Unplanned absence from work could cost the UK economy as much as GBP12 billion a year! When your organisation can no longer meet its deadlines, or provide customers with the high quality of service they expect, you have a problem. Unplanned absence also has a bad effect on morale, putting the rest of the team under pressure as they struggle to deal with the additional workload. Unplanned absence can occur as a result of force majeure (for example, when an airline is hit by strike action), or because of poor employee motivation and commitment. This pocket guide, based on best practice guidelines, looks at what you can do to ensure your employees fulfil their obligations and turn up as required. It then gets to grips with the question of how your organisation should handle unplanned absences before and when they arise. While you may not be able to prevent unplanned absence altogether, the advice contained in this guide will help you to keep the extra costs and disruption associated with unplanned absence to a minimum.
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Preface
- About the Author
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Why this pocket guide?
- Reasons for absence
- Preparation to prevent being caught out
- Chapter 2: Practical Steps and Legal Aspects
- A member of your team is unexpectedly absent
- Contact the team member
- Make provisions to cover their work
- Stay in regular contact
- Disciplinary action
- Staying within the law
- How well do you know the law?
- Chapter 3: Covering the Work of Others in their Absence
- Establishing priorities
- Planning the work
- Sharing and delegating tasks
- Secondments and mentoring
- Remote working and its implications
- Chapter 4: How Technology Can Help You
- Making the best use of e-mail
- Skype, teleconferencing and webconferencing
- Chapter 5: Returning to Work
- The return to work interview
- Returning quickly to business as normal
- Monitor unplanned absence
- Creating a healthy work environment
- ITG Resources
