Strengthen leaders

Don't be alarmed. Did you know that 50 percent of employees who take a long-term leave of absence return to work within four years? That's something you want to prevent. How? By strengthening your managers: train them, for example, in the preventive signaling of abnormal behavior and conducting interviews. After all, a vital organization requires good leadership that focuses on the employee.

Wie zitten er in mijn team? Maak ik me om iemand zorgen? Zo ja, waarom? En waarom ben ik nog niet in gesprek met deze medewerker gegaan? Volgens Lars Vissers, algemeen directeur van De Arbodienst, zijn dit cruciale vragen die een leidinggevende zichzelf wekelijks, zo niet dagelijks, moet stellen. “Wij helpen leidinggevenden bij het preventief herkennen van afwijkend gedrag en het aangaan van een gesprek. Geen pleisters plakken, maar verzuim voorkomen. Daar staan en gaan wij voor.”

If you want to tackle absenteeism preventively, you have to know what to look out for, Vissers says. "When we deal with long-term absence cases, we still hear (too) often: 'we sensed that coming'. That's why we train managers in spotting deviant behavior. Example: does an employee arrive at the office half an hour earlier than usual every day for a week? Then that is deviant behavior. Identifying this is step one. Starting the conversation is step two. If that conversation reveals that the train runs a different schedule, for example, nothing is wrong. But if it appears that the employee is sleeping in a hotel because something is not right at home, you know that there is a risk of absenteeism . Then you can take follow-up steps."

De Arbodienst supports managers with a Labor and Health Advisor: a professional who, among other things, helps the manager conduct these conversations. Vissers: "How do you start the conversation with an employee? How do you present yourself? What questions do you ask? And how do you ensure a good balance between content and relationship? Too strong a focus on content 'I expect you to come back to work' stands in the way of maintaining a good relationship. And too strong a focus on relationship "take all the time you need," stands in the way of a return to work. What behaviors does the employee exhibit? And how do you find the balance between the two? That's where our advisors are happy to help."

Enthousiast geworden over de dienstverlening van De Arbodienst? Neem dan vrijblijvend contact op met De Arbodienst via 088 – 031 3200 of kijk op onze website