Sick Pay Guidelines Altered to Save Money
At a recent emergency meeting of British union UNISON’s branch executive committee, the union accused its branch Shropshire Council of ‘cheating’ workers over a review into sick pay changes which were brought in last October.
The council reportedly altered its sick pay guidelines as part of changes to staff terms and conditions in a bid to save $11 million. The dispute, which saw staff stage a one-day walkout last September, also centered on a 4.4 percent pay cut, over two years.
Savings Not What Projected
UNISON says just $182,000 was saved in 12 months from the new sick pay rules, instead of $1.6 million predicted by the council.
UNISON also claims the council has dismissed the findings of the review and plans to make no changes.
Alan James, branch secretary at Shropshire UNISON, noted “The reason we ended the dispute in the first place was because we were promised this review would be carried out and the results abided by. We feel cheated and absolutely furious after going along with it, for them to discard it. There will be a number of options – it may be that we work to rule or take industrial action.”
UNISON believes that sick pay changes and the fear of being fired or earmarked for redundancy could lead to more employees continuing to work or returning to work while still feeling sick – a concept known as ‘presenteeism’.
Unison States to Cure Problem, Not Symptom
Many research and intervention efforts have focused on preventing and reducing absence from work due to sickness.
Although everyone would reportedly like to see reduced absence from work, UNISON believes the best way to achieve this is to tackle the underlying causes of ill health in the workplace, not by forcing employees to continue to work or return to work while still feeling sick.
Working While Ill Can Have Negative Effect
This can result in reduced productivity among people who come to work and are not fully engaged or perform at lower levels as a result of ill-health. It can also actually increase sickness absence in the long term.
The three reasons offered most frequently for presenteeism are work-related stress, perceived pressures from colleagues and managers to come to work and personal financial difficulties.
According to a discussion paper produced by Business in the Community (BITC) and Centre for Mental Health, employers can save money and improve the health of their staff if they manage presenteeism alongside sickness absence.
Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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