Absence is no laughing matter…most of the time.
Those little germs are a pain for any small business. But every now and then you hear a more ‘interesting’ excuse. Some of the best I have found are:
- I am in A&E as I got a clothes peg stuck on my tongue
- My dog ate my shoes
- My fish is sick
- I’m stuck in the house because the door is broken
- I have burned my hand on the toaster
- I dreamt I was at work and thought I was there – so I stayed asleep
- I have a cotton bud stuck in my ear
- I’ve been bitten by a llama
- My hamster is depressed
- My dog weed on my suit
But there is also the not so funny side of absence…
As of November last year the federation of small businesses released their statistics for 2015. They showed that at the start of the year, SMEs employed 15.6 million people, with a combined turnover of £1.75 trillion.
In other words, smaller firms have a huge impact on the UK economy!
However according to BUPA, “Three-quarters (76%) of SME leaders who’ve had an employee take a long sickness absence reported a significant impact on business growth. Yet, less than half (46%) say employee health and wellbeing will be a key consideration as they grow their business. Meanwhile, two in five (43%) will never consider providing health and wellbeing benefits.”
In essence, the impact of an individual on a small team should not be underestimated and by not prioritising health and wellbeing, leaders are risking the future of the business.
46% of SME leaders said that their most recent employees were critical to overall business growth and agreed that their business would have been damaged if a member of the team had taken time off.
Having a small, close-knit team has many benefits, but this also means that having a person down will have a domino effect. Combined with the fact that most people take their work home with them in this technological age, it is important to encourage employees to fully log off their brains and take the time to recover.
According to Health and Safety Executive, stress, anxiety and depression accounted for 9.9 million working days lost in 2014-15.
The common cold is not the only enemy for a small business. By having a good supporting framework in place for your employee’s health and wellbeing, you could save yourself a lot of pain in the long run.
Reality HR could support you with managing absence in your business. Take a look at our cloud-based software that has helped so many of our clients: Download our brochure
Give me a call for a chat on 01256 328 428 or tell me a good time to call you.