An absence survey by Aviva in 2012 drew attention to the effects of absence on productivity and performance. According to their survey responses, over a quarter of employers (27%) reported an effect on productivity when a member of staff was ill and absent, and 22% said that it impacted the business financially.

Over the years we’ve learned how far reaching the issue of absence is. It doesn’t start on the day an employee phones in sick. And the story doesn’t necessarily end when the employee comes back to work.

Scientists behind Blue Monday have decided that its date should be changed from the 3rd Monday in January to the 1st Monday after New Year. That may well be true but many still struggle to stay positive throughout the month of January.

A lot of people start off the new year with resolutions to become more fit, find a (new) partner, learn a new language, be more cultural, travel and see the world – in fact just pick a goal and get something done.

Return to Work (RTW) interviews have proven to be an effective absence management tool. Many companies have already incorporated the practce of conducting RTW Interviews into their absence management policies. However, many managers still struggle to undertake effective interviews – or even to find the time to carry them out at all.

Financial incentives are not guaranteed to increase the productivity of employees. Yes they can certainly work in many circumstances but they are not long term resolutions to potential underlying barriers.

Choosing a new HR system for a business can exciting and fun as well as daunting and sometimes overwhelming. So, we’ve put together a list of tips covering how you should prepare to choose a new system and what it should include.

A recent article in the Economist explores the art of skiving. The following key steps to skilful skiving could be straight from Buffalo Skiver’s handbook.

Buffalo Skiver is one of the Usual Suspects of poor attendance. He is the one who leaves early on a Friday and takes Mondays off to recover from a busy weekend. He will stretch his lunch break an extra half an hour whenever he can and slip off early when no-one is looking.

We’ve nicknamed our long term absentee Usual Suspect Wild Bill Ghost because no one sees him, he is like a ghost in the workplace. Usually when we start to work with a company, some number of ghosts always re-surface.