Reducing Absenteeism 
SHL understands the importance of reducing absenteeism in order to prevent productivity losses and has developed products and services that can help.
The cost of absenteeism
Organisations across the globe are suffering from the negative impact of absenteeism in the work place. In the UK alone, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has estimated that the annual cost to business of absenteeism is a huge £19.9 billion. And with another survey by employment law consultancy Peninsula showing 17% of company sickness to be bogus, it is clear organisations must find ways to proactively manage and minimise unauthorised absenteeism.
SHL recognises the business challenges in reducing absenteeism but the benefits in conquering this problem are numerous, including:
- Improved productivity
- Reduced costs
- A healthier corporate culture.
The first step in reducing unauthorised absenteeism
Employers need to address the reasons for high absence rates and cultivate loyal staff with a desire to come to work. Identifying the root causes of unauthorised absenteeism, whether it is a problem with recruitment or bad management, paves the way to greater understanding of the problem. This equips organisations with the knowledge to tackle absenteeism in the long-term.
Establishing recruitment processes that ensure the right people are employed at the outset is a critical starting point. Identifying the best candidates for specific job roles helps to foster a happier work environment for all which can positively impact levels of absenteeism.
Objective assessment not only assists in matching the right candidate to a role but also opens up the potential to assess dependability and the likelihood of unauthorised absence from work. Objectively assessing candidates at selection stage is:
- A proactive means of managing and minimising future absenteeism
- Legally defensible and will reduce the likelihood of litigation
- Easily integrated into existing recruitment processes.
Take a first step towards reducing absenteeism:
Contact us to discuss how our products and services can help reduce absenteeism
Identify the right candidates for a job
Sifting out applicants that don’t match the job requirements is key to any first stage recruitment process. SHL’s Quicksift is an online tool that analyses the essential competencies needed for a role and produces a job match score for each candidate. The result is a first stage selection process that is not just fast but fair, objective and aligned with competencies that are important for the job. Making good job matches is more likely to produce happy employees and, ultimately, reduce absenteeism.
Discover how to identify the right candidates fast, with SHL’s Quicksift
Pre-screen for dependability
SHL’s Dependability and Safety Instrument (DSI) is a pre-screening tool specifically designed to measure reliability and the likelihood of employees having good attendance records. Its brevity positions it as a perfect pre-selection tool in large-scale recruitment programmes, as well as in workforce audits as part of an internal review programme. It is an effective solution for working environments where absenteeism presents strategic or tactical challenges, including:
- Large, shift-based workforces
- Public sector organisations
- Call-centre settings
- Shop-floor retail hires
- Hourly hires.
What’s more, no formal training is required to use it as line managers can administer, score and interpret the DSI with minimal or no support.
Read more about how the DSI can help you to reduce absenteeism
Find out how SHL helped the Sydney Harbour Authority significantly reduce absenteeism
