A gentle reminder, just in case you had forgotten……the clocks turn back this weekend.
What is that you whisper, “It can’t be, not already, it’s still warm”!
After experiencing its hottest and driest summer since the infamous 1976 heatwave, the UK is now tootling headlong into mid-winter.
As we prepare to say goodbye to good old British summertime for another year and embrace GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) again, preparations for the advancing winter months are now well underway.
First up on the horizon are the obligatory cold and frosty mornings – nothing wakes you up faster than chipping away at an icy windscreen!
Quicker than the time it takes to de-ice your car, Christmas is knocking at the door. Before you have time to polish off that mammoth, impulse-buy turkey you just had to have, you will find yourself ringing in a snowy and icy New Year…. you get the picture.
On the plus side to this winter wonderland, we get to experience long, warm and cosy nights curled up in front of the fire. We get to partake in the cultural activity that is the clocking-off snowball “fight-off” but for some, there just isn’t enough recompense; the shorter daytime hours really are dreaded.
As we head into the “most wonderful time of the year” Human Resource Departments up and down the land are bracing themselves for the infamous and predictable Monday morning telephone calls, which usually go a little something like this….
Cough cough, “Hello, I’m really sorry but I can’t come in to work today, I’m really not feeling well, cough, cough, I think I might have flu”
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry to hear that, do you think you will be in tomorrow”?
Cough, cough accompanied by the required croaky and tired sounding voice, “I will try my best”.
Possibly not flu….
It’s textbook, you could write the script, you know it and we know it too.
Everyone recognises the scenario, as soon as the dark and cold mornings appear, what is normally passed off as the usual ‘Monday Morning Blues’ now becomes the……’Duvet Day’
In case you weren’t aware, the UK is apparently the “sickie” capital of Europe.
Research Group ADP recently surveyed 2,000 people across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK.
In the UK, an astonishing 27% of the people surveyed thought it was “acceptable” to take a ‘Duvet Day’ when they weren’t ill, whilst the European average percentage who thought it WAS acceptable to pull a ‘sickie’ was 21% – 6 percentage points lower than the UK!
So where are we going wrong?
Why do people feel that it is somewhat acceptable to have a cavalier attitude towards work? More importantly, whose responsibility is it to not only address this issue but to put it right?
Within any business the most obvious answer is to build better working relationships and create suitable working options for ALL your employees.
By supporting, motivating and encouraging your staff, you will be helping to alleviate once and for all, the temptation that they have, which makes them want to turn over in bed, hit the snooze button, pull the duvet even tighter and make “that” telephone call.
At the same time, you need to recognise and give the appropriate support and choices to those employees who you know are genuinely ill or who have a valid reason for their absence.
Flexi-time, along with remote working options for your employees, these are all possibilities for your business, these are all possibilities that CEEQUEL® software can help you with.
ELF Productivity recognises that a happy and committed workforce = better output and improved productivity for your business.
Established in 1982, ELF Productivity Ltd has emerged as a leading force in Biometric Time Management solutions, there is no Time and Attendance scenario that CEEQUEL® has not experienced.
With a Time Management system that allows you to monitor ALL of your workforce, CEEQUEL® software is at the cutting edge when it comes to a Time and Attendance solution for ALL your Human Resource requirements.
Interested in learning more?
Do you need to take the anxiety out of your Monday mornings?
Contact ELF Productivity Ltd today and be confident and reassured with the knowledge that you and your staff are better prepared and equipped, for what this winter holds.
For a closer look at CEEQUEL® software, the portfolio of brochures can be downloaded here