Employee engagement strategies ''get the best out of staff''

Employee engagement has an important role to play when it comes to managing absenteeism.

This is the view of Sue Hayday, senior research fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies, who said that in the present climate "just turning up [for work] is not enough".

She was reacting to research by the Confederation of British Industry, which estimated that sickness absence costs the UK economy £17 billon every year.

However, the rate of absence over the past year is the lowest since the CBI/Pfizer Absence and Workplace Health Survey started in 1987.

Annually, employees currently take an average of 6.4 days of sickness absence each.

Commenting on the findings, Ms Hayday suggested employee engagement schemes could be part of the reason for a lower number of sick days being taken.

However, she suggested the effects of the economic downturn could also be a factor.

"Undoubtedly the recession has made employees consider more carefully whether they need to take a day off when feeling unwell," the expert remarked.

She concluded that organisations need to ensure that staff want to "give their best" when they are present at work, something that can be achieved through employee engagement schemes. Back