A recent excuse quoted by an employee as to their reason for being unable to attend work was that their
‘dog ate their car keys’. This appears to be the adult equivalent to the ‘dog ate my homework’ and equally
as implausible. As children I am sure we all had a phantom stomach ache to get us out of a test or not doing
our homework, as adults we are still using similar excuses to avoid something that we do not want to do.
As children our actions meant that our parents had to take a day off work to care for us, as adults our
actions now affect our colleagues, boss, client, company performance and bottom line.
Whilst this is highly improbable and an extreme excuse for a ‘sickie’, many employers do face significant
absence problems with varying reasons provided for absence by their employees.
According to an annual survey conducted by CBI/AXA the cost to the UK economy of sickness absence in 2007
was £13.2bn, with the average employee taking 6.7 days off sick. This figure is expected to increase for 2008,
with over 12% of the absence thought to be non genuine or ‘sickies’ as they are more commonly known.
So what are the causes of absence and what can you as an employer do to reduce the effects?
At ABHR we have developed a number of top tips to help you identify the causes of absence and manage the effects
on your organisation.
TOP TIPS IN MANAGING ABSENCE
-
1. Develop a culture of employee engagement. If an employee is unhappy at work they are more likely to
take sick days, therefore by engaging and motivating employees and providing a workplace where their views,
skills and experience are valued this will help to reduce absence levels.
-
2. Record Absence Levels. Recording and measuring absence levels allows you to understand the scale
of the problem and to develop an appropriate policy.
-
3. Develop a Policy. Developing a separate attendance policy that triggers action at certain levels of absence
e.g. 3 periods of absence in 6 months, can help to minimise absence. Line Managers need to know when levels of
absence turn from ‘acceptable’ to ‘needs to be addressed’ under the attendance policy.
-
4. Return to Work Interviews. The policy should include carrying out effective return-to-work discussions
after every period of absence which involve discussing the reasons for absence, help to ensure support is provided
for genuine illness but also if an employee believes that absence will be noticed and that they will have to
undergo a return to work meeting, it can discourage non genuine sick days being taken.
-
5. Discuss the reasons for absence in full. If someone is persistently late or absent, before they face disciplinary
action, you need to discover their reasons. It may be that they have genuine problems whether outside work, such as
childcare issues, or at work, such as bullying.
-
6. Train Managers. Many managers shy away from difficult conversations, highlighting someone’s lateness or poor attendance
record is often considered by managers as confrontational and they often don’t have the skills to deal with the
situation. Therefore you need to train managers to be confident and effective in having difficult conversations
relating to absence and employee health.
-
7. Don't ignore attendance problems. If absence problems are not addressed then an employee will feel
that they are able to get away with ‘sickies’. Other employees who normally have good attendance, are forced to
take up the strain for missing colleagues which in turn can impact on their absence.
-
8. Use health services The use of appropriate health services such as occupational health can assist in supporting an
employee’s return to work from a genuine illness. Equally the possibility of a meeting with a healthcare professional
may discourage non genuine illness.
-
9. Do not discriminate. Beware of discriminating, even unintentionally - for example,
lateness might be due to a disability you know about - or one you don't. You might need to make appropriate adjustments.
If you are interested in learning more about Absence Management, or any
element of employment then please call ABHR on 0115 9743519 for your free no-obligation
consultation or visit our website abhr.co.uk for
further details.