Reduce absenteeism in the workplace: from prevention to absenteeism interview

The average workplace absenteeism rate in the Netherlands is just under 5%. This is slightly higher than it was over the previous 10 years. Considering a sick employee can cost up to €400,- a day, absenteeism is a major expense for employers.

Fortunately, employers have means to improve their absenteeism rate, by applying their knowledge of relevant legislation and regulations, using the correct absenteeism interventions, and mastering the art of conducting a constructive absenteeism interview.

Improve and prevent absenteeism

Providing support and counselling to sick employees is not the only way to improve your company’s absenteeism rate. Creating good working conditions and conducting frequent absenteeism interviews have a significant impact on preventing (long-term) absence. After all, prevention is still the best cure.

The training ‘How to reduce absenteeism in the workplace: from prevention to absenteeism interview’ provides intermediaries with practical tools to improve and prevent workplace absenteeism.

Why focus on reducing absenteeism?

Workplace absenteeism is often regarded as a given; an expense the company has little to no influence on. Sick is sick.

Most managers are reluctant or even a bit scared to conduct frequent absenteeism interviews. What kind of questions are allowed? You can ask a lot more than you might think! If done right, absenteeism interviews are a great way to stay connected with absent employees. It gives managers the possibility to pick up on early signals to prevent even more (long-term) absence.

By knowing the framework of the relevant legislation and regulations, you can turn absenteeism from an expense into a cost reduction.

For whom?

This training is suited for HR professionals, employed by temporary employment agencies and secondment agencies, who deal with absence. The entry level for this training is MBO+.

Result

After this training you:

• are able to analyse the drivers for absenteeism within your company;
• know what type of absenteeism interviews you can use;
• know how to effectively conduct an absenteeism interview;
• can assess what questions you can and cannot ask the sick employee;
• know what legal steps to take to follow the legal reintegration process.

Approach

The training ‘How to reduce absenteeism in the workplace: from prevention to absenteeism interview’ is practice oriented. During the session you will practice how to conduct absenteeism interviews. The e-learning, which is part of the preparation for the training, is specifically aimed at temporary employment. Using relevant examples, Dutch absenteeism legislation is explained. After completing the training, you will be able to immediately improve your company’s workplace absenteeism. 

Duration and study load

This training consists of a preparatory e-learning of 4 hours and an in-class training of one full day.
Apart from the in-class training, the study load is 8 hours.

Content

After completing this training, you will be able to:

• Identify the correct actions to improve the workplace absenteeism within your company;
• Apply the relevant legislation and regulations during the reintegration process;
• Utilize different types of absenteeism interviews;
• Construct and conduct effective absenteeism interviews;
• Use different type of questions in interviews;
• Determine what questions you can and cannot ask during interviews;
• Judge what information about absence you can and cannot record.

Furthermore, you will gain knowledge of:

• the Eligibility for Permanent Incapacity Benefit (Restrictions) Act (Wet Verbetering Poortwachter);
• Sickness Act/Continuation of Pay Act (Verlenging loondoorbetaling bij ziekte);
• Self-Insurer;
• Work and Income according to Labour Capacity Act (Werk en Inkomen naar Arbeidsvermorgen);
• Different types of leave;
• Working Hours Act (Arbeidstijdenwet);
• Privacy (AVG);
• Listen, Summarize and Deep dive (LSD);
• Giving feedback;
• How to deal with resistance;
• Delivering bad news.

We verzorgen deze training ook in het Nederlands, bekijk Grip op verzuim