HR expert shares secret of £285,000 absence saving at HRSS 2012

May 24, 2012 - PRLog -- Having devised, spearheaded and implemented an innovative absence management strategy with phenomenal results, Rosie’s seminar will explain how technology helped reduce Synergy’s absence costs and improve their overall approach to absence management.

She explains: “It’s no secret that there is a significant absence problem within the UK, with CIPD statistics revealing in 2011 that the median cost of absence was £673 per employee per year. But having identified that Synergy’s average employee absence rate was 12.96 days per year, this was something that I knew we had to personally address.”
Utilising HR technology to calculate Bradford Factor scores, run monthly absence reports, devise best-practice absence management workflows, Synergy’s management team became empowered to accurately and fairly link absences to workplace appraisals and consequently employee pay.

In 12 months, Synergy’s average number of sickness days fell to just 5.13, far exceeding the targets that Rosie had set for the company. This improvement represented a staggering £285,000 saving in pure salaries and on-costs alone.

Keen to monitor employee engagement and workplace satisfaction Rosie also surveyed the workforce to ensure morale had not been adversely affected. Encouragingly staff reported an average 86% workplace satisfaction rate, indicating that the benefits of the new absence management strategy were multifaceted.

Rosie continues: “With 350 employees, Synergy Housing is one of the largest property management and development organisations based in the South West. Absences therefore represented a costly issue for us, not just in monetary terms, but in relation to employee morale and workload too.

“However I would encourage companies of no matter their size or complexity to develop a better grasp of their absences, and understand just what impact this is having on their bottom line and business as a whole.”

Keen to deliver an impartial account of her own experiences Rosie hopes the presentation will offer an insightful and interactive learning session, something she believes will be a refreshing change from the traditional supplier sales pitches that are often heard at industry events.

She concludes: “I hope the points I raise can add real value to the efforts of HR teams across the country. I will welcome any questions at the end of the presentation, so that delegates can learn as much as possible from my session.”

Rosie’s presentation is entitled “Technology – alleviating the absence management headache.” This will take place at Olympia London on Wednesday 20th June at 12:15.