Why use the Absence Module?

Absence is an everyday fact for any business that employs people. It can be for a multitude of reasons. Timegate Web’s support for processing absence covers these areas including holiday and sickness, along with less obvious types of absence such as maternity/paternity leave, bereavement or even dental appointments. Absences can be both planned and unplanned. Timegate Web’s absence management features will enable you to capture absence events and determine pay consequences.

Absence management is a sizeable business area. In the UK most workers who work a 5-day week receive at least 28 days’ paid annual leave per year1. Each employee has a National Living Wage of £8.72 per hour2. Their average shift length is 8 hours. As a result, an employee has an “absence budget” of around £1,953 before sickness and other absences. If you add 10% to cover this, an average “absence budget” could around £2,148 per employee.

Manual systems are often ineffective at calculating absence. There may be high levels of error and limited management information. Timegate Web calculates absence efficiently and effectively. It allows you to answer questions such as:

  • How much absence has occurred?

  • What type of absence was it? and

  • How much did it cost us?

Besides providing management information, these answers help to ensure regulatory /legal compliance. Are you confident that your business honours employment contracts? Does it cover those associated with TUPE transfer staff?

The Absence module should provide a significant return on investment. These will likely fall into one of three areas:

  • Accurate Data. We estimate manual absence and attendance management systems are at best 90-95% accurate. In contrast, the Timegate Web module can ensure 100% accuracy. A saving of 5% from more accurate management is worth £107 per employee per year3

  • Process Automation. We estimate businesses deal with around 6 absence requests per employee each year. These take approximately 15 minutes of manual processing time to perform. Using Timegate Web can save in the region of 60 - 90 minutes per employee, per year. A saving of at least 5 minutes per transaction is possible using the Absence module. This translates into 30 minutes time saving per employee processed using Timegate Web. This results in a cost-saving of around £4.36 per employee per annum (based on National Living Wage of £8.72 per hour).

  • Management Information. Timegate Web provides timely and accurate absence information down to the individual employee level. This will better inform management decisions. It will also enable you to meet your legal obligations. It's difficult to put a tangible value on this benefit, but it is likely to be significant.

Each year, using the Absence module could provide the benefit of around £110 per employee. Less tangible benefits are also achievable. These could include less staff churn as correct payments will be made