How does your company compare?

XpertHR has released a national benchmark for absence rates and costs in the UK. Although all companies are different and few operate the same, it is always good practice to check how you are doing in comparison to the rest of the UK. How does your company compare?

All data has been split into ‘National’, ‘Services’, Public Sector’ and ‘Manufacturing’ with the general UK average above. Some surprising results have come to light.

Absence rates have fallen successively every year between 2008 and 2012 (from 3.6% to 2.5%), but now they have started rising again. Could this be due to a real rise in absence by fed up and over worked employees or have we simply gotten better at measuring absence, bringing previously under cover figures to light?

The facts seem to suggest the first. Only 3 out of 10 companies measure what absence is costing them and less than half measure absence at all.

The UK’s median absence rate in days lost, is now 5.9 days annually, which is 2.6% of total yearly working time per employee, with some staggering differences between the sectors. The median  cost is now thought to be between £388.89 and £600 per employee, per year. When this is put into perspective, these costs are so easily avoidable using even the most basic absence management techniques.

The XpertHR article in question sets out 5 steps that you can walk through to measure how well your business is doing against the benchmarks. If you are unable to answer some of these questions, then you are likely to be falling well behind.

Honeydew Health can help your company to begin gathering these statistics and work together to combat your absence levels and costs, even before a problem begins. Simply join our Linkedin Group or sign up to receive our newsletter and let us conduct a free absence diagnostic for your company. Don’t bury your head in the sand!