Proactive Absence Management

Absence costs money! In 2013 the UK alone lost 131 million work days due to sickness (UK Office of National Statistics). CBI in 2013 estimated the cost of absence in the UK to be £14bl. Now most companies’ approach to absence is to cover it at overtime, or having extra staff on shift to cover for an absence. Some companies even ignore the problem in the hope that if they don't manage it, it will go away. This is the most expensive option because what you don't control has a habit of running wild. 

Having extra staff on shift is not only expensive but also reduces productivity and leaves shift managers continually firefighting. When we have reviewed company’s productivity against the number on shift we have found that if there are too many people for the work then less work gets done. 

"Too many cooks spoil the broth!"

This is because no manager likes to see a worker standing around doing nothing. Plus no one likes to stand around doing nothing, it’s demoralizing, tiring and everyone who is working will hate you for it. So the manager will reorganize the work to suit the number of people there. This takes time and is not as efficient as if you always have the correct number available. 
Furthermore most companies never estimate the number who will be absent off shift correctly. They only use averages which are misleading, leaving most companies correctly staffed on only about one third of shifts (by using averages). On about two thirds of shifts they are either wasting money or losing money. So we created an approach which ensures that an operation always has the correct number of staff and only the correct number of staff on shift every shift.
Proactive Absence Management is about tackling absence head on. Most companies have no absence strategy, and those that do invariably use discipline and overtime to minimize the effect. This is both expensive and negative. Therefore our approach is to first of all estimate absence. So we look at historical data. The simplest statistic is Absence rate. Then using Dr Angela Moore’s statistical model (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S583GA0/) we can predict not only how much absence will occur but predict how many will be off each shift. 

E.g. if you have a 2.5% Absence Rate and 10 people using a shift pattern which scheduled them to work on 260 days/shifts per year you would expect to see; On 202 days you would expect no one to be absent. On 52 days per year you would expect one person to be absent and on six days per year you would expect two people to be off. Hence you can plan your absence procedures on a maximum of two people being off because it is highly unlikely that three people would be absent on the same day. So we set up the shift pattern to give two people on-call or two cover shifts each day to cover for absence. 

Ideally we would suggest using a holidays included shift pattern to maximize efficiency and minimize disruption to the operation. Then suggest that Banked Hours is used to provide the absence cover at basic rate not overtime rates. Obviously if you can cover the absence at basic rate this is cheaper than overtime, so there is a year on year significant cost saving. 
The result of this is that absence is covered in house at basic rate to minimize cost and ensure that the best people are there to maximize productivity. The procedures are created up front so that shift managers are not left firefighting day in day out. The shift workers never have to worry that they will be under or over staffed on shift, and this minimizes stress. The shift workers also have a shift pattern that gives them a good work/life balance. Oh and as a bonus if the Banked Hours system is operated correctly some companies can see a significant fall in their absence rate.
If you would like us to help you be proactive towards absence please contact us via email: alec@oranalysts.com or call for more information 0044 (0) 1636 816466

What's Wrong with You?

We all get sick, it is inevitable. Yet when we call in work there is the third degree over why are we ill, why did this happen, when will you be back to work? Some managers think that the best way to discourage illness is to interrogate you. The idea is to make you so uncomfortable that you will never be ill again.
But ask yourself, do you really want to be working with someone who is sick? Do you want their cold? Do you want to have to cover their workload because they have to keep running to the loo? And what happens when the illness is serious? Someone comes in looking like death warmed up, then the next thing you know they have collapsed because the journey was too much for them. Then you have to go off with them to the hospital.
Not all absences are fraudulent just because they coincide with the cup final. Here are the most common reasons for short term absence with little or no notice:

• Accident/illness while coming to work, this could include heart attack, car accident, falling down the stairs or slipping on ice.
• Cold and flu. These normally take three days to two weeks to resolve themselves. If they come back too quickly you may find the entire shift goes down with it.
• Accident/illness at work – with a secondary caveat about escorting a colleague to hospital. The most common are scolds, (don't drink your tea hot), cuts, falling down, strains from lifting too heavy objects, migraines. The first aid box is not an ornament. Ever time it is used you loose out on the person injured and the first aiders time.
• The last meal they ate disagreed with them. Food poisoning does happen. Fortunately most of us get over it in 24 hours.
• Just got back from holiday with some dreadful disease. (You should prepare for this happening every time they go abroad.) If they do winter spots they make brake a bone.
• Reoccurrence of long standing illness, e.g. migraine, epilepsy, back problems, dizziness, etc.
• Tooth problems. Cavities and infections can come on quickly.
• Other problems/diseases are:
• Diabetes
• Typhoid or Para typhoid
• Dysentery or Food Poisoning
• Jaundice
• Rheumatic Fever
• Heart Complaint
• High/low blood pressure
• Tuberculosis
• Asthma, Bronchitis, Chest Complaints
• Faints
• Skin troubles e.g. rashes, boils.
• Arthritis.
• Ruptures
• Mental problems
• Hepatitis
• AIDS
• Eventually, these will all cause absence from work.

If you have a 24x7 operation. All staff will require a Health check to certify that they can work Night shifts. If they fail this health check, you might need to dismiss them on medical grounds, or arrange for them to have a different role in the organisation.
Predicting who is likely to be ill always helps. At the end of the shift always ask "How are you?" Also encouraging your staff to report an illness helps you to cover for it. Most illnesses do not happen immediately. There is a build-up where they might feel a little off colour. Encouraging them to keep you up to date with their illnesses can help with providing cover. If they think they might not be able to come in to work tomorrow, then you can ensure that there is someone available just in case. It gives cover staff extra notice. The more notice a sick person gives you, the more you can pass on to the staff.
When considering absence, you should always consider Tardiness. What to do if they do not arrive on time? Does someone stay late from the previous shift, or do you call in a cover person? Some companies lock the door at the start of the shift. Then open it after fifteen minutes, and deduct the pay. Others do not allow the person on the previous shift to leave till they are relieved. Then they don't get paid for the extra time till it is over an hour. How many times are you going to make your colleague stay late with no overtime before they do the same to you?
If you would like to know more about covering for absence then follow this like to our website.
Or watch our video on absence tips: My Top 10 Tips for Proactive Absence Management

I'm having a Bad, Bad Day

When you do a round robin at the last minute, trying to get somebody to come in and cover for an absent colleague, it ruins everybody's' day!
It ruins your day! I mean, who wants to call up people on their day off and ask them for a favour. It makes you look unprofessional and disorganised. It gives people leverage to use against you. "I was there for you last week when you needed someone at the last minute. So now I need Next Saturday off!"
It ruins the day of everybody you call too! They are off work, the last thing they want to think about or be reminded of is work, and you are calling them on their day off! There is the guilt of not being able to work the shift. What does that mean? Will it affect their pay, will it affect any promotion? How do you see them now because they turned you down? They were at home, happy. Now they are a wreck, angry at you for disturbing them yet afraid of the consequences!
And then there is the person who is willing to work on their day off at short notice. They thought they had a day off, now they are working. What does that mean for them, are they the saviour of the team, they stood up and did the work when nobody else would? Or are they the person who is taking all the overtime?
So you bit the bullet and covered this absence. Well done! What about next time? Who do you call? What is the order? Do you call the person who did it last time first because they are more likely to do it again? Does this open you up to bias and bullying allegations? Is this a fair system?
However sometimes you will fail. There will be no one willing to cover that Saturday Night shift. So what then. Does that mean that you have to go in and cover it. Or will the rest of the shift be forced to take up the slack. You will be working with one less person, so everyone will be over worked and stressed. But also you will fail to meet your deadlines and have falling profits.

This is not the Answer!

A round robin is an emergency measure. It is not a day to day tool to cover for absences. Emergency measures are expensive, they are to cover that 100 year flood, they are not there to be used every day. And if you are covering absence with a round robin, it will be an everyday event. Then what does that say to your shift workers? It says their time is not their own! It says that I can and will call you up every day, no day is a day off!

Positive Absence Cover

There is an alternative! You can have a fair, unbiased system that gives you peace of mind and your employees privacy. You employ an Absence Cover Arrangement. You can't stop people being ill, it is as investable as taxes. So a good manager plans for it.
The first step is to understand the scale of the problem. Your absence rate will tell you how often you will need to cover an absence and from this you can calculate how much you should budget for. My book Understanding Your Absence Rate available from Amazon will tell you how to convert your absence rate into the expected number off shift.
The second step is to have a cover arrangement for every contingency. So what do you do if one person is off? What do you do if two people are off etc.
The third step is your budget. There is no point in creating an absence cover arrangement if half way through the year you run out of money. So what is achievable and what is not? How much will it cost you to go short? When can you go short and when do you need a replacement?
The fourth step is to understand the tools at your disposal. The Round Robin is one. But not the best and definitely not for everyday use. So you can use cover shifts, extra staff on each shift, Banked Hours overtime, TOIL, flexible shifts and even combinations of these.
The fifth step is implementation. If you did all of your planning correctly then you will be covered for every contingency. But you don't want to be called at four in the morning because someone called in sick, you need to delegate. You need to have a system that will allow your staff to report in sick, then the procedure is followed so that the correct person comes in to cover.
The sixth step is recording and monitoring. Once you have your system in place, you then just need to monitor what happens and record the absences, and cover arrangements. To help you do this our software VisualrotaX will record all absences and allow you to keep track of everyone's hours, cover shifts and Banked Hours.


You can also view our video Proactive Absence Management Tips https://youtu.be/-9q3sLkcgxs


We are currently working on a new e-book Positive Absence Management, due to be released later this year. This e-book will tell you what tools are available for you to use to cover your absences. Then it will take you through step by step how to implement them. However if you need help before then please email us or call us on +44 1636 816466

Cross Training

Absence is always a problem, any when it occurs you need a way of replacing that person. You can't have everyone knowing how to do everyone's job. Most are too specialised and it would cost a lot in time and training cost. not to mention having to pay higher salaries for these super skilled people. So most companies use Cross Training.


Cross training is where you train all of your staff in two skills. A primary and a secondary skill. By cross training your staff so that they all know at least two skills you can cover for one absence across all skill sets with just one person.

If each person knows two key skills then you replace the missing skill with either the cover person or if their skill does not match then each person in the team moves into their secondary skill set until all of the skills are covered.





The image above shows an absence in skill 3. The cover person can only cover for skill one. Fortunately all of the staff know one additional skill, so the cover person does skill 1, staff member 1 covers skill 2, staff member 2 covers skill 3. In this way all of the skills for the whole group can be covered by one cover person.
For example in a power station there are about 120 skills in the matrix and keeping everyone up to date in all their respective skills is a full time job. Everyone needs regular training and experience in all of their skills. However the benefits out way the costs. It maximises flexibility and ensures that the power station can operate effectively no matter the situation.