HR News September 2010

Welcome to the September issue of HR News. This issue focuses on staff well-being and health. The emergency Budget in June made it perfectly clear that the country must get out to work. In doing this, employers are being urged to be much more flexible with working mums, as with family friendly jobs still in short supply, the government is concerned that many families could remain trapped in poverty. We also look at managing stress in the workplace, the management of long-term sick leave and why organisations should be looking at the health policies they currently have in place.

Flexible jobs shortage hampering the government’s single parent work plans

The Governments plans to get more single parents back into work could be thrown into jeopardy due to a lack of flexible working arrangements, according to new research.

The ‘Changing the Workplace report’, which has been carried out by the charity Gingerbread, revealed that "family friendly" jobs are considered too rare. Many single parents had seen no or few roles advertised at part-time, within schools hours, as a job share or flexible in some other way.
 
The Government announced in its emergency Budget that it will require a further 100,000 single parents to seek work in 2011, when their youngest child reaches five, rather than the current age of 10. In October, 120,000 single parents whose youngest child is aged seven will be required to look for work.  Nationally, nearly 60% of single parents are already in work and most of those on benefits say they want a job. A workplace that is better suited for single parents is the missing part of the jigsaw. Without action from government and employers many single parents will remain trapped in poverty.

The charity, which works for and with single parent families, called on employers and the coalition Government to do more to bolster flexible working practices within firms.

Employer recommendations include offering workers a set number of paid days per year for caring for dependants, providing training on managing flexible working to all managers and offering jobs of 16 hours a week so that parents can claim working tax credit.

And a new right to paid parental leave to help parents deal with time off when children are ill should be introduced. At present all parents with a child aged under six have had the right to request flexible working since April 2003.

New guidance aimed at helping managers support people returning to work after long-term sickness can play a key role in preventing workers with health problems falling out of employment, according to the CIPD.

Guidance has been put in place by the British Occupational Health Research Foundation, the CIPD, Healthy Working Lives and the Health and Safety Executive, which highlights the key behaviours required by managers to support timely and lasting returns to work.

These include:

• Staying in touch regularly with the individual while they are off sick
• Reassuring them that their job is safe
• Preventing them from rushing back to work before they are ready
• Providing a phased return to work
• Helping them adjust to the workplace at a gradual pace
• Asking the individual’s permission to keep the team informed on their condition
• Encouraging colleagues to support the individual’s rehabilitation
• Holding regular meetings to discuss the individual’s condition and the possible impact on their work

The guidance is based on research involving employees, line managers, HR, health and safety and occupational health practitioners.

The CIPD stresses that line managers can play a crucial role in deciding whether returning to work is part of an individual’s recovery and rehabilitation or the catalyst to further breakdown and deterioration.

There is clear evidence which shows that the longer people are off sick the less likely they are to make a successful return to work; with employees only having a 50% chance of going back to work after six months of absence.

Bond TeamSpirit Absence Recording software allows you to monitor and analyse staff absences in line with the Bradford Factor.

Men are four times more likely than women to phone in sick due to work-related stress!

3,000 workers were surveyed by healthcare cash plan provider, Medicash and found 20% of men admitted to taking two sick days in the past month because of stress.

Work-induced stress is also driving twice as many men as women to hit the bottle with one in five men confessing to needing to drink after work most days!

While men and women seem to react to stress differently, it’s still a major problem for both sexes, with 31% of women and 24% of men saying they often feel stressed.

For women, dealing with difficult customers or clients is the most common trigger, whereas for male colleagues a heavy workload causes the most problems. Outside of the office, both men and women cite rudeness and bad manners as the most likely factors to get them worked up and angry.

But although men take more time off sick, women reported higher incidents of stress-related ill health. Headaches were the number one symptom, with 69% of women suffering compared with 45% of men while 57% of women and 40% of men reported problems sleeping.

Workplace stress can be damaging on any level, affecting both the employee and employer. Managers have a duty of care and responsibility to look after their workforce and have systems in place to address stress at work. Encouraging a work-life balance, having open channels of communication between staff and managers, and providing access to counselling services are some of the things employers can do to combat stress."

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Employers should review their health benefit policies to meet needs of rising numbers of older staff

Following the Government's proposals to scrap the default retirement age, experts fear they could have an impact on employer's health policies.

With the growing incidence of major illnesses with age and increasing sickness absence, the cost of providing employee risk and healthcare benefits will rise. Some benefits may even become uninsurable for older employees.
Companies are being encouraged to review existing benefit structures to ensure they remain cost-effective and continue to meet employer and employee requirements.

Companies will also need to reflect the different requirements of an older workforce in their benefit schemes.

Changes to demographics in the workforce mean that employers need to address the impact of longer working lives on the design of their benefit arrangements. The frequency of major illnesses typically escalates with age and could significantly increase expenditure on risk and healthcare benefits.

There are several steps that employers can take to alleviate these costs. organisations can reassess their current benefit policies to ensure they meet the changing needs of employees cost-effectively and reflect the removal of the default retirement age.