New training available in response to the East Midlands Attendance Management Summit 6th Nov 2008
Contact us now by visiting at www.ukbct.co.uk for further information on out training.

Mock Tribunal  - An interactive event to engage managers, to understand the company policies and procedures, the implication of their actions, the requirements of legislation and the key roles taken within a tribunal.

Focusing on their knowledge of company procedures and employment law, delegates participate in a challenging environment where their actual decisions impact on “winning or losing” the tribunal.

Specific objectives are agreed with the client and each programme is designed to reflect the organisations policies, procedures and challenges. An example outline is detailed below:

Introductions, aims and objectives
Summary of legislation, impact and costs
Discussion on company disciplinary procedures with short exercises
Interviewing and note taking Preparation for tribunal, teams receive a bundle to prepare for their tribunal
Mock tribunal
Review and key learning points
For other training see our training page.http://www.ukbct.co.uk/training/

To include:-

Managing poor performance and misconduct

Managing bullying and harassment

Managing absence 

Visit http://www.ukbct.co.uk/events/
for the presentations from
the Presence of Absence

Download the Summit Brochure
& Programme …

The Times

March 20, 2008
Why do smaller companies have fewer absences? And what can the big corporations do?David Bolchover
It’s a lovely, snug life, being employed by a large organisation. You stroll in to the office, you have a chat and a coffee and a couple of pointless meetings, all in the secure knowledge that your benevolent employer is going to put the same amount of cash in your bank account at the end of this month that it did last time.

But for society as a whole, this languid complacency is a disaster. Never mind the culture of welfare dependency. What about the culture of employer dependency? Britain needs a fundamental cultural shift away from the corporate beehive in favour of entrepreneurship and self-employment.

This week Dame Carol Black, the national director for health and work at the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, produced a report revealing …

Police officers are not malingerers
Police officers are not shirkers who neglect their duties to take sick leave
Sir, In response to Andy Hayman’s commentary (“We must weed out shirkers to help the genuine cases”, Oct 23) and Helen Nugent and Jack Sidders’s report (“Surge in police sickness costs taxpayer £90m a year”, Oct 23) it should be noted that police officers operate in an environment of increasing danger and that their average sick days are still considerably lower than those taken by other public sector workers.

Moreover, the vast majority of serving police officers feel only contempt for colleagues who take sick leave that they do not deserve. Any implication that, somehow, the police service condones or encourages the “shirking” of duties in favour of sick pay is completely unfounded.

Julie Nesbit

Chairman, Constables’ Central Committee, Police Federation of England & Wales

Sir, Andy Hayman’s commentary resonates strongly with my experience of occupational health (OH) in the police service.

This has shown me that there are two distinct patterns of sickness absence in police OH services.

First, come those instances that Hayman …

Surge in police sickness costs taxpayer £90m a year

Helen Nugent and Jack Sidders
From The Times

October 23, 2008
Police forces lost more than one million days to long-term sick leave last year at a record cost of nearly £90 million, an investigation by The Times has found.

The cost has soared by more than 20 per cent in the past five years despite a drive within the police to reduce prolonged sick absences.

Freedom of information requests to the 43 forces in England and Wales revealed that stress, depression, back pain and other musculo-skeletal disorders are mainly responsible.

MPs and campaign groups said that the figures raised serious concerns over stress levels within the police force, the measures in place to tackle anxiety and the effectiveness of back-to-work plans.

Related Links
Ex-police chief says ‘weed out the shirkers’
A Sickening State
Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “These alarming …

Top Asian officer settles claim 
 
Tarique Ghaffur has been a police officer for 34 years
Profile: Tarique Ghaffur
Britain’s most senior Asian police officer has settled a planned legal action against the Metropolitan Police, Scotland Yard has confirmed.

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur had reportedly complained of being undermined by Scotland Yard colleagues.

He has withdrawn claims that Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair acted in a racist or other discriminatory way towards him.

The Met was not prepared to say how much had been paid to Mr Ghaffur.

The senior officer has signed a gagging clause and will step down from his role at the Metropolitan Police on Thursday.

‘Recognise the hurt’

A statement confirming the settlement was issued on Tuesday on behalf of Mr Ghaffur, Sir Ian Blair, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Bryan, the Met Police and the Met Police Authority (MPA).

It read: “The MPA has paid a sum of money in settlement of Assistant Commissioner Ghaffur’s claims including contractual obligations and a contribution to his legal costs.

“Assistant Commissioner Ghaffur has withdrawn the proceedings and his claims that Sir Ian Blair and Deputy Assistant …

More than 175 million days work are lost a year through sickness
Employee “fit notes” are to be brought in as part of government efforts to cut the amount of money lost to the economy from workplace absenteeism.

The idea is for GPs in England to spell out those tasks workers can perform rather than the traditional “sick note” focusing on what they cannot do.

There will also be more support to help people back to work with firms encouraged to promote healthier living.

A report in March warned ill-health was costing the economy £100bn a year.

Returning to work

Ministers have accepted recommendations made by government health advisor Dame Carol Black that the system of GPs issuing sick notes, in place since 1948, should be overhauled.

Trials replacing paper notes with electronic fit notes are underway and, if successful, the new system could be in place by 2010.

  Poor health can prevent people fulfilling their potential, leaving them more likely to slip into poverty and social exclusion

Health Secretary Alan Johnson
Q&A: Work and health

The new fit notes, outlining what duties an employee …

The titles below are available in a number of formats, all delivered on site or at our regional training centre, Bio City, Pennyfoot Street, Nottingham, NG1 1GF:

Fast class (1 hour): aimed at relevant stakeholders who want an introduction to the subject matter.

Master class (2 hours): for relevant stakeholders who want a more extensive introduction to the subject matter.

…

Thankyou to Mantra-PR (www.mantra-pr.com) for proposing to suggest publishing this post.

7th October 2008: Business Action on Health, the Business in the Community
(BITC) campaign committed to improving the health and wellbeing of the UK
workforce, today publishes the 2008 report, ‘Nurture your people & Grow your
business’. The report reviews the progress of the campaign one year on,
highlights successes and key trends, and outlines future aspirations.
A year from the launch of the Business Action on Health campaign, health and
wellbeing has emerged as a key corporate responsibility issue. Research
conducted by the campaign with FTSE100 companies reveals that 81 percent of
companies now report publicly any commitment or activity to increase the health
and wellbeing of their employees, up from 68 percent in 2007. Forty of these
companies report on the health and wellbeing of their employees in their annual
report and 65 companies are including these details in their Corporate
Responsibility or Sustainability reports.
Crucially, there has also been a dramatic increase in the number of FTSE 100
companies reporting on their progress on health and wellbeing using quantitative
measures, up from 7 last year to …

From the BBC web site today 3 October 2008

Depression is a common reasons for sick leave
People who have long spells of sick leave for psychiatric reasons are twice as likely to die from cancer as healthier employees, research suggests.

The “unexpected” finding could help pick out at-risk groups, the University College London researchers reported in the British Medical Journal.

Among 6,500 civil servants, those who had taken a long period of sick leave had a 66% higher risk of early death.

The cancer risk may be due to depressed people not seeing a doctor soon enough.

Sickness records were assessed from London-based employees in 20 Whitehall departments between 1985 and 1988 and compared with mortality up until 2004.

  It would be useful for this information to be collected because we could identify groups with high risk of serious health problems

Jenny Head, study leader

Overall 288 people died during the study.

The 30% of people who had one or more stints of at least seven days off work had a 66% increased risk of premature death compared to those who had not …

The Presence of Absence - Thursday 6th November 2008 at BioCity, Nottingham

Why attend the East Midlands Attendance Management Summit 2008?

According to the latest CBI survey findings, sickness absence costs the UK economy over £13 billion, yet many organisations are prepared to ignore or absorb these costs. Absence from work, both short and long-term is a reality and is on the increase.

This Summit is the first of its kind to be held in the East Midlands. You will learn why employee well-being is good for business; hear from experts in occupational health, employment law and conflict resolution, improve your methods of rehabilitating the short and long term sick and leave inspired to build a culture of attendance in your organisation.

The programme allows opportunities for you to network and exchange ideas with your peers.

Summit fees:

An individual place at the Summit costs £250 +vat Second and subsequent places can be booked at the reduced rate of £220 +vat per place. …