Flexible working can help reduce absence levels

The number of employers making changes to working patterns in a positive move to try and reduce long-term absence levels has increased by 20% in the last year alone, according to figures released by the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development.

The annual CIPD/Simplyhealth Absence Management survey reveals that, after a small decrease reported in last year’s survey, absence is back up to the levels observed in 2011 and 2010, at an average of 7.6 days per employee. Absence levels are highest in the public services sector (8.7 days per employee per year) and lowest in the manufacturing and production sector (6 days per employee per year).  Absence levels tend to increase with organisation size, regardless of sector.

With absence levels on the rise again, employers are attaching growing importance to making changes to working patterns and environments, as a means of managing long-term absence levels: 85% of employers reported that they’d adjusted working patterns this year, compared to just 65% in last year’s survey. This spike bucks the trend of previous years, with figures only marginally improving by 2% between 2010 and 2012. What’s more, amongst those organisations who shared their experiences, over 70% report that introducing flexible working opportunities in the past year has had a positive impact on absence levels.

Dr. Jill Miller, CIPD Research Adviser and co-author of the report said:

“Changing demographics, including more people with caring responsibilities and the abolition of the default retirement age, means more people are looking to work untraditional hours. Offering more flexible working opportunities also helps to respond to the needs of the UK’s ageing workforce, in which older employees will increasingly need and want to work in different ways and with different hours as they move towards retirement.”

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