PERSONNEL chiefs are to look at ways of combating stress in a bid to slash the town hall's £5 million annual sickness bill.

Despite a crackdown yielding results absenteeism cost the council an estimated £5,078,000 last year.

As reported in the BEN last week, councillors are concerned because absenteeism among white collar staff is rising.

Unlike manual workers, white collar staff persistently take more days off sick than the national average.

Now personnel chiefs have drawn up a plan of action to cut sickness levels further and manage better when people are away.

One of the steps agreed is to design a policy to deal with stress in the workplace.

Others include extra training and drawing up additional guidelines for managers and supervisors. Council leader Cllr Bob Howarth said: "Absences do cost us a lot of money and any small improvement can bring considerable financial benefits to the authority."

The report stated that absenteeism varied from department to department with staff in housing and the commercial services DLO performing best.

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