Time and attendance systems could help tackle absenteeism in the third sector

Solid and reliable time and attendance systems with extensive HR functionality are the perfect solution to help tackle some of the factors that challenge further growth in the third sector, namely employee turnover and absenteeism.

According to figures published in the Agenda Consulting's "People Count Third Sector" report, employee turnover in the voluntary sector has returned to a pre-recession high and competition for candidates is set to increase in the next few year.

The research, which involved 71 organisations with 62,000 employees and 107,000 volunteers, suggests that the average staff turnover in the sector in 2014 was 22 per cent.

The paper also points out that absence levels were higher in the voluntary sector than the overall UK average, with employees taking an average of 8.4 sick days, costing employers an estimated average of £622 per employee. This was also an increase on 2013, when sick pay cost third sector employers £587 per person, per year, the survey found.

Meanwhile, HR's influence in the development of third sector organisations has increased: 80 per cent of HR directors of the companies surveyed were on the senior management team, a rise of 7 per cent since last year. The median ratio of all employees to HR staff was 58.

Tensor plc supplies an extensive range of time and attendance systems designed specifically to help employers thoroughly monitor and manage absence, with our flagship WinTA.NET integrated workforce management solution incorporating a dedicated Absence Planning and Entitlement Management feature.

Our comprehensive, yet user-friendly software comes pre-loaded with graphical calendar charts that provide a colourful way of viewing an individual's or a department's absence records.

Each employee can be allocated different entitlements for absence such as annual leave or allowed sickness. As absence is booked and taken, the remainder available for each entitlement is updated. Entitlement formulae are used to calculate more complex entitlements calculated on a rising scale based upon length of service.

The time and attendance systems supply the relevant managers with information on employee's absences through warning email notifications or via hardcopy reports. After that, the system would rapidly identify missing employees that are expected to be at work and then informs you via automatic email reporting reports distributed by email.

If you'd like to find out more about the Tensor time and attendance systems, just contact our team or Book a Demo, we'll be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.