Speaking at the 2009 Health and Wellbeing at Work Conference at the NEC in Birmingham, Professor Sayeed Khan, Chief Medical Adviser at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation has warned employers that the current economic climate threatens to significantly affect people’s work life balance and lead to increased levels of stress in the workplace.
Professor Khan will also dispel the myth that problems with health & wellbeing are only confined to those out of work or made redundant. Current conditions could have an equal if not greater impact on those who remain employed, as the threat of redundancy either to an employee or a family member is often more stressful than redundancy itself he will warn.
Commenting, Professor Khan said:
"Sickness absence is not just confined to those out of work as the unknown is always more problematic than certainty. Those that remain can suffer from the so called ‘imposter syndrome’ and think Why me? Why did they keep me and not the other person who is more talented than me? As a result, it is even more important that employers do all they can to assess and manage the health of their workforce."
To aid employers in dealing with sickness absence, EEF is urging companies to continue investing in the training of managers. EEF’s 2008 survey of sickness absence trends in manufacturing companies showed a clear link between investment in training managers and reduced short and long term absence rates, as well as improved employee welfare.
The survey showed that organisations which do not encounter any barriers to rehabilitating employees have sickness absence rates that are on average 0.7% lower than those with barriers. On an annual basis, this means an extra 1.5 days attendance per worker.
To aid employers EEF is providing a unique set of tools to help. A free Work Organisation Assessment tool which will identify how ‘healthy’ an organisation is can be accessed from http://www.workorganisation.org.uk/ It has been designed by Professor Khan and EEF to help employers identify what they are currently doing well and what they could improve wellbeing in their business.
EEF has also produced an award winning toolkit to deal with sickness absence. The toolkit comprises practical, business-focused tools and templates for managing sickness absence including model policy documents and letters developed by HR, employment law and occupational health specialists. It is available from www.eef.org.uk
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