PESTLE analysis (Essay Sample)

PESTLE analysis of absenteeism in NHS in terms of staff engagement as a challenge
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Managers have not adequately addressed employee absenteeism in the NHS. The organisation has the highest number of employee absence of any sector with statistics indicating that the sickness rate among the NHS staff is 50 percent higher compared to the private sector. The 50 percent represents over 45000 employees calling in sick every day. In a study carried out by the Manchester business school, researchers concluded that fundamental changes were needed to pull the NHS out of the problem of high employee absenteeism. In another study published in the Journal of Health Services Management Research, researchers revealed that the NHS could up to £34 million if one percent fewer staff called in sick every year (The Press Association, 2011). Based on such indicators and statistics, it is clear that managers at the helm of the NHS have failed to address the problem. Even those charged with the responsibility of ensuring reduced worker absenteeism have equally failed to tackle the problem. In the long run, high cases of worker absenteeism have resulted in reduced quality of care, waste of resources and waster of managerial and occupational health time. Many resources are directed from their core use to other non-essential uses fail to address the problem of employee absenteeism.
A couple of researches carried out have established that staff engagement is the major challenge the NHS. Staff engagement can help the NHS meet the challenges of improving productivity, reducing costs and implementing organisational changes. High levels of staff engagement have been confirmed to connect to an array of constructive outcomes including for patients and to enhanced health and well-being for staff. However, to attain high engagement levels, the NHS must improve the overall experience of the employees. The employees need to feel safe in their workstations, undertake roles that count and access proper training and development. Managers must also practice effective managing while engaging the employees in organisational decision-making (Mooney, 2009). To understand the scope of these practices that seek to achieve high levels of engagement, it is important to undertake a PEST analysis, which unravels the pressures and problems experienced by the NHS employees. A PEST analysis will consider external influences essential to the NHS employees and the extent to which such changes may be significant for the future of the NHS.
Political and Legal Factors
The political aspect of the PEST analysis examines a number of issues that touch on government directives and legal obligations, employee legislation, diversity, equality and human rights legislation. It also looks at the need to improved working and living standards of employees, better healthcare standards and reports from bodies mandated with overseeing quality healthcare. Equality and diversity are crucial to delivering quality services in the NHS. Making diversity and equality part of the strategies aimed at attaining high staff engagement is essential towards recovery. Equal representation of employees at the NHS and a depiction of diversity are instrumental in maintaining the focus in the long term (Mooney, 2009). The Equality Act in the UK has strengthened the need for equal representation in all public organisations. The changing demographics also call for diversity according to the provisions of the Equality Act. In this regard, the need to mainstream diversity and equality in the NHS becomes even more essential to how the organisation works and operates. The NHS must subscribe to the provisions of the Equality Act and commit to equal and diversified representation of workers and patients (Equality and Diversity in Practice 2013).
The Care Quality Commission is a body mandated by law to ensure that all health facilities comply and meet national set standards. The commission ensures that hospitals adhere to the rights of patients and workers and provide quality healthcare to patients. Achieving this objective needs the inclusion of workers, which is part of employee engagement. Apparently, the neglect by the NHS management to incorporate employees in such crucial matters has resulted in a feeling of neglect by employees hence the high rates of absenteeism (CQC 2013).
Economic factors
The economic aspect of this analysis in relation the NHS revolves around alternative employment opportunities for the NHS workers. It also touches on the cost of living and the living standards of employees. The NHS has done little if anything to address the issue of employee living standards. Employees at the NHS feel neglected because the organisation does nothing to better their living standards. Employees lack motivation and development opportunities to better their lives, which leaves them vulnerable to seeking better employment opportunities. The NHS must address the issue of rising living costs by negotiating better pay for employees (Department of Health 2012). To overcome such frustration by employees, the NHS must be inclusive in their strategies to ensure employee development by offering career growth opportunities that will help them climb the corporate ladder and earn better pay to improve their lives. The NHS must also adhere to the government’s strategy for social justice that seeks to address employment issues and support the disadvantaged to live better lives. Such approached will give employees no reason to seek better jobs or be absent from work.
Social factors
Social factors include aspects such as employment and unemployment levels, community involvement in issues of quality care, balance between social and work time, population size and structure and employee attitudes towards the management and harassment during work. Cases of employee bullying and harassment have been reported at the NHS. This could be a reason for employees to be absent because of fear. Such cases change the attitude of employees towards their work, which in turn affects their performance (The Press Association 2011). Employees at the NHS have been reported to have a negative attitude towards their work because of poor working conditions and harassment from management. There is also the case of balance between social and work time. The NHS management rarely approves offs for workers and workers work long hours with little rest time. Most of them op...