With Royal Mail posties driving away shiny new cars as a reward for turning up to work every day, employers are seeing examples of the high priority organisations accord the battle against absence.

In order to keep a lid on sick days, many organisations are turning to sophisticated software systems capable of tracking absence and supplying good management information

...Of course, some employers prefer to determine their needs with the help of experts. Tony Price, sales consultant for IT firm Snowdrop Systems, says: "It's a consultative approach. It's unusual [for an organisation] to come to us and straight away say 'this is the service I want'."

A basic assessment of sickness absence is a straightforward exercise. The Bradford Factor, which is built into absence software models, is a formula used to highlight persistent short-term absence. But there are a number of other measures that can alleviate a big spend on software. But pen and paper calculations are just the beginning. Employers want the kind of fast, packaged data expected of modern technology. Often this ties in with company intranet systems. "In terms of monitoring, everyone can do it [manually] but you probably wouldn't want to [because] there's tremendous scope for inaccuracy. You might not gain anything new [with a software system], but it's much quicker, more effective, efficient and accurate," says Price. Clearly with unacceptable levels of absence often resulting in disciplinary action, accurate reporting is essential.

Online solutions allow organisations to delegate central absence recording down to line manager level. Price says, around 80% of employers are opting for self-service models, looking to limit duplication. Such models typically allow workers to view sickness records.

Keith Lewis, consultant for sickness absence at healthcare provider First Assist, says: "[software systems identify patterns] across all divisions, so [employers may see that] in finance the boss is a bit of a bastard and may be the cause of the problem."