The Dog Ate my Car Keys!

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.

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.

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