Managing absence at East Sussex County Council

At East Sussex County Council we recognise that employees are our most valuable resource. Our headquarters is in the county town of Lewes, but across the county as a whole we employ nearly 16,000 staff, many of whom commute from neighbouring Brighton, the coastal strip and the surrounding rural area. As well as office-based staff, the Council employs teachers, social workers, home helps, countryside workers and administrative staff who work at a number of sites spread across East Sussex. In total, the Council occupies around 600 buildings to facilitate the delivery of its services to the local community. The challenge and the response The Council has suffered from high rates of absenteeism. In 2002/03 sickness absence levels were 9.23 days lost per employee high, compared to the top quartile for all county councils, which was 7.6 days. In 2005, the situation seemed intractable. Employee absence within the Council was running at a level that was considered unacceptable. The real challenge was longterm sickness absence. At that point, some 250 staff had been signed off on longterm sick leave, and there seemed little chance that they would return to work. So the decision was made to tackle this in four specific ways: revising the attendance management policy and procedure creating a dedicated Attendance Management team scrupulously collecting accurate and up-to-date data on sickness absence facilitating prompt intervention by Occupational Health.

Revising policy The attendance management policy and procedure was revised with new trigger points of four weeks for any long-term absences, and for short-term absences either three absences within six months or one absence of more than eight days. Departments hold investigative interviews with staff who have triggered. We additionally created an Absence Management steering group with senior crossdepartmental representatives, for whom the remit was the adoption of a strategic approach to managing absence and to targeting departmental resources to key activities. Attendance Management team

Customisable document taken from http://hr-inform.cipd.co.uk This document is for your guidance only. Professional advice should be sought before use.

We established an Attendance Management team within Personnel and Training (PAT), whose role is to monitor employee absence and to train and advise managers on how to tackle this issue, utilising a variety of communication methods such as circulars, email and telephone support, as well as brief-bite and whole-session training workshops. The ability of this small but specialised and highly effective team to focus on this key aspect of professional personnel advice and provide guidance on specific case management has enabled our managers to feel much more confident about tackling both long-term and short-term absences. The training for managers on how to implement the revised policies has been key to success of the work of the Attendance Management team. Accurate and informative data Key to this is having accurate and informative data about who is off sick, for how long, trends, patterns, etc and that is where our Workforce Planning team has excelled in providing innovative solutions. With over 15,000 employees, the task of monitoring absences from an overall perspective is very challenging but has been achieved by working closely with departments who are committed to reducing sickness absence. Quarterly monitoring information is provided at a departmental level and more detailed information on aspects such as reasons for absence provided according to departmental requirements. Monthly trigger reports are passed on to managers to enable them to take appropriate action to meet their targets. This information helps departments to identify trends in sickness absence and instigate measures to improve attendance and return-to-work times, thus increasing capacity and saving money. Quarterly absence levels are reported to the Human Resource Management Board, who are also involved in setting departmental targets. Of particular importance is the breakdown of absence into short- and long-term, and Workforce Planning provides the Attendance Management team with monthly lists of those employees who have been absent for more than 28 calendar days. The team then contacts line managers and liaises with Occupational Health. Data quality is also of the utmost importance, and the data input team has been provided with extra training on the correct recording of data and data transfer from the absence forms to the computer database. Bi-monthly quality audits are also undertaken. Once an employee is listed as having a long-term absence or as taking frequent short-term absences, prompt intervention from the Occupational Health team can take place so as to pave the way for an early return to work. This is an essential part of our strategy. Less than two years ago our Occupational Health (OH) team was over-stretched there was one full-time adviser and an OH physician who spent half a day per week on site. The roles within the OH team have been transformed during the past year, involving a much-increased focus on prevention and well-being. We have secured
Customisable document taken from http://hr-inform.cipd.co.uk This document is for your guidance only. Professional advice should be sought before use.

funding for additional staff, which means that our OH nurses and physicians can now provide the Attendance Management team (and thus our line managers) with comprehensive guidance on employee case management, including: individual support programmes eg counselling, stress coaching, suggested lifestyle changes, etc workplace/work pattern adjustments eg task rotation, temporary restricted duties, etc phased return-to-work arrangements.

All absentee processes have now been streamlined and tightened. Any employee who is off sick for more than four weeks is automatically referred to the OH physician. Those who have had three periods of sick leave in six months also get an automatic referral, as well as those who are absent for eight days or more in six months. No occupational sick pay at all is paid to employees in their first year of service. The team also provides an occupational health advisory service for a further 15,000 staff in other organisations in the area, including the nearby Brighton and Hove City Council. With this sound foundation in place, HR has been able to introduce a comprehensive well-being programme to engage staff in a proactive approach to maintaining their health and well-being and thus their attendance at work. The programme includes a host of activities which staff can opt into voluntarily. These include running, squash, Pilates, yoga, and alternative therapies such as Indian head massage and hypnotherapy, as well as health training from FitBug a scheme that creates bespoke corporate health and well-being programmes. Employees also have access to pedometers, a smoking cessation scheme, slimming groups and stress management advice. All this costs the Council very little. Indeed, all it provides is a venue for therapists staff opt in and pay for their treatments themselves. Rates are cheaper because of the number of people attending, and work time is made up under the Council's flexitime system. Communication has been the key to getting this message across to staff. The scheme is promoted on plasma screens in the canteen and publicised through team briefings, leaflets and a well-being intranet. A recent pilot scheme to provide physical therapy treatment for staff with any form of musculo-skeletal problem has proved popular with both staff and managers alike. The scheme has enabled employees suffering with, for example, back pain to

Customisable document taken from http://hr-inform.cipd.co.uk This document is for your guidance only. Professional advice should be sought before use.

access up to five sessions of physical therapy with a local specialist provider, thus facilitating an early return to work or in some cases, preventing time off altogether. What differences have we made? Absence rates have been reduced during the past four years by 13% from 9.23 days lost per full-time employee to 8.01 days, allowing over 1 million to be refocused to deliver front-line services and increasing productive days by 7,500. The achievement in some areas is quite remarkable: one department recorded a 21.1% reduction in absences. Our Occupational Health referral report time has reduced from eight to three weeks. Our well-being programmes are making a difference too. So far, 26 people have quit smoking (eight of them after hypnotherapy sessions), and more than 350 pounds/158 kilograms was collectively shed in 17 weeks by staff signed up to Slimming World. Staff surveys also show that 73% of staff enjoy working for the Council, an increase of 6% since last year. In its Adult Social Care department, the average number of days lost to sickness each year has fallen from 18 to 13 since the new way of managing absence has been introduced. This approach has helped the County Council to sell the well-being approach to senior managers. Engagement at all levels within the organisation has been crucial to the success of our overall approach. Significantly, the scheme has buy-in from the top. Chief executive Cheryl Miller sees the scheme as an effective morale booster, and has been a regular user of the reflexology workshops. Engagement of the staff and the trade unions is key. Developing and promoting a positive industrial relations climate is fundamental. The unions and staff each have their opinions, but so does the organisation, and it is about debating and exploring the points of view. Allowing staff access to schemes such as physical therapy treatment has proved popular and has helped get our staff back to work quicker in the event of a musculo-skeletal injury. Our tips for 10 steps to implement a well-being programme 1. Start at the top: commitment from senior managers is essential if you are going to make well-being a priority.

Customisable document taken from http://hr-inform.cipd.co.uk This document is for your guidance only. Professional advice should be sought before use.

2. Be business-savvy: align wellness goals with business strategy and highlight links between well-being, reduced absenteeism and healthier profits. 3. Get the finance in place: initial funding is needed but in the long term, financial savings should follow. 4. Go back to the drawing-board: take a fresh look at existing practices, and be prepared to introduce a completely new system. 5. Create a healthy culture: a well-being strategy should mean that staff are treated with respect as well as being offered physical health benefits. 6. Communicate, communicate, communicate: get the well-being message across in a fun, accessible way. 7. Think laterally: East Sussex uses local practitioners who offer their services at reduced cost. Well-being initiatives don't have to be expensive. 8. Push the barriers don't be afraid to suggest radical solutions to intractable problems. 9. Take a balanced approach: keep staff on side by balancing a tough absence policy with 'feel good' initiatives. 10. Listen to your employees. Picking up on staff ideas for well-being workshops is a good way of boosting morale.

Customisable document taken from http://hr-inform.cipd.co.uk This document is for your guidance only. Professional advice should be sought before use.