Staff illness, while not generally a massive issue, can be dealt with effectively by understanding the root causes. There are three different types of illness-related absenteeism commonly seen among General Practitioners. These can help you figure out other underlying problems, which can help identify why staff members are ill and will help deal with it.
Types of absenteeism:
- Short-term – illness of less than a week
- Repeated – short-term illnesses being repeated, thus creating a pattern
- Long-term – lasting up to several weeks
Different levels of employees exhibit different types of absenteeism. Senior staff and managers rarely take leave, out of a sense of responsibility or control over the working pattern. If a senior member is absent for longer, it could be a sign that work stress or relationships are beginning to affect them.
Other staff members will have a higher level of absenteeism, doubled that of senior staff. It can be due to bad management causing stress, which can be understood through an open discussion once the staff member returns to work.
While stress and the relationships at the workplace are possibly the biggest contributors to illness, personal and family issues as well as nutritional issues also do affect staff absenteeism levels.
Dealing with absenteeism needs to be handled with caution. First understand the nature of the issue and establish the root cause. Use this understanding to reduce absenteeism as much as possible. If it is stress that is causing absenteeism, look at introducing new work practices and re-look at the working relationships. If it is a physiological reason such as a bad back, see whether it is the office furniture or even lifting methods that are causing it. Changing furniture and providing training for proper lifting are easy enough and cost effective mechanism to implement.
Through monitoring, having open discussions about what is causing illnesses and putting in place strategies to address health issues, staff absenteeism can be reduced substantially.
