5th December Newsletter - Silly Season Sickies

Added by Jacob Aldridge, about 1 year ago.

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Welcome

It's not just your business cashflow that can take a sick turn at this time of year - for many businesses, employee sick leave seems to spike in the weeks before Christmas.

Some of this is genuine. If you haven't already scheduled your holidays for next year, I would encourage you to consider a week's break in October to ensure you remain energised right through to the end of year.

And if you feel your business can't support you taking a week off - in October or at anytime - than be aware it's more than just the business' health you need to be concerned about. Often I hear from new clients that their business is going great but is overly reliant on their time. If that sounds familiar, and you want to know what I say next, give me a call or respond to this email.

Objecting to Medical Certificates

You don't have to accept a Medical Certificate if you believe it to be fraudulent - especially if your employee is bragging about a planned sickie in advance. Of course, if he posts his sickie on Facebook you might not need to worry about the Medical Certificate at all.

Aussie Sickie Stats

Here's a useful comparison for your business. Sick days in Australia are on the rise, but genuine sickies are exaggerated. The IT Sector has the lowest incidence, while the Public Service is the worst.

Forced Annual Leave

A question that many businesses ask at this time of year. According to this article, you can enforce a close period be taken as annual leave. I would encourage you to be fair, of course.

Small Poppy Syndrome

Ah, for those days with no responsibility. The Christmas season (which officially starts on Melbourne Cup day, by the way!) makes many business owners envious of those who get paid, whether they work or just show up.

A Symptom of Culture?

Sickies, as a form of detrimental behaviour, can often be linked back to the Culture of your organisation. When you're satisfied with the details above, why not spend some time considering how a bigger change can improve this concern, and many more, in your business in 2009.

Intranet Joke of the Week

Doctor to Patient: "I'm afraid you're dying."

Patient: "How long have I got?"

Doctor: "Ten..."

Patient: "Ten what? Years, months, what?"

Doctor: "Nine, eight, seven..."

Until next week,

Jacob

Comments

There are currently 4 comments about this blog.

Jacob Aldridge, about 1 year ago

Anthony, you make an excellent point. We've all made decisions from an obviously unstable base - when the kids woke us at 3am, or it's a really busy day. What we often don't realise is how unstable we are normally, and a health focus can improve business outcomes.

bestpracticept, about 1 year ago

My angle on this is predictable I guess, given I have a health, fitness and performance enhancement business. Also, I just read the article on wealth by Paul Graham. It is so easy to get tied up in the mechanics of business decisions, stragegy etc but if you aren't operating from a stable base then your decisions are bound to be flawed. What I mean by this is, invest first in yourself, be strong, be fit, be flexible, be fresh and watch how everything else becomes easy. Anthony Gillespie, Best Practice Living at the Valley Pool

Jacob Aldridge, about 1 year ago

What a great story Kevin, and thanks for sharing. You're spot on about uncovering the good examples being more fun than focussing on the negatives.

Kevin Harrington, about 1 year ago

I enjoyed this post. Thank you. At a company event last week we were able to celebrate an employees achievment of not one day off sick since we started here in the UK eight years ago. It is easy to focus on the statistics of the absent staff. But it is a lot of fun uncovering those staff that set the example.