Staff sickness is not always preventable. However, if you notice patterns or worrying rates of sickness, you ideally want to sort it out as soon as possible.

Your business relies upon your staff to run efficiently and productively. If they are constantly taking sick days it could be a sign that there’s a problem within the company that needs your attention. Below you’ll discover the top 5 ways to reduce staff sickness rates.

Tip #1: Identify any underlying issues

If there’s a member of staff who is taking a considerable amount of time off, invite them into the office to chat about it. You need to know whether there’s anything going on at home or at work that could be causing the problem.

If the sick rates are a general problem within a certain department then it’s likely there’s an issue at work. It’s only once you’ve established the cause of the problem you can actually start sorting it out. There could be numerous reasons for high sick leave.

Tip #2: Offer rewards and perks

Employees won’t want to miss out on work if you make it fun to be there. Think about the perks your employees would like. Just one thing you can do is to include fresh fruit in the office. Head to www.fruitfuloffice.co.uk and see what types of fruit baskets you can have delivered straight to your office.

Tip #3: Reduce stress in the workplace

Some jobs are more stressful than others. Stress really does have a negative effect on a workplace. It can cause sickness and reduce productivity.

There are many ways to reduce the amount of stress in the workplace. You could set up an exercise room for staff for example. Provide them with stress balls and enable them to take regular 5 minute breaks. It’s amazing how much these little things can really help.

Tip #4: Deal with problem employees

There may be times when sickness rates are caused by problem employees. Is there one member of staff who appears to be aggravating others? It’s vital that employees get along or at least remain civil. If there’s one person upsetting the balance it can cause a lot of issues with other employees. Often giving them a warning will be effective enough.

Tip #5: Be understanding

Sometimes an employee may be taking too much time off to look after a sick relative. In these situations it would be worth looking at whether they could spend some time working from home. Often employees can work just as effectively from their home PC as they can in the office. Providing solutions to problems and helping out your employees will make them want to work harder for you.

These are just five ways to improve your company’s sickness rates. The key is creating a healthy, happy work environment. Of course there will be times when an employee abuses the system. Monitor sickness rates and don’t be afraid to pull up certain employees if their absences just don’t add up.