for various industry types and will also increase when the absenteeism rate increases.
The general lack of focus on absenteeism is possibly due to the fact that the costs of absenteeism are not shown separately on management reports. This could be due to the fact that the amount incurred for paid absence is usually grouped with all staff costs. This includes the unproductive portion as well as the cost of replacement workers and overtime. The indirect costs are more problematic and it is very seldom that employers quantify the monetary affect that absenteeism has on the indirect areas such as production volumes, quality and morale.
Steps to manage and control absenteeism
It is important for any employer to follow a focussed approach and it is recommended that the following steps be considered when developing a plan to manage and control absenteeism.
Develop a company attendance policy and communicate this to all employees. The importance of attendance should be stressed and the policy should be communicated to all employees as a means of developing a culture of attendance. A balance between being firm and fair is suggested.
Evaluate and modify company policies and procedures to ensure that the correct framework exists within which to manage and control absenteeism.
Design a detection, monitoring and reporting system which will provide accurate and reliable data for reporting on absenteeism. This should ideally be based on information extracted from the time and attendance system, which is then filtered until final absenteeism data is obtained.
Calculate absenteeism rates and break these down into the various forms of absenteeism - both planned (annual leave, study leave, training leave, paternity, maternity leave, etc) and unplanned (sick leave, AWOL, family responsibility etc). It is recommended that these are incorporated into the monthly management reporting system.
Determine the appropriate level and department that will be responsible for absenteeism management. The best results are achieved when the departments where unplanned absenteeism has the greatest negative affect assume direct responsibility for managing absenteeism. The Human Resources Department should play a support role only - by assisting with setting policy and providing guidance for counselling and disciplinary procedures.
Prepare a detailed study to determine the affect that absenteeism has on all costs, determine appropriate factors and apply these to the direct absenteeism rates to obtain the total cost of absenteeism for the entity. This can be done by department or more accurately per employee.
Over time, develop benchmarks for certain absenteeism indicators and measure employees against these indicators.
Based on the broad results and individual profiles determined over a reasonable period of time, establish the causes of high absenteeism. The causes could be due to, among others things, social problems, occupational risks, employee morale, poor management and control systems, health problems, poor working conditions as well as delinquent employees.
Formulate attendance management guidelines which will focus on:
Policy
Ongoing monitoring and reporting
Introduction of employee assistance programmes
Calculation of sick absenteeism rates:
The calculation of sick absenteeism rates can at times be complicated with various methods evolving. As a rule, the rate should be based on productive lost time as a percentage of total available productive time for a certain period.
We recommend using the following formula:
A = B / C
Where:
A = Absenteeism rate for the period
B = Total number of mandays lost due to absenteeism in the period
C = Total number of working mandays available in the period
And where:
C = D x E
D = Total employees planned to work in the period
E = Number of available working days in the period
Where shifts are worked the calculation is more accurate if the “days” in the above formula is changed to hours.
The calculation and accumulation of the mandays/manhours lost due to absenteeism and the total planned working mandays/manhours per working period or shift will improve the accuracy of the measurement.
In addition the calculation should be performed per department to provide further indications on where possible interventions are required.
The higher sick absenteeism rates in the lower income groups are due largely to their poor living conditions and also reflects the type of work, mainly manual, that these employees are involved with. The level of income is also an indication of the level of responsibility. We have found that employees with lower levels of responsibility have higher levels of absenteeism.
Sick Absenteeism in Large Companies versus Smaller Companies:
Small employers are more successful at limiting sick leave abuse than the larger companies.
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