Award won for reducing sickness absence 4,706 Filed under - Archived Content EDF Energy’s Sunderland-based customer services centre has scooped two titles at an awards ceremony to reward achievements in human resources and development. The operation at Doxford International Business Park won the highest accolade of Business of the Year at the North East of England Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Awards. Human resources advisor Sharon Hay won the individual award for Practitioner of the Year at the ceremony which took place at the Marriott Hotel, Gosforth Park. The judges recognised that the company’s training and development policies and excellent human resources management have created a warm and friendly atmosphere and led to the lowest staff turnover levels in Sunderland’s contact centres. Sharon won her award for her work in reducing sickness absence. She said: “Winning the award was a great surprise and I’m delighted that we have been recognised for the hard work in creating a great working environment. My award was won for an ongoing project which I am co-ordinating which brings sickness management to the forefront of managers’ minds.” EDF Energy was also short-listed for the Developing People award for its work in a leadership twinning programme which twins UK managers with a German or French manager with a similar role. The CIPD awards acknowledge best practice in people management and showcases organisations which nurture, develop and reward employees enabling them to reach their full potential. Kevin Gatens, director of customer account management at Doxford, said: “We’re thrilled to have been recognised in the North East CIPD Awards. We work hard to make our operation a great place for our employees to work and are committed to providing personal development opportunities. “EDF Energy’s success in the awards further demonstrates the company’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards in recruitment, training, development and motivation.” Picture – Sharon Hay (front) with some of the EDF Energy staff who worked towards the company winning Business of the Year in the recent CIPD Awards. Author: Jo Robinson Published On: 26th Mar 2008 - Last modified: 11th Sep 2019 Read more about - Archived Content 11 Comments I am keen to learn how you reduced your sickness absence within your Call Centre. Are you able to provide statistics of what your absence levels were prior to your project, what you did, and what the stats were after? Helen Thompson 19 Jun at 17:38 I am as well interested to hear about the statistics of what your absence levels were prior to your project, what you did, and what the stats were after? Rox-Anne 20 Jun at 15:23 Very interested in the work you have done to reduce sick absence levels. What % reduction have you achieved ? Rebecca 22 Oct at 20:46 I am interested to hear in how you reduced your sickness and by what percentage? Thanks Tina Doran 7 Mar at 11:06 Hi Sharon, Congratulations on your award. Please could you let me know what the statistics of what your absence levels were prior to your project, what you did, and what the stats were after? Thanks Terri 8 Mar at 17:17 Hi Sharon, This is a key area for me and I would be really keen to hear how you put a program in place and maintain the momentum to achieve the success you did? Many thanks Fiona 9 Jun at 21:04 Hi Sharon, I am keen to learn how you reduced your sickness absence within your Call Centre. The call centre which I am responsible for recives calls for police response both 999 and non-emergency. Are you able to provide statistics of what your absence levels were prior to your project, what you did, and what the stats were after? Chris Dillon 20 Jun at 12:08 Hi Sharon As an Operations Manager for a large company I have the responsibility of tackling and reducing absence. We have looked at various methods, however as with the comments above I would be very interested in learning more about the scale of the absence before the absence managment plan was introduced and the impact in terms of reduction since, also the key details regarding your strategy used. Any help / advise would be greatly appreciate Darren 15 Oct at 16:47 Hi Sharon Well done on your award, sickness is obviously something that affects all businesses, whilst I feel that we have resonably good policies, our sickness record is something of concern for me, could you perhaps give some key points from your strategy and detail your success rate. Much appreciated. Kate 17 Nov at 12:41 Congratulations Sharon, I would be keen to hear all aspects of your management system as it is a particular area of interest to me. Thank you Fee 26 Nov at 16:38 Congrats on reducing your sickness within your contact centre. I would love to know how you achieved this and what is your NOA process as I am looking to improve this in my space. Anonymous 6 Mar at 23:35 Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Get the latest exciting call centre reports, specialist whitepapers and interesting case-studies. Choose the content that you want to receive. Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Invites to exclusive Webinars & Events Weekly Newsletter