Businesses fear a mass sick day this Friday after the Australia Day Holiday

By: Mitrefinch Australia  25-Jan-2012
Keywords: human resource management, People Management, Workforce Management

With Australia Day falling on a Thursday this year, the NSW Business Chamber has warned that this should not be an excuse for having a hangover at work or “chucking a sickie” on Friday. While hangovers cost businesses $5.6 billion a year, many of us still can’t resist overindulging during the Australia Day festivities. NSW Business Chamber Executive Office, Stephen Cartwright, urged revellers not to get carried away when they still had to put in a full day’s work before the weekend. “While Thursday will be a day off for many Australians to celebrate their national holiday, Friday is a normal working day, and employees will be expected to show up to the workplace ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed’”. Mr Cartwright said employees who planned to take a ‘sickie’ on Friday should be warned that they will be fooling no one. “Anybody who takes a ‘sickie’ on the Friday after Australia Day is not going to go unnoticed by their employer or their colleagues and it is likely to damage their professional reputation”. Employees who are planning an extra-long weekend have been urged to use their annual leave or talk to their employers to come up with alternative arrangements. “The impact of staff taking a ‘mass sick day’ on a business is significant in financial costs and lost productivity.” Read the full article on the NSW Business Chamber website here: http://www.nswbusinesschamber.com.au/News-Media/Latest-News/Employees-reminded--this-Friday-still-a-work-day.aspx Leave Slots are an innovative holiday planning feature now available in the latest release of Mitrefinch’s Time Management System. This new functionality enables managers and supervisors to limit how many employees can be off on a given day or time period e.g. this Friday following Australia Day - averting potential staffing shortfalls and ensuring you have sufficient staff on hand to meet demand. Employees can view available Leave Slots online and they will be unable to request leave once the limit has been reached – hence HR won’t need to deal with multiple requests from staff on what days are available etc... In addition, Absence Profiling, allows you to see who took a sick day, when, and if any particular pattern is forming. For example, you could check back to last year and see if there was a spike in sick days taken the day after Australia Day or other popular public holidays – and take appropriate action. If you happen to work in an industry where staff are required to work on Australia Day, an automated Time and Attendance Software System can also take the stress out of payroll processing – by easily calculate overtime pay and public holiday penalties, and exporting this information direct to your external payroll application. Now all you have to worry about is how you are going to celebrate Australia Day! To find out more about Leave Management, Absence Profiling or Employee Time Management contact Mitrefinch today on 1300 884 831 or email sales@mitrefinch.com.au