Solutions for businesses when tackling the annual £31bn absence cost
Access aCloud releases a new absence calculator to help businesses determine how much absences truly cost their organisation and if it is an area worth investigating and investing in.
The absence calculator uses the Teamseer software to track an organisation’s absences and illustrates instantly how much they could save.
Last year it was reported that absences cost UK businesses £31bn on average per year. In 2013, the cost of absences declined marginally, however with employees taking nine days off sick on average, the tangible cost of sickness has risen.
Sickness related absence last year accounted for 90% of UK businesses’ absence bill costing £28.8bn. The remaining 10% covers industrial action and compassionate leave.
Access aCloud reported that they saw an increase in cash-strapped businesses using attendance records when considering redundancy; and with the average cost of absence per employee amounting to £700, you can understand why some businesses are adopting leaner principles to combat factors that affect morale, productivity and profitability.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), an organisation of 200 employees earning on average £498 per week, who take the average 2 days absence, can cost the company £39,846. However, if they were able to reduce the absence to 1.5 days per employee the organisation can save £9,961.
Absence increases costs for businesses, can cause operational difficulty and undermines quality. Such costs can include:
- Sick pay
- Lost productivity/lost sales
- Reduction in quality/service
- Low morale – leading to higher staff turnover and reduced productivity for the rest of the team
- Additional overtime and administration costs
- Risks of litigation/payouts
- Additional burden of costs of managing escalated absence issues
- Cost of absence in terms of budgeting and forecasting
By using absence calculators such as Access aCloud’s, business are able to track the true cost of absences in the organisation and begin to understand if this is a problem worth tackling and whether investing in a better system is required.
HR systems go a step further by doing the calculations automatically. They are designed to look at actual days lost based on individual working patterns and salaries, and calculate the actual costs incurred.
To use the calculator visit the following link: http://www.accessacloud.co.uk/solutions/acloud-teamseer/cost-of-absence-calculator.aspx
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