4 Things You Need to Know to Reduce Workplace Stress

Posted on

August 6th, 2018

shutterstock_174875483 Stress is one of the leading causes of employee absenteeism. However, stress is a multipronged issue with several sources. Some of the most common include:

Excessive employee workload
Issues with coworkers
Unengaging or unsatisfying work
Low salaries
Limited opportunities for growth or advancement

With over three-fourths of workers reporting feeling stressed, successful managers need to make themselves aware of the stress points and take steps to mitigate them.

How to Tackle Stress in the Workplace

Identifying problems isn’t enough—great managers will take the initiative to resolve them. The following are several methods that can reduce different types of workplace stressors.

Set clear goals and expectations. If staff members have to sit and wonder what they are supposed to be doing or what the end goal is, they are wasting time. Not only does this stress them out, it also creates delays, which can compound their stress. By providing clear instructions and appropriate details, employees will understand what they should work on and why.
Encourage activity or exercise. Encourage employees to get moving whether they go for a walk during lunch or hit the gym. Moving the body can allow the brain to take a mental break. Staring at a screen for eight hours straight for days on end can stress an employee to the point where they become ill or lose motivation. Encouraging employees to take a 5-minute stretch break or walk every couple of hours can allow them to decompress and improve their focus.
Imbue flexibility into your company culture. Employees have lives outside of the workplace and great managers will recognize this. Employees need flexibility to keep their work and life needs in balance. Allowing for flexible schedules so employees can come in earlier or later will help accommodate parents with children in school or employees who are attending college courses at night. Offering the ability to work an extra hour per day, four days a week so employees can take a half day on Friday can also boost morale. Implementing a work from home policy can reduce employee stress as well as it gives them the ability to work from home if they can’t come in due to caring for a sick child or family member.
Recognize employees’ achievements. Recognizing team members’ efforts makes employees feel appreciated and valued. This can improve their engagement and productivity as well. Acknowledging hard work can be as simple as having a chat about the great work the employee has been doing or as grand as recognizing employees during meetings or events.

Great managers will make sure their employees know they care about reducing their stress. This fosters loyalty, improves workplace productivity, and reduces absenteeism due to stress. To learn more about improving employee attendance, contact the experts at Actec.

How to Curb Summertime Blues and Improve Attendance

Posted on

July 18th, 2018

Andrew

shutterstock_252811903 - Copy Sunny days can entice employees to fake a sick day. There isn’t anything unusual about waking up on a beautiful day and wishing to spend it lounging by the ocean than in an office. However, more and more people are giving into this impulse and calling out of work. This is a challenge for employers as it‘s difficult to determine who is ill and who is spending the day at the beach.
Economic authorities refer to the moment when employees decide to call out of work to enjoy a sunny day the bliss point. One expert found the exact statistics to trigger the bliss point are:

81 degrees Fahrenheit including humidity (27.2 degrees Celsius)
Clear skies
A gentle breeze (9 mph or 14.7 km/h)

Most workplaces blame stress for why workers misuse their sick leave, but it’s worth looking at the weather as a possible motivator.

How to Reduce Weather-Induced Absences

Compounding the problem, the employees most likely to call out of work to enjoy the weather are the ones who can least afford it. For example, new employees or at-will employees are on tentative grounds as their employers can fire them with relative ease. While remaining gainfully employed should be reason enough, employers plagued by absenteeism may need to provide another incentive.
Offering flexible hours, such as arriving earlier in the day to be able to leave earlier and still enjoy the weather may be enough to tip the scales. Employers could also consider allowing employees to work an extra hour Monday-Thursday so they can take off half a day on Fridays.
Businesses also need to consider the work environment they provide for their staff. If the building is lacking sufficient natural light, stuffy, or otherwise uncomfortable during the summer months, employees will actively want to avoid it. Providing simple but fun summer activities can help as well such as offering popsicles in the break room. Getting employees outside can reduce the impulse to call out of work as well. Companies can achieve this by encouraging employees to go for a walk during their lunch, eat outdoors, or hold walking meetings.
If your business is struggling with summertime absenteeism, Actec can help. Our absence reporting system can help employers reduce the frequency and duration of absences as well as improve employee productivity. Contact us to learn more.

How to Help a Sick or Injured Employee Return to Work

Posted on

June 26th, 2018

Andrew

woman in wheelchair When an employee is absent for an extended period due to an illness or injury, how their employer handles their return to work is critical. Mismanagement of an employee’s recovery process can lead to a delayed return and relapses. Employees may be anxious about returning to work or feel worried about falling ill again. How an employer communicates with the employee during an extended absence can make or break the employee’s return to work.

The Employer’s Responsibility to the Employee

Employers may think their job is done when they finish processing a worker’s compensation claim, but that’s not the case. Employers need to work with the employee and the employee’s doctor to develop a successful treatment plan. Part of that plan should include:

An overall assessment of the employee’s work setting
What available support exists for the employee
If transitional work is an option
How to adapt the employee’s job if possible

By addressing the above, employers can know what to expect when the employee returns. The employer can also help facilitate a safe return with a suitable timeframe.

Establish Frequent and Open Lines of Communication

Sick or injured employees are often afraid to return to work full time. If the last time they spoke to their boss was their first day off work, their anxiety will likely be through the roof. Employers should touch base with sick or injured employees often to keep up to date with their progress as well as any setbacks they encountered. Employers should also work with the sick or injured employee’s direct supervisor to make sure he or she understands the employee’s needs when returning to work.

Flexibility is of the Essence

When a sick or injured employee returns to the workplace, they aren’t likely to be at the top of their game. Expecting them to be at 100% of their previous productivity is unrealistic and likely to result in a setback. Some examples of return-to-work flexibility include allowing the employee to return on a reduced schedule, decreasing the employee’s number of duties, or allowing the employee to work from home a certain number of days per week. That being said, while it’s important for employers to support the employee as they return to work, they shouldn’t let the employee walk all over them either. Employees returning to work should be able to make measurable strides toward resuming their original workload.
Establishing a unique return-to-work plan for a sick or injured employee can help set the employee up for success and diminish the likelihood of a relapse. If your company’s return-to-work policy is lacking, Actec can help. Contact us to learn more about managing employee absences.

How to Calculate Your Employee Absenteeism Rate

Posted on

June 11th, 2018

Andrew

chart-2785902_1920 Employees miss work for a number of legitimate reasons. Vacation time, holidays, and approved leave don’t count toward the overall absenteeism rate since employers can plan for these absences. It’s the unexpected time off from work that has a significant effect on productivity, workplace morale, and profits. Employers need to gain a measure of their overall staff absenteeism rate before they can ascertain if there is a problem or take steps to rectify it. Employers should use the following to calculate their quarterly employee absenteeism rate.

Determine the average number of employees during the given quarter. There are a few ways to determine this number. The easiest way is to take the sum of the total number of employees at the start of the quarter and the end of the quarter, then divide that number by two. Employers could also take the total sum of employees at the end of each month of the quarter then divide it by three. A third approach is to total up the payroll deposits for each pay period during the quarter then divide that number by the number of payroll periods. For this example, let’s assume there is an average of 50 employees for the quarter.
Compute the total number of workdays in the quarter. This number should exclude legal holidays. However, it should include odd days such as additional days when a quarter starts or ends during the middle of the week. Next, employers should multiply the total number of weeks in the quarter by five since there are only five workdays to a week. Then, employers should add the total number of odd days and subtract the holidays. This will provide the total number of workdays during a quarter.
1. Example: (12 weeks in a quarter x 5 workdays per week) + 4 odd days – 1 holiday = 63 workdays
Find the total number of available workdays. Employers can do this by multiplying the average number of employees by the number of workdays determined in steps one and two.
1. Example: 50 employees x 63 workdays = 3150 available workdays
Determine how many days the company loses to absenteeism. Employers can do this by using a standard 8-hour workday to factor in fractions of a day. Let’s say an employer’s absence reporting system indicates employees called out sick once per quarter and missed an additional 3 hours per quarter outside of pre-approved vacations days and holidays. Employers would then use the following equation to determine their total number of days lost to unplanned absences.
1. Example: (50 employees x 1 sick day) + (50 employees X 3/8 hours missed) = 68.75 workdays lost to absenteeism
Calculate the quarter’s rate of absenteeism. To determine this number, employers should take the total number of days lost to unplanned absences and divide it by the total number of available workdays then express it as a fraction.
1. Example: 68.75 workdays lost / 3150 available workdays = 2.18%

Once employers establish a baseline for absences, they can easily and swiftly notice a steady or sudden increase in attendance problems. Employers can then investigate if the absenteeism problem is company-wide or department-specific. Employers can use such insights to make management changes, redesign tasks, or implement steps to reduce workplace stress. To learn more about reducing absenteeism in your business, contact the experts at Actec.

How to Reduce Summer Seasonal Absences

Posted on

May 28th, 2018

Andrew

shutterstock_174875483 The lure of the sun, beaches, and time with family grows stronger with each passing week of summer. Employees will want to take advantage of their vacation time, and so long as employers manage the schedule, it shouldn’t be a problem. What is an issue, however, is unscheduled or frequent absences. Employees who always call out on Monday or seem to fall ill every Friday take their toll on the rest of the staff’s morale as well as their productivity. The following are several methods employers can use to manage summertime absenteeism.

Remind employees of their current sick leave, vacation time, or overall paid time off (PTO). Employees who take a day here or there may not realize how much time off they actually have. Remind employees to check their leave bank so they remain aware of the time they are burning. This may curb the urge to call out on Monday if the employee realizes he or she won’t have enough time off to take their long-awaited vacation.
Balance remaining employees’ workload when staff members go on vacation. Everyone deserves a break, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of the remaining employees at the office. Stressed employees are more likely to call out themselves, exacerbating the workload problem. Managers should spread load the absent employee’s work so as not to overwhelm the remaining staff.
Provide incentives for perfect attendance. For example, every employee who has perfect attendance for a week gets his or her name entered into a drawing. At the end of the month, their employee will pick a name and give that employee a reward such as free movie tickets, a gift card, etc. This encourages employees to come to work on time every day to have their name entered as many times as possible to increase their odds of winning.
Keep track of attendance. Companies that don’t have a system for tracking absences will quickly have an attendance problem on their hands. Implementing a system that allows employers to see patterns in absences gives them the opportunity to address attendance problems before they get out of control.

If you suspect that your business has a summertime absenteeism problem, Actec can help. Our absence reporting system can track casual absences, FML, and disability. Our system helps businesses reduce absenteeism while complying with federal and state laws regarding leave. Contact us to learn more.

What Do Chronic Employee Absences Say About Your Organization?

Posted on

May 14th, 2018

Andrew

shutterstock_252811903 - Copy An employee calling out from time to time is not cause for concern. Even numerous employees calling out in quick succession can have a plausible explanation, such as the flu making its way through the office. However, excessive absences that remain unchecked can have significant consequences for businesses. Absences cost money, impede efficiency, and can hurt office morale.

Interpreting the Message

If a company notices patterns surrounding employee absences, they need to determine the root cause. Absences almost always have meaning. The following represent the most common explanations for continuing employee attendance issues.

Unclear attendance policies or limited enforcement. If the employee handbook does not underscore the importance of adhering to arrival and departure times, employees are likely to believe their hours are flexible. The handbook also needs to clarify the leave request policy so employees know how to report sick days.
The attendance policy is unreasonable. Employers need to take a hard look at their workforce when setting start and stop times. For example, many retail jobs rely on high school students. However, if employers demand their student employees arrive to work minutes after school lets out, they are asking for failure. Refusing to allow vacation or personal leave can also cause numerous sick leave requests. Attendance policies need to take into account employees’ work-life balance. Everyone needs time off work for personal matters, and attendance policies should reflect this.
Personal problems. If employers notice the same employee calls out on a regular basis or always leaves early on Fridays, there may be a personal issue at play. Employers should schedule a time to talk with the employee to determine the issue. For example, the employee may be taking night classes on Fridays and needs to leave early to get to class on time. One solution for this scenario is to allow the employee to begin and leave work earlier on Fridays to meet their work schedule and school schedule needs.

Employers may not notice an attendance problem until it is out of control. By implementing absence reporting and tracking programs, managers and employers may notice trends regarding employee absences. This allows them to take action right away to contain the absences. If your office is struggling with absenteeism, Actec can help. Contact us today to learn more about our absence reporting program.

Five Critical Advantages to Enhanced Employee Attendance Tracking

Posted on

April 10th, 2018

Andrew

shutterstock_174966584 sm Most employers realize the value of employee attendance tracking systems. However, not all tracking systems provide the same services or features. When employers and employees work together to make the most of the attendance system, both parties can reap significant benefits. The following points highlight how such a system provides benefits for all:

Business leaders can identify attendance issues before they get out of hand. Attendance trackers do more than keep records of when employees request time off work. They can also show when employees arrive, when they take breaks, and when they leave for the day. It can show if certain employees are abusing the system by arriving a bit late, taking long lunches, or leaving earlier than they should. While a few minutes here and there is not a big issue, it adds up and can affect productivity as well as morale if it continues unchecked.
Attendance trackers expedite payroll processes. Employees expect their employers to pay them in full and on time. Attendance trackers can help speed up this process, as HR does not have to hunt down information about attendance (either absences or overtime). The system collects and stores all of the relevant payroll data in one place.
Improves employee morale. While employees may show chagrin regarding a new attendance tracking system, their opinion will likely do a 180 when HR responds promptly to their time off requests. While employees often plan vacations well in advance and can wait for approval without issue, not all requests have such a long shelf life. For example, if an employee’s child becomes ill, he or she will want a rapid response to their request. The system can improve workplace morale in another crucial way as well. Employees who are always late or leave early tank the morale of their coworkers who arrive on time and complete a full workday. It creates a sense of unfairness and can delay projects. The system can identify employees with attendance issues and allow managers to correct them.
Employers can embrace telecommuting without fear. While today’s workforce desires flexible schedules and the ability to work from home, many employers worry that employees will not give their full focus to their job if they are not in the office. However, many attendance trackers come with or have the ability to add on a remote clocking feature. This provides accountability while allowing employees to work from home.
Employee tracking systems reduce absenteeism. We touched on this point somewhat above, but addressing attendance issues such as arriving late or leaving early is different from full-blown absenteeism. Calling out of work for legitimate issues is normal, but when an employee begins to call out for unnecessary reasons, it becomes a problem. Without an attendance tracking system, it can be hard for employers to keep track of when employees called out and why. This can lead to overlooked absences or illegal disciplinary measures, such as if an employee called out for federally protected reasons (i.e. ADA, FMLA, etc.). However, with an attendance tracking system in place, employers can see which absences are reasonable and which they will need to address.

If your business is struggling with attendance problems or absenteeism, Actec can help. Our absence reporting system can help employers implement consistent leave administration and reduce absenteeism all while complying with federal and state laws regarding employee leave. To learn more, contact us today.

How to Reduce the Cost of Employee Absences

Posted on

March 26th, 2018

Andrew

shutterstock_252811903 - Copy Employee absences cost businesses money in a number of ways. The company must pay the employee for sick leave, productivity slows down, and other employees may have to take on the burden of additional work if their coworker remains absent for an extended period. The majority of human resources professionals agree that employee absences take a noticeable toll on revenue and productivity, but many employers do not track the effects of employee absence on their bottom line.
While employers cannot change the fact that employee absences come at a cost, they can reduce the overall expense. The following are several suggestions for achieving that goal.

Start tracking attendance. If an employer is not monitoring when employees call out of work, they cannot hope to measure the true costs. Although this seems like common sense, few HR professionals feel their company tracks absences well enough and not many businesses use an integrated system to do so. By keeping track of absences, employers can recognize patterns or growing problems. For example, employers may notice certain employees always call out on Fridays or Mondays. Having reliable data can help employers address such attendance issues before they get out of hand.
Assist employees trying to return to work. If an employee is out of the office for an extended period due to a serious illness or injury, returning to work full time can be daunting. Offering a phased return to allow employees to work up to their full schedule can help minimize their anxiety. Another option is to provide accommodations such as a flexible work schedule or the ability to work from home. These approaches minimize the likelihood of a relapse.
Improve the office atmosphere. Stress is a significant source of employee absences. Stress can make employees more prone to illness and to calling out for mental health reasons. Stress in the workplace is a compounding issue. When stressed employees call out, their absences then adds additional stress to their coworkers. It can begin a vicious cycle of unhappy employees. Improving the workplace environment to reduce stress and improve morale can reduce these issues.

If your company is struggling with absenteeism, Actec can help. Our absence reporting program can help employers keep track of employee attendance, reduce absenteeism, and improve productivity. Contact us today to learn more.

HR & Absence Management: Valuation of Holistic Wellness Programs

Posted on

March 12th, 2018

Andrew

shutterstock_174875483 Employee wellness programs continue to grow in popularity, even as many fail to reach their initial projections. Yet enough successful programs exist for us to conclude that wellness initiatives can be highly effective employee engagement, health, leadership, and recruitment tools when implemented tactically. Bombarding employees with disjointed wellness options has proven one of the most common mistakes in recent years, yielding low participation rates and gross inefficiency.
This is in large part because employees have a wide variety of needs and perceptions regarding wellness programs. Some employees have strong misgivings about wellness programs while others are thriving fitness enthusiasts. Implementing a sustainable wellness program that yields high participation rates is challenging because changing behavior is difficult – even when employees have sufficient motivation.
Rather than focusing on one specific aspect of health, employers need to provide programs that encompass the majority of their staff needs. The following are several methods employers can use to foster an holistic approach to employee wellness.

Offering a variety of different wellness programs is the key to success. A holistic approach means providing more than exercise-based offerings. Take a litmus test of what employees want out of a wellness program. They may value financial advice, exercise and nutrition programs, mental health services, or all of the above. Having several options will appeal to a larger percentage of the workplace, yielding higher participation.
Offer free health screenings. Employees may have a false perception of their health. If they do not know what ails them, they may not take part in wellness offerings that can prevent health-related illnesses and injuries.
Provide incentives and health challenges. Employees like to engage in games and friendly competition. By offering a prize to the employee who best achieves their health goals (i.e. 10,000 steps each day or sticking to their budget for the month), employers are more likely to see participation rates soar. Company leadership may think employees should want to improve their health and wellbeing without an incentive, but prizes (monetary or otherwise) always help with engagement.
Measure the effectiveness. Implementing wellness programs is not enough to improve employees’ health and wellbeing. Businesses need to measure the return on their investment to see what works and what does not. For example, employees may take part in a step challenge to achieve a minimum number of steps each day but neglect company-wide 5K runs. By seeing what employees use and which programs yield results, employers can fine-tune their wellness programs for maximum success.

Wellness programs can be great successes or dismal failures depending on how a company implements them. Effective programs can improve employees’ health and reduce absences. If your business is struggling with employee wellness and absenteeism, Actec can help. Contact us today to learn more.

How to Stop FMLA Abuse in its Tracks

Posted on

January 15th, 2018

Andrew

fmla While most employers don’t begrudge their employees taking legitimate leave, problems arise when employees begin to abuse FMLA with intermittent absences. This type of fraud is difficult to tackle due to numerous and complex Department of Labor (DOL) regulations. Even so, businesses can take several steps to curtail fraudulent, intermittent leave.

Understanding FMLA

Before addressing suspected leave abuse, employers must understand FMLA. The act allows eligible staff members to take 12 weeks of leave for medical reasons including to care for sick family members. FMLA also allows military caregivers to take up to 26 weeks of leave. Under FMLA, employees can take this leave without running the risk of losing their job. This includes repercussions, so employers cannot demote absent employees protected by FMLA.
Problems begin to occur when employees determine how they will take their leave, as FMLA does not make such stipulations. Employees can take their leave in one fell swoop or they can take it in intermittent blocks. If an employee opts for intermittent leave, they must provide their employers with 30 days’ notice. However, intermittent leave is not always foreseeable; in this instance, employees only need to provide notice as soon as is feasible. This last part is what allows for much of the existing FMLA abuse.

Strategies to Tackle Leave Misuse

Employers who believe staff members are misusing FMLA have some options available to them. When an employer receives notice for the need for FMLA leave from their employees, they can request a doctor’s note certifying that intermittent leave is necessary. If the employee returns with a doctor’s note, and the employer still has suspicions, they can do the following:

Request a second medical opinion. If the second opinion differs from the first, employers can seek a third opinion to provide a majority rule.
Request that employees provide a re-certification every 30 days or when the minimum duration of the condition passes.
Require employees to submit a fitness-for-duty certification before allowing them to return to work with no restrictions. This helps reduce claims of relapse.
Require employees to provide status reports on a regular basis to stay abreast of their progress and recovery.

Some leave abuse is obvious, such as when an employee is only absent on Mondays or Fridays. If an employer has reason to doubt the employee’s stated reasons for needing leave, they can request a re-certification. While most FMLA leave requests are legitimate, employers cannot afford to overlook fraud. Taking proactive steps to mitigate leave abuse helps improve workplace morale and productivity. To learn more about managing employee absences and leave requests, contact the experts at Actec.