Will this Autumn see the Great Absence?

We’ve all heard about the Great Resignation where after the pandemic so large numbers of workers have decided to resign from their current job and either take up new employment or become self employed.

We are now told to expect the Great Reset, where many employers will commence restructuring plans and trim back on operations to save costs leading to redundancies.

Now its officially cosy jumper weather I do wonder whether this Autumn we will see the Great Absence.

Every September we see more staff absence than in August. Whether its COVID-19, which peaked again last September, whether it’s sickness bugs or the common cold. Many of us are in much closer contact with humans again that can only mean one thing, new germs!

So what can you do to prepare for the Great Absence?

1. Make sure that your absence reporting procedure is clear and well reported. You can’t have issue with staff who don’t follow it, if they don’t know what it is and where it can be found.
2. Ensure you have a process in place to get Self Certification Forms completed on an employee’s return to work and consider using Return To Work Interviews.
3. Make sure its not the employee’s responsibility to record their absence, but the Line Managers.
4. Record absence and consider using the Bradford Factor to speak to employee’s who has a high amount of short term absence to find out what is the underlying reason.
5. Be consistent in how you manage absence.

Just an aside…

When staff let you know that they are unfit for work and need to leave, there’s often no benefit in expressing your disapointment or concern. They are unfit for work. By all means address the effect of their absence, but on their return not before they go.

What can you do to prevent absences?

In many cases there is little an employer can do to prevent absences. In some cases talking to the staff about your difficulty staffing your setting can help. For example if an employee knows you will find it difficult to replace them they may ask to leave early to take a child to the Doctors rather than have the whole day off.

Can you do more to promote Employee Wellbeing? We provide healthy fruit and encourage staff to drink water throughout the day. We have also never dropped our COVID-19 hygience practices of handwashing, disinfecting tables and chairs and using antibac gel. We feel it has reduced germs but there’s nothing scientific I can quote to prove it.

We have a Managing Absence Toolkit available here.

If you want to discuss any aspect of managing your employees in your Day Nursery, Pre-school or Club please call us on 01527 909436.