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Employees’ leave can point out future human capital risks

An astounding 58% of South African respondents who took part in Accenture’s 2013 Defining Success study described themselves as workaholics. These findings are supported by an Ipsos Global and Reuters study which revealed that just 47% of working South Africans take the full number of vacation days they are entitled to annually, reports Bizcommunity.

Professor Jacques Snyman, product development director for the Zurreal 4employers Employee Wellbeing solution, said: "Monitoring the amount of leave days taken by your employees serves as a key indicator of your organisation's workaholic status and can be regarded as a crystal ball of future human capital risks your company will inevitably face.

Possible outcomes include a sharp increase in absenteeism, noticeable reductions in productivity, more staff presenting burnout-related symptoms as well as an ever-increasing staff turnover."

"Analysing leave data from a holistic and integrated point of view, spanning all human capital risks, will enable employers to manage and eliminate the potential impact of human capital risks on their bottom line. For example, employees under financial, emotional or psychological stress are more likely to take ad hoc leave. A powerful employee wellbeing programme will immediately flag these individuals for further investigation and, following a cross-examination of additional wellbeing data, be able to pin-point the root cause of ad hoc absenteeism.

Equipped with the information, employers are able to intervene by ensuring that these workers have access to financial advice or professional counselling for example," said Snyman in the report on Bizcommunity.