It is no surprise that sickness absence rates and costs are on an upward trend, with many employers underestimating the cost of absenteeism. The pandemic has put a huge strain on workers and their families and homeworking has added to this with people feeling isolated from colleagues and the usual work environment. This may cause both mental and physical illness, leading to more people taking more time off.
It is therefore vital that employers accurately track absence and manage it effectively to reduce costs, such as loss of productivity and paying other staff overtime.
At HealthBoxHR, our Sick Leave tool offers the ability to monitor absence trends with complete visibility over your workforce. Both employees and employers can add notes as to the nature of the leave so that you can gage where supports is needed, such as wellbeing or mental health.
HealthBoxHR also offer our Mental Health Management tool which enables employees to log how they are feeling. This enables employers to identify any issues early, and hopefully offer the employees the best support as well as minimising any negative impact on the business.
According to a new study from The Open University, 69% of firms are having difficulty finding employees with adequate digital skills.
According to the study results, the majority of employers (77%) believe they have a digital skills gap in their organization and are struggling to hire new personnel with suitable digital abilities and upskill their present employees.
In the UK, search phrases like ‘I can’t afford my bills’ (+400) and ‘I am always worried about money’ (+300 percent) have risen dramatically in the last 90 days. These figures illustrate that money has a significant influence on mental health across the country.
In reaction to these findings, Lowell, a credit management business, performed research into the financial difficulties that Britons are experiencing.
