Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has confirmed other surveys showing that stress-related absence by employees is on the increase. The research also revealed that employers with a clear rehabilitation policy in place are much more likely to secure an earlier return to work.The length of time an individual is off work sick has been shown to have a strong relationship to the likelihood of returning to work. Studies show that after six months absence there is only a 50 per cent chance that an employee will return to work. At 12 months this falls to 25 per cent and after two years there is practically no chance of a return.
An independent commission, set up last year, has published ‘Good Governance Standards for the Public Sector’. The publication is a response to a report from the Office for Public management in 2003 which showed severe weaknesses in the governance of public bodies. The report looked across the public sector including police, schools, health service, quangos and local government, which in total spend some 500 billion pounds annually. It found that many governors were unclear about the process of governance and confused about their responsibilities.The independent commission, chaired by Sir Alan Langlands, was set up by the Office for Public Management, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The document sets out a framework of governance principles which can be applied across the public sector. The guidance for the 450,000 people responsible for governance of the UK public bodies is designed to be flexible to respond to the ever changing public service landscape. It includes a self assessment model that allows organisations to benchmark their current performance and develop plans for improvement.
By Philip Collins and Liam ByrneTen years ago Osborne and Gaebler endorsed government that steered rather than rowed, in their book Reinventing Government. They offered principles for entrepreneurial government which included: empowering communities, encouraging competition, being driven by mission, being oriented by results and satisfying the customer. They advocated decentralisation and the use of market forces.