Member Article

Innovative HR policy cuts sickness levels by 25%

Ambitious logistics operator, Europa Worldwide Group, has reduced short term sickness in the workplace by 25 per cent thanks to a new innovative HR strategy aimed at incentivising staff.

In a move to address the issue, the £90 million turnover business wanted to cut the average 4.4 sick days per worker. In 2014, Europa lost nearly 2,100 sick days, and the issue has been most prevalent in its larger warehouse locations. After going through a major restructuring at the business, which included a £30 million investment of its new 1hub warehouse facility and headquarters in 2015, the company introduced a new approach by creating a “five day non-sickness pot” at the beginning of 2016.

Carl Potter, HR and Facilities director at Europa, said: “The management team is not afraid to tackle difficult issues if it is for the greater good of the company and its employees. This is a labour-intensive business, operating in a fiercely competitive sector, and having a workforce on whom we can depend is critical to our success. So, we did the number crunching to see how this would have affected staff had it been introduced in 2015. We found that nearly two thirds of the 600-strong workforce would have been better off, of which one third would have received the full five day bonus pot.”

The pot is equivalent to an extra five days’ pay per employee, and for every non sick day (out of a potential of five in total) they receive an extra day’s pay. So, for example, if a worker is off work ill for two days in a year, they are entitled to an extra three days’ pay at the end of the year. A worker who is not off work at all with sickness will get the full five days’ pay at the end of the year.

Carl added: “For a business of our size and ambition, our sickness levels were too high. Although our levels of sick days are in line with the national average, we wanted to motivate staff to bring this down. In keeping with our culture and company values, it was important to create and introduce a positive approach to tackling the issue and cut down on the related costs such as using more agency workers to fill in.

“We always seek to push the boundaries, and aspire to be the best, and our workforce at Europa is instrumental in making that happen. The aim is to increase the total number of workers receiving bonuses from the pot, and make Europa a unique and attractive place to work. This scheme will actually cost the company more but it’s a long term strategy we think is worth investing in.”

If a member of staff is ill for five more days they will not be entitled to the funds from the pot. They will, however, still be entitled to company sick days for a period of 5 to 10 days; it does not negatively impact on a member of staff who had one prolonged period of sickness. Previously, if a member of staff had been ill for five days in a calendar year they would have received full imbursement through the Company Sick Pay Scheme. The company’s sick pay policy, which is now six months into its implementation, continues to cover from day six of sickness for a maximum of another five days in one calendar year.

Europa is set to introduce more positive changes in its HR strategy. It is planning to provide a more pragmatic approach to the company’s appraisal system. Employees will benefit from a more tailored approach to their appraisals in a bid to encourage greater employee engagement.

www.europa-worldwide.com

@europaworldwide

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kathryn Greenwood .