Absence management in public transport

train station

When bus drivers or train operators don’t turn up for a shift, their vehicle can’t move until a replacement is found – leading to delays, or service cancellations. Shift systems can make timely manager notifications a challenge, which can delay finding temporary staff or off-shift colleagues to cover. While drivers or operators often dominate the workforce in numbers terms, the public feels the absence of any staff, thanks to closed information desks or help at the station hard to find.

Absence can happen for many reasons – from minor illness, musculoskeletal problems, accidents and long-term health issues, and mental health problems including stress. All employers are being increasingly affected by demographic changes such as ageing, obesity and rising levels of diabetes – adding to the pressures.

Absence is often an early indicator of associated issues and frequently leads to parallel health cases and HR cases including disciplinary, grievance and other employee relations matters – all to be managed concurrently.

Managing the health of public transport employees

Driving or operating a vehicle is a sedentary, isolated and stressful job – with the responsibility for passengers and a timetable-driven schedule as notable stressors. Staff anywhere on the network can face physical risks, due to aggression or abuse. With many staff working shifts, hours can be antisocial which can encourage unhealthy food and lifestyle habits, as well as poor sleep hygiene.

It’s time to do more than the minimum.

Putting health at the centre of your workforce strategy is key to reducing the risks and costs of absence, retaining and attracting the staff you need to thrive.

Doing more than the minimum means getting proactive and monitoring health constantly and consistently, not just reacting. You need accurate data, smart insights and appropriate platforms – and your standard HR and enterprise systems were never designed for either.

Can you answer all these vital questions about every employee?

  • Are they fit for work?
  • Are they at risk?
  • Have you checked?
  • Can you prove it?

Manufacturing HR case management

The HR case management needs of staff across your transport organisation can be complicated. Not only are many of your employees located in different office and network locations, many are physically on the move all day – with shift systems only adding to communication, line management and visibility challenges.

Empactis HR Case Manager gives you the platform to simplify and streamline HR case management across your network. Line managers are supported to engage properly around issues and cases. It helps HR teams to manage and administer cases for grievance, discipline and performance effectively and to see whenever these are overlapping with absence or health issues.  HR can now focus on adding value, instead of juggling admin.

How Empactis can help transport providers

The Empactis platform can help public transport providers to:

Explore them for yourself below – or contact us to discuss their potential value to your organisation.