HR News December 2011

Welcome to the December issue of HR News. In this issue we shall be looking at the proposals by the Government to make it easier to dismiss staff on long-term sick leave - a controversial subject for many HR professionals. We also focus on a recent survey, which has highlighted the fact that employees are now valuing training and development as an alternative to an annual pay rise.

Sick Note Britain
Human Resources Software Enabling Employers to Manage Absence

Human Resource Software could be the answer to many an employer's prayers.  Evidence has shown that employers would rather get rid of the long-term sick than manage them. Why? It is likely because they have not had the right tools in place to assist them. A new Government-commissioned report recommends plenty of ways to help employers deal with sickness absenteeism. But one proposal, to make it easier to dismiss staff on long-term sick leave, might get more backing than most.

Wading through the long-awaited sickness absence review, it is clear there are plenty of common-sense recommendations to help cure sick note Britain.

If implemented, these suggestions, put together by a panel of health experts and business leaders after months of intense research, could help reduce the number of workers claiming sickness benefits (which costs the taxpayer £13bn a year) and get people back to work faster following a period of absence.

This has got be a good thing surely, not just in the current climate but for the future prosperity of the British workforce and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that getting back to work quickly after sick leave can actually aid recovery.

Employers have long been frustrated with the current system. At a conference on the topic the other day, one employer in the room said she was tearing her hair out that she could not fight back against GP recommendations for their patients. One case involved a worker who was suffering from stress, who was deemed totally unfit for work and had been off for months. The employer was not allowed to ask what was the source of stress (home/work-related) and was therefore unable to suggest anything to help get that person back to work.

Teamspirit Human Resources Software can help employers more easily manage and analyse employee's time off. Absence today still remains one of the most costly and difficult problems for businesses to overcome and by implementing human resources software, you will be able to run reports using the Bradford Factor, analyse absence by employee, division and department and assess key trends in the business. What's more, through proper monitoring and analysing, patterns of frequent days off can be caught early and with careful intervention by HR staff, nipped in the bud before they turn into a bigger problem.

Training - An Alternative to the Pay Rise

In a recent survey of employees, training and career development is seen as the most popular alternative to a pay rise. Human Resource Software can accurately record staff's training records and their future needs for training and qualifications. With more and more businesses unable to award annual pay rises, training and development is seen to offer a good alternative, which ensures the continued motivation of employees in the workplace.

The survey of more than 2,000 employees found 69% felt more valued by their company when offered training. At a time when offering a promotion or pay rise is unlikely to be possible for many UK businesses younger employees are more likely to value extra training. For example respondents aged between 18-24 and 25-34 rated further training and career development as the most appealing alternative to a pay rise at (33%) and (35%) respectively.

With businesses wary of the economy falling into a double dip recession, resources are stretched and finding ways to keep employees happy and motivated in a cost effective way is a real challenge. Offering staff training and supporting their career development has to be a win win situation for all. With the use of Human Resources Software, managers can plan the training needs of their employees, making sure they are receiving the training they require to keep them happy and motivated.

Two thirds of workers agreed further training would make them feel better about both their job and the company they worked for, while 60% agreed they would be less likely to leave the company if they were offered the training and just over half (53%) said training opportunities would even make them work harder.

Receiving leadership and management training was the most popular requested area, followed by IT and social media skills and then finance and administrative training. The desire for leadership and management training shows that there is a working population that is ambitious to step-up and progress their careers.

Older workers surveyed were interestingly less likely to want training and development and would not view this as an acceptable alternative to a pay rise. However, with people working for longer now, older workers should not be complacent and need to embrace any opportunities they are offered, or manage their own continued learning, to ensure their skills stay current in a very competitive jobs marketplace.

Teamspirit Human Resources Software is beneficial for the accurate management of training records. It gives you the ability to track training, when it was undertaken and when it is due again. This is particularly important in industries such as health care and manufacturing, where regular training is a must to maintain industry standards. The Employee Self Service feature can also be used to enable the employee to request and book training. The functionality will enable you to support your staff, and not allow training needs to be overlooked - thereby helping to maintain and retain your best employees.