Post Office logo

The Post Office found that over a 3 year period sickness absence rates had almost doubled.

From all days lost 25% were attributable to mental health conditions, compared to the national average which was 12%, yet the number of cases being opened by the MyHR Help service (the outsourced HR service delivered by AdviserPlus) was very low.

Key Fact

£500k

in cost savings from reducing absence

“We want our people to be well, and putting the right tools and processes in place to support this is critical. Since working with AdviserPlus on our mental wellbeing programme, we’ve heard line managers say how proud they are to work for Post Office and how it has opened their eyes to all the things they can be doing to proactively support their people at work. Spotting the early signs is crucial and we’ve helped our managers to do that very well.”

Amber Kelly, Engagement, Talent and Learning Director, Post Office

The AdviserPlus solution

The Post Office partnered with AdviserPlus to deliver 4 new services, specifically designed to address absence and mental health, and to help managers intervene early.

The service includes line manager training, pro-active advice line service, management information and visual analytics, and HR knowledge portal containing company policies and HR document templates.

Line managers are now aware of the early signs of mental ill health and have the confidence to deal with difficult conversations.

The results

10X sickness absence cases have been opened per year (550 vs approx. 50)

More mental health issues identified – rising from 28.8 per month in 2017 to 39.6 per month in 2018

The average duration of mental health absence has fallen by 25% over the same period

3X as many occupational health referrals have been made per year

Post Office has experienced productivity savings of over £500,000

Get in touch

Or speak to an HR expert on: 0844 327 2293