Sickness halved among staff at Chorley Council

9:40pm Sunday 11th May 2008

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Innovative management techniques and a dedication to improving services for customers has helped Chorley Council halve the number of sick days taken by staff, according to bosses at the authority.

The council, which is riding high nationally as one of the UK's premier councils following its Beacon Award in March, revealed latest statistics that show sickness absence has been slashed in 2007/08.

And comparing the figures to the Council's position in 2001/02, the number of days has been dramatically halved from 16 per year per employee to less than eight in the last 12 months.

This improvement equates to a saving of around £100,000 for the authority in employee time lost and places Chorley among the best performing Councils in the UK in this area.

Councillor Alan Cullens, Executive Member for Resources in Chorley, oversees the Human Resources function.

He said: "Sickness absence is something we've tackled head on over the past couple of years, with dramatic results. Helping people to stay in work, making sure they enjoy their work and have the flexibility to enjoy a healthy work-life balance have been at the heart of our absence management.

"And I'm delighted to say not only have our sickness figures reduced, but our performance for customers has improved at the same time and we were nominated by staff as one of the Top 10 Councils to Work For in an independent survey carried out by The Times newspaper.

"I believe happy staff are better staff - and this just goes to prove it,"

Among improvements brought in to tackle absence were return to work interviews, an improvement occupational health scheme and a change in the organisation's flexi-time programme.