8. Founding Team
Advisors/Consultants:
Paul Angelopolous – MSc Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Karlene Dawson – MA in Disability Management
Andrew MacVicar – MSc in Occupational Therapy
Darren MacDonald
Co-founder
Daniel Makhan
Co-founder
Rehabilitation
Work Design Neuroscience
Ergonomics
User-centred Design
Disability Management
Occupational Health
Human Resources
Health Psychology
Participatory Design
Return-to-Work
11. Bradford Factor
For example:
1 instance of absence with a duration of ten days (1 x 1 x 10) = 10 points
10 instances of absence; each of one day (10 x 10 x 10) = 1000 points
B = S2 x D
Editor's Notes
Introduction
Hello my name is Darren MacDonald and I want to introduce to a major challenge facing many Canadian businesses.
I landed on Absenteeism in the workplace!
16.6 Billion
According to a Conference Board of Canada report, the annual impact on the Canadian economy is estimated to be over 16 Billion dollars.
Resulting in an average of 9.3 days of employee absence nationally and closer to 12 days here in Nova Scotia.
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Absenteeism rates are highest in the health care and social assistance sector, followed by government and public administration.
46% Tracked
Every day, thousands of people don’t show up at work and in most cases this goes unnoticed because less than half (46%) of companies track attendance.
15% Measured
15% of companies actually tracked the direct cost of absenteeism on their organization.
Some of the common causes of absenteeism include (but are not limited to):
Bullying and harassment
Burnout, stress and low morale
Childcare and eldercare
Depression
Disengagement
Illness
Injuries
Job hunting
Partial shifts
Web Application
Through discussions with many of our partners and client organizations, some that track and some that don’t, it became apparent that managers don’t have information readily accessible nor the soft skills to help them use it.
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The platform provides triggers for coaching opportunities.
10 not equal to 10
For employees they can see how they compare to their peers. For managers they can get detailed information on the type of absence because 10 does not always equal day. (i.e. 10 1-days vs. 1 10-day with a predictive forecast of who may be out in the future.)
10 not equal to 10
For employees they can see how they compare to their peers. For managers they can get detailed information on the type of absence because 10 does not always equal day. (i.e. 10 1-days vs. 1 10-day with a predictive forecast of who may be out in the future.)
Coaching
UpTime.Management is a simple, coaching software solution for both managers and employees.
Currently, the way many organizations track attendance is using a lagging metric, about a week to a month behind.
We feel getting managers information in the moment, they can coach their team to higher levels of productivity and get them they help they need.
Founding Team
Our co-founders have been friends, colleagues, classmates and even roommates over the past 20 years.
We have a diverse background in many work-related sciences.
We have some traction with initial outreach to 15 HR professionals, placed in a few PITCH competitions and we were successful in the most recent SPARK Cape Breton Competition.
Some of the common causes of absenteeism include (but are not limited to):
Bullying and harassment – Employees who are bullied or harassed by coworkers and/or bosses are more likely to call in sick to avoid the situation
Burnout, stress and low morale – Heavy workloads, stressful meetings/presentations and feelings of being unappreciated can cause employees to avoid going into work. Personal stress (outside of work) can lead to absenteeism.
Childcare and eldercare – Employees may be forced to miss work in order to stay home and take care of a child/elder when normal arrangements have fallen through (for example, a sick caregiver or a snow day at school) or if a child/elder is sick.
Depression – According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the leading cause of absenteeism in the United States is depression. Depression can lead to substance abuse if people turn to drugs or alcohol to self-medicate their pain or anxiety.
Disengagement – Employees who are not committed to their jobs, coworkers and/or the company are more likely to miss work simply because they have no motivation to go.
Illness – Injuries, illness and medical appointments are the most commonly reported reasons for missing work (though not always the actual reason). Not surprisingly, each year during the cold and flu season, there is a dramatic spike in absenteeism rates for both full-time and part-time employees.
Injuries – Accidents can occur on the job or outside of work, resulting in absences. In addition to acute injuries, chronic injuries such as back and neck problems are a common cause of absenteeism.
Job hunting – Employees may call in sick to attend a job interview, visit with a headhunter or work on their resumes/CVs.
Partial shifts – Arriving late, leaving early and taking longer breaks than allowed are considered forms of absenteeism and can affect productivity and workplace morale.
B is the Bradford Factor score
S is the total number of spells (instances) of absence of an individual over a set period
D is the total number of days of absence of that individual over the same set period (typically set as a rolling 52 week period)
The theory is that short, frequent, and unplanned absences are more disruptive than longer absences. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development the term was first coined due to its supposed connection with research undertaken by the Bradford University School of Management in the 1980s. It was developed as a way of highlighting the disproportionate level of disruption on an organisation's performance that can be caused by short-term absence compared to single instances of prolonged absence.
Introduction
Hello my name is Darren MacDonald and I want to introduce the OneNovaScotia Coalition to a major challenge facing many Canadian businesses. When searching for a project I wanted to use my two decades of experience designing safe & productive workplaces combined with the new technology I was learning at UIT.