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The CAMS' Team

Hope for Cure for Serial Sickie

Good Day,

Herewith our latest article on those who continuously take sick leave.

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'spattern If 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 pattern

If 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.

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.


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.

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

Absenteeism due to Diabetes

To view how absenteeism due to diabetes is dropping, read our latest article: http://www.camsolutions.co.za/newsdesk_info.php?newsdesk_id=43&osCsid=861b57ded65180cad6cebc8ca2019eb0

Regards,
The CAMS' Team

Too much to do, too little time

The pressure of having too little time and too much to do can be suffocating. The torture chamber of the mind pins us down with fear based thoughts of tomorrow and our bodies pay the price. We push ourselves to hold more, do more and try harder – so here is a little experiment to understand the limitations of the mind and to learn to look somewhere new for the strength to cope.

Try this experiment:

In your mind’s eye, picture 1 tennis ball. Got it? – (even a vague fleeting image will do). Now picture 2 tennis balls… see them both together… alright now picture 3… see all 3, not one at a time. Now picture 4 tennis balls… all 4… now picture 5… if you picture the tennis balls randomly scattered in space it will begin to be difficult to see all 5 simultaneously. Notice that to see them all together your mind may want to organise them into a pattern (like the dots on dice), so that you can see all 5 together at the same time. Go as far as you can with the visualisation, but don’t cheat, you must be able to clearly see ALL the tennis balls at the same time. The average person can see 6, after 7 it gets harder. The only way to see 9 and 10 is to have the balls in an organised pattern. Try it! See 9 without any structure or pattern, them put the tenni s balls in lines and patterns and notice how much easier it is.

So what is the message behind this experiment?

The torture chamber of the mind cannot hold more than a few concepts or things to remember at a time UNLESS the concepts are tied to other patterns and organised structures. More than 6 random, unconnected concepts means that you will start dropping balls, forgetting things and being unable to focus. If you have more than 6 things to hold in your mind at one time, you will feel the stress of TOO many tennis balls.

1. Understand how the mind works and accept its limitations.
2. Organise your to do list, or your concepts and worries into patterns – putting similar things together.
3. Structure the things on your mind and choose 3 to 6 (max) priorities for the day.
4. Write it down – if you have in on paper or in your diary your mind can release from trying to hold more than 6 tennis balls in the air.
5. Put the others mental burdens somewhere safe, where you will be reminded again tomorrow – so that your mind doesn’t have to look at EVERYTHING everyday.

Then most importantly, stop. Stop for at least 10 minutes a day and empty your mind of ALL the tennis balls – of all the worries and to do’s. Focus on the experience of the moment and open to the feelings and sensations that your body offers. Find gratitude for what you have and reconnect to your spiritual support.

New Offices

Good Morning,

Just to let you know that we have moved into our offices – we are at: Unit 8, Greenways Office Park, Cnr of Melsetter and Buffelsfontein Roads, Lovemore Heights, PORT ELIZABETH. Our new office number is 041-368 6742. All our other information remains the same…

• 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
Cell: 084-236 6388
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.

Self Help Motivation and Inspiration At Work

Author: Kym Robinson

Self Help Motivation and Inspiration At Work

Do you wake up each day feeling great, but once you hit the office you feel your inspiration and motivation have prematurely left the building? If so, there are some inspiring workplace ideas that you can put into action so that you feel more inspired when you work. You know, it doesn't matter how good you are at your job if you don't feel passionate about what you are doing all day!

Simple Ideas to find Inspiration at Work

One of the best ways to put yourself in a position to find the neccesary motivation is to make sure you are comfortable. You need to make sure your chair supports your back, your desk is at the right height, and you have an ergonomically correct keyboard and mouse. Repetitive strain injuries have been on the rise for some time now, so speak up and you just might find your employer willing to cooperate. I'm sure he would rather adjust the environment rather than deal with a workers compensation claim!

If that is not so - Worst case: bring in your own office supplies or equipment. There's no reason that your body has to suffer even if your boss is really stingy!

Clean Up and De-Clutter Your Workspace

I find inspiration by getting rid of the clutter on my desk and getting everything back to tidy! A cluttered workspace can zap you of your creativity because you spend more time trying to find things than actually getting your work done.

Look at your workspace objectively and ask yourself: "What absolutely NEEDS to be here?" Remove the things that make you feel claustrophobic, stop hoarding rubbish and toss the things you never use. File or bin anything else as your work items should be filed away in an organizational system that works for you.

Here's the bottom line: only keep the things that you absolutely need! Keeping anything else serves no purpose and adds nothing more than clutter and distraction. Then, all this clutter zaps your motivation and inspiration, so avoid it! Once you do, you'll think clearer and feel far more relaxed.
How Can You Create an Inspirational Computing Experience?

If you work in an office,I bet you spend most of the time on your computer? Do you ever clean up your computer? or do you have 72,000 emails sitting around and files you never use saved to your hard drive? Clean out your computer! Delete all your temporary internet files and your computer will run faster and then bring inspiration into your workspace through inspirational wallpapers.
Inspirational wallpapers are usually free downloads that inspire you during those long 8-hour workdays. After all, it can be hard to stay focused staring at your screen all day. But if you have to stare at it - make it something Inspirational!

You can check out these wallpapers when you are having a hard time getting started, getting motivated, or just finding the inspiration to push forward. Inspirational wallpapers typically contain beautiful landscapes with inspirational quotes or sayings. Sometimes all you need to get going is a gentle push in the right direction, and inspirational wallpapers just might be what the doctor ordered. It really can be that simple!

The great thing about these wallpapers is that they don't take up any physical space, so there's no need to worry about clutter. You also can use some of the images and quotes on the wallpaper to create screensavers for your computer. Your computer has the potential to inspire you in so many ways!

Inspiration can often seem impossible to find at work, but you may need to think outside of the box and find ways to get inspired. Keep things simple and don't let clutter get you down.

A really good idea is to listen to your Ipod or similar - if you can!

I listen all day long to self development cd's and find it just so good. Even when Im down and really struggling to find motivation, this workd great!

Now , if you are like me, and work from home - it can be really tough to stay on track somedays. If you have tried all of the above only to find you are still missing something, then get up and go for a walk around the block!

After all, this is the main benefit to working for yourself! You can go for a walk anytime you like! My block has water on 3 sides - its almost an island. I have the beach on one side, an inlet on the other and a lagoon on the other! I can see the inner city and beautiful pictures everywhere I look -now thats very inspirational for me, I feel very lucky!

When you feel down for whatever reason, use self help techniques to find motivation and inspiration at work and have a great day!

Ref: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Kym-Robinson-4189/-43964.php

ABSENTEEISM: FLU THE BIGGEST CULPRIT

To view our latest article - click here: http://www.camsolutions.co.za/newsdesk_info.php?newsdesk_id=40&osCsid=f1cf3fe113ca1f88a0af6bed5aed7028

CAM SOLUTIONS

Sick Absenteeism Management

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 local leader with regard to sick absenteeism management and providing benchmark information on absenteeism. (A web search using combinations of the key words “CAMS”, “Johnny Johnson”, ”AIC” will provide a number of results to support this assertion)

CAMS is currently in the process of identifying suitable candidates in various countries to represent its software as sole agents in those countries. Should you be interested in this opportunity kindly response to this email with a request for further information.

Below, follows further information on CAMS and its business:

The company owns specialized software, called ABSOLV™, which is utilized 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™) is attached to this mail.

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 ABSOLV™, and earn a referral commission of 25% on all revenue earned from that client should they sign up as an ABSOLV™ user.

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 utilized 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.

For further information please respond to this email or visit our website via the link below.

Regards
Johnny Johnson
CAM Solutions
Providing Software Solutions in Health and Absenteeism Management
Tel: +27 41 379 1981
Cell: +27 83 270 4630
Fax: + 27 86 694 1663
http://www.camsolutions.co.za

View our Absenteeism Blogs:
http://camsolutions.blogspot.com/
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.

What makes people ill?

Why is it that some people never seem to get sick and other people are always sick? What is it that makes the difference? Post your comments or answers on our blog...

Regards,
THE CAM SOLUTIONS TEAM

Helping staff with personal pressures can protect profit

HAVING employees bring their dirty laundry to work is just one way employers are starting to deal with a money-gobbling monster. "Sick absenteeism" cost SA an estimated R19.1bn last year.

In the first half of this year, 3.4% of all sick leave taken was due to stress, depression and anxiety, says Johnny Johnson, CEO of CAMS, a company that looks at corporate absenteeism.

"Companies should therefore continue to ask themselves what they could do to make their staff happy and productive."

With the economic difficulties being experienced by many people, most companies should anticipate an increase in absenteeism due to, among others, illness and stress, says Independent Counselling Services (ICAS).
ICAS provides employee assistance programmes to more than 350 corporate and public sector organisations within Southern Africa.

"Absenteeism doesn't occur in a vacuum, and in order to address it it's necessary to identify what drives it," says ICAS business intelligence and ICT manager Rochelle Mountany.

Organisations need to do an analysis of their leave patterns to identify:

• Their absenteeism rate;
• Who is taking unscheduled leave (according to department, salary band, gender, job grading, etc); and
• Patterns of leave (on what day of the week it starts, for how long it continues and so on).

Once an analysis has been done, says Mountany, steps can be taken to address the issues that emerge. Mountany says another useful tool is conducting interviews with all staff on their return from unscheduled leave. This can help identify underlying reasons for absence and provide assistance.

Most difficulties experienced by employees relate to personal relationships with partners, spouses and family members. This is followed closely by legal as well as financial concerns, with a significant number of worries about issues affecting their children and trauma emerging, she says.

Most of the people using ICAS services are women.

Financial difficulties are being identified increasingly as significant contributors not only to stress but also severe depression, which is often a driving factor in marital difficulties as well, Mountany says.

When there is low morale in a company, the reasons must be established, she says.

One possibility is communication: whether employees feel their voices are heard.

Gender issues can also play a role.

To achieve a healthy, happy workforce, managers can refer affected employees to the employee assistance programme to give them the opportunity to work through those circumstances that are affecting their attendance and work performance negatively, says Mountany.

These should not be seen as punitive measures, though.

The referrals have proved highly successful in resolving such difficulties, and have been found to improve attendance in many cases, she says.

Banking group ABSA says that a behavioural risk audit conducted with a total sample of 1.6% of its workforce showed that workplace and home stress were a reality in the lives of its employees. With this in mind, ABSA introduced an absenteeism-management programme for the first time this year as part of an integrated health and wellness programme.

"It can be expected that the cumulative effect of relatively high home and workplace stress may significantly affect the resilience of our workforce," says wellness group specialist Wezi Khoza.

She says a behavioural stress assessment by ABSA indicated a relatively high level of financial stress as experienced by the population in general.

So it is expected that staff with money problems and poor financial behaviour tend to reduce productivity and increase absenteeism rates.

By contrast, financially well-off employees report high levels of commitment to their work, lower absenteeism rates and greater pay satisfaction.

"Employees did indicate that financial assistance was one of the greater expressed needs."

Although there is no scientific evidence available to prove whether or not ABSA employees experience work-related stress, the company believes that as stress increases in people's lives, absenteeism will also increase. "Stress will always be part of the corporate arena, and will increase and decrease according to the impact that societal factors have on the population in general."

The individual's reaction to these stress factors will be determined by their resilience, Khoza says.

The integrated health and wellness programme's central focus is to assist employees to improve their resilience so that the impact of the everyday stressors is mitigated.

"Our programme has a holistic focus to address the individual."

Immediate counselling and rehabilitation services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, not only for employees but also for dependants of employees. The programme includes an array of externally and internally provided services covering assistance with financial, emotional, physical, intellectual, occupational and social needs.

ABSA determines the needs with an annual opinion survey and develops targeted action plans on the basis of the results.

Khoza says the best way for an organisation to boost employee morale is to demonstrate a caring attitude towards workers.

Vodacom chief human resources officer Lungi Ndlovu ascribes his company's low absenteeism rate to "a relatively informal working environment, where emphasis is placed on allowing employees to strike an optimal work-life balance".

As a competitive and results-driven company, Vodacom attracts "ambitious individuals who thrive under pressure."

The company also recognises that total remuneration has a direct effect on the morale and behaviour of individual employees and ultimately on its culture and performance.

Apart from laundry and dry-cleaning service available at its head office, an onsite "wellbeing centre" provides employees with services such as preventive primary healthcare. It has a nurse, doctor, dentist, dietician, hair salon and beauticians, medical services lifestyle programmes, gym facilities and a choice of personal trainers.
Employees can choose to sue the services of the onsite physiotherapist or wide variety of stress-relieving massage therapies available at the centre.

"The health and wellbeing of our employees are always at the forefront of Vodacom's human resources policies," says Ndlovu.

Business Day

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing perfect way to gain online clients

Affiliate marketing might just be the answer for companies who want to advertise their online services and don’t have large marketing budgets . Affiliate marketing works by offering website owners the opportunity to place a banner on their website, for which they are not paid, but if anyone uses this banner to click through to the advertised website, this information is registered by means of highly secure and confidential IP tracking and commission is paid if a sale is concluded.

Online statistic company CAMS uses this system to market their absenteeism software called Absolv, which is effective in monitoring, benchmarking and then managing absenteeism in companies of all sizes.

“Our software is the only one of its kind the country, and companies who want to clamp down on rogue absenteeism and manage the health and wellness of their employees, will find this is the simplest way to do so,” says CEO of CAMS, Johnny Johnson.

“Absenteeism costs this country R 19 billion per year in direct costs and possibly three times that amount in indirect costs. It is imperative for every company’s bottom line for management to be able to keep track of where money is being wasted on absenteeism abuse, which employees need attention due to illness issues and which managers need training in motivating their employees to greater productivity. This information is available via our software of through our online portal.

Johnson explains how affiliate marketing works, “The CAM Solutions’ Affiliates Database contains all the tools necessary to help those who wish to be affiliates for CAM Solutions to be able to market themselves as such.

"Affiliates register at http://www.absolve.co.za/affiliates and select from a number of marketing banners and tools. These banners and marketing tools are then included in their websites or any in online communication they may have with their clients (e.g. newsletters, etc).

“When a web surfer clicks, through an affiliate link, to our Absolv website, the affiliate username and code that is set in their browser is noted. Their IP address is tracked and stored, in a secure format, in our database along with the affiliate name. When this person decides to sign up and use the Absolv online web-portal, the script will look for this affiliate user name and code and will identify the affiliate, who will then be awarded the commission. Visitors sent through this affiliate link (the web banner referred to earlier) may also decide to sign up at a later stage, and the commission will still be awarded as this information is stored in their browser, as long as they are using the same IP address as the one logged in the database.

"We feel it is imperative to point out that the process is safe and secure and as well as being 100% confidential," he notes.

Johnson says, “Affiliates earn 25% commission of the client’s initial sign-on fee (R1 250) and their monthly fee (R5.00 per employee per month)."

Michelle Bennett from website Eastern Gifts and Things says she has been running her affiliate marketing programme for over a year. Michelle is currently publishing a book on effectively running an e-commerce website, in which she details the benefits of affiliate marketing. She has nine affiliates registered on her Eastern Gifts and Things website, and they receive commission when their websites direct buyers to her site.

"It's a great way to market our product and our affiliates earn money by doing nothing except hosting our banner on their websites, it works for everyone," she adds.

Affiliate marketing perfect way to gain online clients

Affiliate marketing perfect way to gain online clients

Affiliate marketing might just be the answer for companies who want to advertise their online services and don’t have large marketing budgets . Affiliate marketing works by offering website owners the opportunity to place a banner on their website, for which they are not paid, but if anyone uses this banner to click through to the advertised website, this information is registered by means of highly secure and confidential IP tracking and commission is paid if a sale is concluded.

Online statistic company CAMS uses this system to market their absenteeism software called Absolv, which is effective in monitoring, benchmarking and then managing absenteeism in companies of all sizes.

“Our software is the only one of its kind the country, and companies who want to clamp down on rogue absenteeism and manage the health and wellness of their employees, will find this is the simplest way to do so,” says CEO of CAMS, Johnny Johnson.

“Absenteeism costs this country R 19 billion per year in direct costs and possibly three times that amount in indirect costs. It is imperative for every company’s bottom line for management to be able to keep track of where money is being wasted on absenteeism abuse, which employees need attention due to illness issues and which managers need training in motivating their employees to greater productivity. This information is available via our software of through our online portal.

Johnson explains how affiliate marketing works, “The CAM Solutions’ Affiliates Database contains all the tools necessary to help those who wish to be affiliates for CAM Solutions to be able to market themselves as such.

"Affiliates register at http://www.absolve.co.za/affiliates and select from a number of marketing banners and tools. These banners and marketing tools are then included in their websites or any in online communication they may have with their clients (e.g. newsletters, etc).

“When a web surfer clicks, through an affiliate link, to our Absolv website, the affiliate username and code that is set in their browser is noted. Their IP address is tracked and stored, in a secure format, in our database along with the affiliate name. When this person decides to sign up and use the Absolv online web-portal, the script will look for this affiliate user name and code and will identify the affiliate, who will then be awarded the commission. Visitors sent through this affiliate link (the web banner referred to earlier) may also decide to sign up at a later stage, and the commission will still be awarded as this information is stored in their browser, as long as they are using the same IP address as the one logged in the database.

"We feel it is imperative to point out that the process is safe and secure and as well as being 100% confidential," he notes.

Johnson says, “Affiliates earn 25% commission of the client’s initial sign-on fee (R1 250) and their monthly fee (R5.00 per employee per month)."

Michelle Bennett from website Eastern Gifts and Things says she has been running her affiliate marketing programme for over a year. Michelle is currently publishing a book on effectively running an e-commerce website, in which she details the benefits of affiliate marketing. She has nine affiliates registered on her Eastern Gifts and Things website, and they receive commission when their websites direct buyers to her site.

"It's a great way to market our product and our affiliates earn money by doing nothing except hosting our banner on their websites, it works for everyone," she adds.