Optimise your absenteeism policy: this is how you go one step further in your sustainable approach

The road to a sustainable positive policy runs via various intermediate points: from clear procedures on a coherent approach to a positive, friendly business dialogue. Only when you have successfully taken all these intermediate steps do we speak of a sustainable strategy with maximum impact.

Are you in the final maturity phase of the growth model? Great! But that does not mean that your work is finished. On the contrary: if you let go of the reins, the chances are that the absenteeism problem will flare up again in no time. So stay focussed on your policy in various, different ways.

In every company, there is movement in the workforce: employees come and go, teams are rearranged, people take on leadership roles... These shifts inevitably have an impact on your approach to absenteeism. Clear communication is crucial in order to avoid a loss of focus and prevent appointments taking on a life of their own.

Make well-being and, more specifically, a sustainable absence policy a top priority in your organisation and spread that message as broadly as possible. This can be applied when recruiting new employees, but also at other times. Share the results of well-being campaigns, e.g. the number of participants in a morning yoga session, and celebrate successes together.

By making well-being and absenteeism a subject of discussion and action, it automatically becomes part of the corporate DNA. In this way, absenteeism remains a theme without requiring too much effort.

Figures are the best tool for assessing whether your approach is bearing fruit. How do short and long term absenteeism evolve? Do your employees follow the agreements when they are absent? Do your managers conduct effective absence interviews? User-friendly absence software helps you to monitor all the various parameters.

This software can be consulted by everyone in your company, from HR staff, to managers and employees, for administrative matters, such as medical certificates, but also for insights into the absenteeism figures. You can also post tips and agreements on the central platform. This ensures everyone has the same information and there is never any confusion.

But the greatest added value of absence software? Everyone becomes jointly responsible. Absenteeism is not just an HR issue; management, supervisors and all the employees can also do their bit.

With a sustainable absenteeism policy, you limit the corresponding negative consequences as much as possible. But suppose you could identify the causes even before the problems arise? Innovative tools make this possible. By collecting and analysing data, you can also detect future absenteeism before it actually occurs.

Transport company Trafuco took the scientific route to preventatively tackling driver stress. Twenty employees monitored their own stress levels for three months with the innovative Mindstretch tool. In a subsequent phase, Trafuco will link prevention actions to the information from the tool.

Watch the M-pact episode with Trafuco.