Improved monitoring of sickness absence and access to medical advice for employees has helped Aviance - the world's first alliance of airport services providers - reduce absence from 5.64% to 3.83%. The ROI is reported to be 10 fold. These results are announced as Aviance roll out AHPs' nurse-led absence recording service to its 4,000 plus employees, following the initial six month pilot to 600 employees at Gatwick airport.
Implementing a policy of early medical intervention deters those not genuinely ill and gives opportunity to advise sick employees about recovery and return to work. AHPs service effectively reduces the cost and duration of the absence, as well as offering support to line managers in managing the absence, enabling consistency in management of absence across the organisation, and providing quality information to identify trends and areas of concern.
The initiative from Active Health Partners offers a unique service of a 24 hour Nurse Contact Centre for employees to call for medical advice and report their absence. It means instead of telephoning a line manager when unable to attend work, an employee will contact the Nurse Contact Centre where qualified nurses offer provide primary health advice and support from 'Day 1'. The nurses provide an estimated return to work date and inform line managers immediately of the absence by email and mobile text message.
"Studies have shown that offering people advice and support in this way means that they are able to return to work more quickly. This eases the pressure on colleagues who have had to cover for them during their absence. Gary Salmon, Regional General Manager, Aviance.
Simon Dickinson, Business Development Director for Active Health Partners comments, "There is a significant return on investing in your employees' general health and wellbeing. Healthy workers are more productive, have higher energy levels, and become more effective in their roles."
Integral to AHPs' service is the sophisticated data capture system which provides real-time reports via the web to managers and HR professionals, which allows them to spend less time collecting absence data and more time addressing absenteeism. |
