Employers must improve sickness absence management

Businesses are being hindered by a lack of effective sickness absence management, despite 53% of employers believing they're well equipped to deal with long-term absence, a survey has found.

Of the 500 British employers surveyed for insurance provider Aviva's annual absence management report, 265 believe they're well set up to deal with long term absence but a similar proportion (45%) admit that it is a big issue for their business.

The report looks at the immediate impact an absent employee can have on the workplace if adequate support isn't in place:

• 40% of employers say someone else has to pick up the work
• 27% say productivity falls
• 22% believe it impacts the business financially
• 21% say service standards suffer

The report shows that 17% of employers are seeing other staff members go off sick when their colleagues are off long-term.