Employee sickness absence is something all employers must deal with in their organisation, at one point or another, and managing the impact on the business of employee absence alongside the needs of the individual can feel like walking a tightrope.

My client has a manufacturing business that works to tight deadlines. Employee absence can have a major impact on productivity, as it slows down their production line and effects their ability to meet customer orders.

Currently if an employee has a day off sick nothing is done to mark it – they say their business is too small to have a complicated process. They want to put in place something to manage absences and discourage staff from misusing sickness absence and taking days off work when they are not genuinely ill. What can they do?

A process to deal with sickness absence is something that all organisations, regardless of size, should strongly consider. It can take the form of an absence management process found in a specific sickness absence policy or the staff handbook.

Having it in place means employees know what to expect when they are absent, and means absences are managed consistently across the organisation as managers implementing the process have a guide to follow.

Knowing there is a process that will be applied can also actively discourage employees from misusing sickness absence for non-genuine absences, as they know they will have to provide an answer for their absence. 

Notification of sickness

Stage one of the process is notification. Allowing sickness absence notification in the form of emails, WhatsApps, text messages or even Facebook or Instagram messages can make it all too easy to fake an illness or injury.

Generally it is found that requiring employees to make a phone call personally (ie, not getting a family member or friend to do it on their behalf) and speak to someone to notify of their absence is an effective deterrent against employees taking non-genuine sickness absence.

Employees should be asked to explain what is wrong, what they are doing to try and get better (for example, seeing a GP, pharmacist, nurse or other medical practitioner) and when they anticipate they might be able to return. They should also be asked to call in the next day if they are still unwell.

Return to work meetings

The next stage is the return to work meeting to be held every time an employee returns to work after a sickness absence, as soon as possible on their first day back. This is the employee’s opportunity to explain the reason for their absence, any medication or treatment they received and what actions they took to relieve their symptoms (such as seeing their GP or bed rest).

It should also be discussed whether the absence is expected to reoccur. Previous absences should also be discussed to see if they are connected. If the absence has triggered a step in the organisation’s absence management process, this should also be discussed.

Record keeping

A record must be made of the employee’s absence, including all the details discussed in the meeting. The next step of the process is to compare this record to the employee’s previous absences.

While it is important to be consistent in drawing unacceptable levels of absence to the attention of the employee, the pattern of absence also needs to be reviewed first.

For example, a long-standing employee who has had no sickness absence for years and now needs some time off for day treatment at hospital for a minor problem is not in the same league as a new employee who has had a day off a week since they joined.

So the absences should be checked to see if there are any patterns that are starting to emerge, such as always after annual leave, or always on Monday’s, that might mean further investigation may be needed.

Follow up action

Any follow up action can then be taken. That could be meeting with the employee again to discuss any patterns that have become apparent. Where a step in a formal absence management process has been triggered, this should also be followed. Where no such process is in place, but it is determined that the absences have become unreasonable, formal absence management can be instigated.

By Stacie Cheadle, technical writer, Croner-i

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