Absence is one of the biggest costs to an organisation. The CBI have estimated that absence costs UK industry £12.2 billion per year. UNUM have produced a useful absence calculator which you can use to estimate the approximate annual cost of absence in your organisation.

http://www.unum.co.uk/Home/Employers/Cost_of_Absence_Calculator.htm

According to UNUM (2007 survey), nearly 90% of organisations surveyed saw lost production as the largest cost arising from employee health-related issues. Most businesses (81%) thought investing in health was either cost-neutral or a positive investment. Businesses which believed the benefits outweighed the costs reported much less of a problem with sickness absence, particularly short-term absence.

The most effective rehabilitation measures have not changed in the last three UNUM surveys. These are: altering or reducing working hours, followed by changing or modifying previous tasks; maintaining contact with the employee; allowing time off for appointments; and medical assessment of fitness for work. The top five main barriers to rehabilitation have been consistent across the last three UNUM surveys. They are: the employee's health condition; the GP; employee resistance to rehabilitation, the limited capacity of NHS to provide fast access to services and waiting for the sicknote to expire.

At Healthwork, we have experience of working closely with line managers, human resources professionals and senior management to tackle the problems of sickness absence. Our doctors are experienced at handling cases of sickness absence and dealing with multi-faceted problems in individual cases. Sickness absence is often related to medical, social, organisational, managerial and psycho-social factors. Our doctors are experts at dealing with this combination of factors, and after assessing an individual employee, we will produce independent occupational health reports, which help solve problems and advance cases forward.

We will remain in constant contact with you and act in a proactive solution focused manner when performing assessments. Our senior medical staff can also operate at a strategic level working with senior managers and HR professionals in developing proactive strategies and policies to deal with the problems of sickness absence.

Healthwork can also offer other non-medical services to rehabilitate employees back to the workplace, such as physiotherapy services and counselling services.