Workplace absences can have a huge negative effect on a business, resulting in less efficiency, extra pressure on colleagues and higher staffing costs.
Imagine if an employee was away from work for weeks due to an illness or injury, what effect would this have on your business?
A recent report the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) outlined the extent of the problem:-
- Accidents in the work place currently cost employers up to £6.5 billion every year
- Injuries at work cost employers up to 36 times the amount of any insurance payment
- In 2003/2004 an estimated 9 million working days were lost due to a workplace injury
Your employers’ liability insurance will already include cover for compensation claimed by an employee for loss of earnings and medical expenses as a result of a workplace injury. Therefore there are advantages to rehabilitating your employee in an effort to get them back to work as quickly as possible.
The advantages to rehabilitation are clear:
- Reduces insurance claims which have a direct effect on premiums
- Saves the time it would take to train the new member of staff
- Demonstrates commitment to employee wellbeing
- Private rehabilitation of injuries is far quicker than on the NHS
- Employees feel more valued so increases loyalty
How can you help to get your employees back to work?
Employees need a combination of medical and vocational rehabilitation to ensure they are ready to return to the workplace.
Medical rehabilitation is used to help the injured employee by working to get their health, as near as possible, to how it was before the injury occurred. This would entail a qualified medical staff ensuring that all treatment is appropriate and best for the employee, whilst always being cost affective.
After this, the aim is to get the employee back to work through adjusting their working environment, skills and duties to help them feel confident and comfortable. The focus of vocational rehabilitation is to help people retain or regain the ability to participate in work.
How can you monitor and reduce the chance of these incidents happening in the first place?
Managers may not have sufficient time to keep track of trends in sickness and their work related causes, so they could miss important information which could help them prevent future absences.
Assistance can be provided to managers with the support of absence management services.
Absence management will:
Reduce absence rates
Reduce the likelihood of employees being injured at work
Increase productivity
Increase employee loyalty
Promote adherence to legal and regulatory standards
Company insurance can do more than just provide compensation as it can protect you and your employees in the event of a workplace incident, guide you through the rehabilitation process and assist in getting the employee feeling confident enough to return to work.