How to Lower Sick Leave and Increase Your Employees' Productivity

CARLSBAD, CA, May 19, 2011

According to a 2010 survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, private-industry employees receive an average of eight days of paid sick leave after one year of service. Most businesses rarely take time to realize how much paid sick leave can cost them, and what they can do to lower the amount of sick-time taken by their employees. The first step is improving employee productivity, and that starts at the management level of each organization.

What employees do is a direct reflection of leadership, or lack thereof. In my experience as a performance coach, I have yet to see any two leaders check-in and pulse their organization in the same way. In fact, although most leaders feel they have their finger on the pulse of the organization, it only takes a few questions for me to realize that they not only don't, but they don't even know where to locate the beat. As you can imagine, in a competitive market this can be very problematic and even deadly for some businesses.

Do employees call in sick because they are truly not feeling well? Absolutely this is true. However, there is a large majority of employees who call in sick because of other factors: they don't want to go to work, they don't feel like being at work; the work environment is toxic. The list goes on and on. The key for our leaders is to communicate with the staff and make sure the work environment is open, alive and vibrant. If they are, sick time will decline, employees will be highly productive and morale will be high despite difficult situations or harsh deadlines.

While focusing on employees is a good start. A better, more effective start is always to focus on your leadership team and what is and is not working there. When those issues are addressed, expectations and culture change within the organization will be organic and sustainable, and counterproductive practices - like sick time - will start to decrease.

I was fortunate enough to consult for an organization for a long period of time and after observing was able to implement proven techniques to impact change. The first step was to improve the leadership team's communication. This began by establishing standard communication meetings between the entire team two times per month. Throughout this process, the relationships between the management and the rest of the team improved, as leaders were forced to make changes that would increase communication. Eventually, these meeting evolved into standard weekly face-to-face 15-minute meetings, where the entire team would review priorities, identify barriers and review goals.

Increased communication had an immediate impact on the organization. For example the year prior to the changes, 3,973 sick leave hours were used. In the year following the changes, only 2,922 sick leave hours were used, a 36 percent decrease, year-over-year. With an average salary of more than $100,000 per year, the organization saved a tremendous amount of money simply by having its leaders spend more time communicating with their employees.

The management team is the gateway into the organization. If the leaders of the team are not able to communicate and guide the employees onto a path of productivity, the core of the business will suffer, and undeniably lose revenue due to employees using their paid sick leave primarily because they don't have loyalty to their organization or feel part of the team.

To Learn More:
Are you looking to increase your company or team's productivity? In Sync Consulting is hosting a free Webinar Wednesday, May 25, featuring tips for measuring productivity killers, like sick leave and turnover, and ways to help your staff be happier and more productive in the workplace. You can register now at: http://ow.ly/4TsIi.

Also, take two minutes to answer a few questions on sick leave by completing the In Sync Consulting survey now at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZLZ8YVJ

Remember: The webinar is free for participants and begins May 25 at 11 a.m. PT. Ideal for small business owners, corporate executives and other business leaders, it will provide listeners with the ability to learn the needed tools to turn themselves and their group into a high performing team. To participate, listeners can register for free at http://ow.ly/4TsIi.

In Sync Consulting is an international executive coaching and team leadership development firm that has helped more than 400 companies and executives improve their team's performance and profitability. Founder and president, Suzanne Weinstein, will guide webinar participants through many of the key tools she uses with her own clients during this interactive session. She will also answer participants' questions, offering an individualized solution to their everyday problems.