Record and Monitor Absence
So, you have a policy and you've identified your trigger points. Now you need the data!
It’s important that all occurrences of absence are recorded. You will need to set up a system of recording absence that works for your business, and you need to be recording all information to ensure that accurate monitoring can take place. For example, you will need to make it easy to review the data months down the line, you may need to identify patterns in absence such as Monday’s and Friday's or Tuesday’s after Bank Holiday Monday’s. If you’re only recording dates of absence rather than days of the week, this will make it very difficult to review quickly later down the line.
It’s important to record absence as it happens, i.e. daily so that you’re not trying to remember everything at the end of a week or month.
Finally, a review of all absences against trigger points and historical records should take place at the end of each month. If appropriate, you can also break this reporting down by department so you can clearly see if one department has a bigger problem than another - this can often be an indicator of a work-related reason for absence which is something that you can investigate and address if necessary.
Once you know how many days you’re losing each month, and annually, you can calculate the cost of absence to your business. Over time, you’ll be able to see the effectiveness of your absence policy s you will see absence rates, and the cost of absence to your business, reduce.
If you want PeakHR to advise on how best to record and monitor your absence, get in touch. We're specialists in absence management!