Time and attendance systems play a vital role in mitigating the effects of sickness absence

Implementing an efficient, modern and reliable time and attendance system could help businesses mitigate the negative effects of long-term sickness absence, which seems to be affecting an increasingly higher number of employees, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Recent research from manufacturers' organisation EEF suggests that overall sickness absence in the sector remains low at 5.1 days (2.2 per cent). In terms, of causes, data published in the 2015 Sickness Absence Survey points out that, while back pain and musculoskeletal disorders are still the main cause of long-term absence (38 per cent), one in four companies surveyed said they now lose more working days to stress and mental health disorders.

The survey also found that just in 10 companies in the sector provide training for line managers in mental health issues and only 2 per cent of companies have an open mental health disclosure policy.

The financial impact of a lack of 'hands on' intervention is largely unknown as almost three quarters of manufacturing employers do not measure the cost of sickness absence, even if they happen to have a time and attendance system installed the report found. Of those who do offer health and well-being benefits, 70 per cent fail to measure their return on investment.

"The importance of occupational health and growth in health benefit provision resonates with employers who are increasingly recognising the productivity impact of ill health. It is therefore a little surprising that so many organisations still do not have formalised systems to identify absences at an early stage so these can be managed through effective interventions," said Iain Laws, managing director of UK healthcare and group risk at Jelf Employee Benefits.

"Reliable, easy to use absence recording systems empower employers and managers to provide the support to employees to minimise absence and manage longer term or complex cases. This in turn can have a positive impact on benefit costs as early detection and action often means lower treatment costs as well," he added.

A Tensor time and attendance system is the perfect solution for sickness absence monitoring

A top-range time and attendance monitoring system can easily determine the best strategies to tackle the problem of excessive presenteeism and determine employers to set comprehensive policies to support employers in dealing with sickness absence.

The Tensor WinTA.NET integrated time and attendance system and workforce management solution incorporates a dedicated Absence Planning and Entitlement Management feature. It comes pre-loaded with graphical calendar charts that provide a colourful way of viewing an individual's or a department's absence records.

Each employee can be allocated different entitlements for absence such as annual leave or allowed sickness. As absence is booked and taken, the remainder available for each entitlement is updated. Entitlement formulae are used to calculate more complex entitlements calculated on a rising scale based upon length of service.

If you'd like to find out more about the Tensor workforce management solutions, just contact our team or Book a Demo, we'll be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.