How to manage sickness absence top tips

Are there too many staff signing off on sickies? Are you regularly left short-staffed? 

Managing sickness absence is not always straight forward, and can be tricky at times. One thing for certain, it is a real cost to the employers in the UK and depending on which survey you read, whether its XpertHR or CIPD, it ranges between ￡16 billion to ￡29 billion.

As a former trade union representative and now a HR advisor to companies, I am often asked by my clients about providing advice and guidance on how to deal with sickness absence and dismissals. 

The dilemma often facing business owners is a balancing act between not being too pushy and pressurising the absent individual to return to work too early, which could result in increasing the length of sickness absence and recurring absences; and just allowing the sickness absence to continue without any checks or processes in place to keep on top of the situation. The latter can sometimes breed an environment where staff feel less committed, and can allow individuals to take advantage of the situation.

It’s not just about individuals pulling ‘sickies’;  its lateness, long breaks and skipping off work early. Although typically only a small number of staff are responsible for this, it’s left to the more diligent majority of staff to pick up the pieces, which can often lead to resentment in the team.

There are ways to deal with sickness absence and it is important that it is addressed in a fair, reasonable and consistent manner.

The main issues an employer will need to consider when dealing with sick employees include:

• Entitlement to statutory and/or contractual sick pay, including deciding whether qualifying conditions have been met. 
• The reason for absence and whether it is genuine. This may require ascertaining the true medical position and may involve seeking a medical or occupational health report.
• Whether the incapacity has been caused by workplace factors such as stress, bullying or an accident at work.
• Does the absence coincide with any holiday periods?
• Whether the absence is related to a disability and whether any reasonable adjustments need to be made.
• Whether the level or frequency of absence is a cause for concern, for example, a stress at work problem, or malingering?
• Whether dismissal is appropriate and, if so, ensuring a fair process is followed.
• Considering whether the employee may be eligible for permanent health insurance or ill-health retirement.

1. ?Have a clear policy and procedure

Having a clear absence management policy and procedure that is communicated to all staff is key to ensuring a fair and consistent approach.  Employees need to understand what is expected of them, what is considered to be acceptable and the consequences of falling foul of the policy. Having procedures in place will also ensure that all employees know exactly when and who they should call in to report their absence. 

1. ?Undertaking return to work interviews

Undertaking return to work interviews are particularly effective in quickly understanding and ascertaining the reasons for absence, and assessing whether it was genuine or not. The return to work interview should be automatically undertaken on the first day back at work. It should be engaging and not simply a tick box exercise.

Return to work interviews are a great tool for managing sickness absence. Some of the topics to discuss during the interview are:

• Any medication taken or are there any side effects of the medication that might affect the individual's ability to work.
• Whether the individual's GP has approved their return to work and made any recommendations regarding workplace support required.
• To ascertain whether any help is needed.
• Any underlying concerns or workplace issues, such as problems with workplace relationships, outstanding grievances, complaints, etc.

Overall if strong procedures are in place and are adhered to, they can help reduce absence across the business

1.  ?Ensuring there is a measuring process
   
   It is important to record all absences, and regularly highlight them to managers and supervisors. This will quickly alert you to the trigger points in your policy and help you decide the appropriate action to take. The old adage that you can’t manage and take the right action that you can’t measure, is absolutely true in the case of absence management.

This will also enable you to measure the cost of absences to the business. 

4.?Good staff communication 

It is vital to have open and honest lines of communication with staff who are absent from work.  This is will enable you to understand the absence, to be able to plan and put contingencies in place, and understand whether you need to provide help and support to reduce the length of absence.

It is important that this should be done by way of welfare support and not a way of pressurising them back to work. This approach fosters great relations, keeps the employee up to date with any changes, and makes it far easier for them to return to work.

1. Offer flexibility in working

Allowing employees more control over their schedules with the ability to select and swap shifts, start and finish times at short notice is guaranteed to reduce absenteeism. This will all depend on the needs of the business and the company policies and procedures.

This could include giving an option of offering unpaid leave or to use holidays. Planned absence is always easier for a business to manage than unscheduled absence. 

1. Good documentation

Having an efficient system of documenting employees timekeeping and/or absenteeism is essential. Good documentation is key to taking disciplinary action against the employee, and will ensure that the company policy is applied consistently and fairly.

1. ?Incentive programmes should be tied to attendance

In larger organisations, rewarding those employees with good attendance with cash or other bonuses is a good incentive and could encourage good attendance, thus reducing sickness absences.

8. ?Strategy for absence management

It is good business to make absence management part of your long-term business plan. High productivity is critical for any organisation's success no matter what type and size. In most large companies a degree of absence goes unnoticed, or, at the very least, managers are too busy to address the problem. For smaller companies, it could be key individuals who are absent, which could cause significant problems for the business. 

By having absence management as part of your strategy will ensure a robust way of dealing with the potential problem, and enable you to have contingencies in place to handle the problem without too much disruption.