London – 19 August 2004 – Short-term absence is one of the biggest employee risks to any business operation, accounting for as much as 85 to 96 per cent of overall workforce absence and representing anything from 60 to 80 per cent of total workdays lost, according to Aon Consulting, a leading UK pensions benefits & human resources consultancy firm.

Organisations are now questioning the number of genuine cases of short-term¹ workforce absence - especially as short term absences are predominantly, if not always, self-certificated.

Research released from the CBI² shows that long-term absence represents a much smaller percentage of sick leave – on average five per cent or 33 per cent of overall days lost - than short-term absence.

Ben Thornton, Director of HR Services at Aon Consulting said: "We are not advocating that all short-term absence should be treated suspiciously. Indeed many factors can contribute to the frequency and length of employee sickness such as an individual’s resilience and personality, the availability of treatment, the individual’s domestic circumstances and the nature of the job in hand.

"However, attendance management should no longer be seen as just the concern of the company’s HR Department. It is a fundamental management issue, one that every level of management in an organisation needs to take very seriously in order to tackle the issue.

"In particular, short-term absence is a trend that no organisation can afford to ignore: it poses a greater disruption to the smooth running of the business than long-term absence."

Aon Consulting’s key recommendations to tackle workforce absenteeism are:

1. Ensure absence management is a key priority across your organisation, one that is supported by HR, Line Management and Occupational Health

2. Get the buy-in from your management to manage absence levels; this group is key to improving absenteeism in the organisation

3. Conduct return-to-work interviews for all staff absence, to try to establish the root of the problem

4. Treat absence as a symptom of a wider organisational problem: understand how your employees perceive your organisation and their own working environment.

Thornton added, "Employers and managers must not underestimate the power of two-way communication with their employees. By engaging in open and honest dialogue with employees and by listening to their feedback, employers and managers can minimise employees’ frustrations and directly improve both productivity and moral in the workplace.

Previous Aon Consulting research revealed a direct correlation between workforce commitment³ and effects of absence: where workforce commitment levels were low, there were higher levels of workforce absence. "

Note to Editors:
 

1. Short term absence can be defined as any absence from 1 – 7 days

2. Taken from CBI/AXA, Room for Improvement, Absence and Labour Turnover 2004

3. Aon Consulting’s Workforce Commitment Index, measures commitment by assessing employee’s productivity, pride in the company, intention to remain in their jobs, feeling of responsibility for their organisation and supervisors success and their trust in their organisations leaders. For more information on workforce commitment in the UK, please contact Charlotte Mandel on: 020 7 882 0567 or email charlotte.mandel@aon.co.uk

About Aon Consulting

Aon Consulting is a leading human capital consultancy, helping organisations of every size to attract and keep the employees they need. We advise on all aspects of employment, including health-related insurance and risk; employee compensation and pensions; human resource strategy planning; job design and change management; and staff assessment and legal issues.

Aon Consulting is a division of Aon, the UK’s largest insurance broker and provider of risk management services, a major force in reinsurance and the UK human capital consulting market.

Aon Consulting Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Aon Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in respect of insurance mediation activities only.