Deloitte to install sickness management programme

Accountancy firm Deloitte plans to introduce an absence management programme to better co-ordinate employees’ use of its healthcare perks.

The new programme, which is due to be launched by the end of the summer, will help the firm to manage employees who are taking sick leave at the earliest opportunity, and direct them to the appropriate healthcare benefits.

Neil McKie, head of reward at Deloitte, said: “We want to be able to co-ordinate people early on. At the moment, everything we have got is proactive, but we need to be reactive as well.”

Staff currently have access to private medical insurance and dental insurance.

Employees will now need to contact a specialist through the sickness absence management system on the first or second day that they are off work so the recovery process can be speeded up.

“On day one or day two, staff can ring up for advice. They may be able to get to a specialist quickly. The quicker we can get someone in [for treatment] the quicker we can get them back to work,” he said.

McKie was keen to point out that the new programme is not being put in place to spy on employees who were off work sick.

“This is not designed to check up on the employees. We just want to give them the best care that we can in the quickest possible time frame so that they can get better,” he explained.