Some of the costs of employee absence are immediate and obvious– lost productivity, damaging effect on service delivery and the costs of getting cover for the absent employee or paying other staff overtime. But there are less obvious costs too, including management time spent dealing with absence and the resentment and de-motivation of team members who have to compensate for absent colleagues. Unmanaged absence can lead to the development of a ‘sickness culture’ which compounds all these problems and ends up being hard to break.
The good news is that problems of this sort can be averted or turned around with proactive management.
Identifying the problem
Understanding the nature of the problem is the crucial first step. Analysing the patterns of sickness absence, whether in the organisation as a whole, within particular teams, or on an individual employee basis, will help to identify what needs to be done.
There may be more than one pattern immerging, but commonly there are two main types:
- Lengthy single (but sometimes repeated) absences.
- Intermittent persistent short-term absences
Intermittent short-term absences can often be the more damaging of the two, because their unpredictability means they are more difficult to plan for, resulting in more disruption to the business.
Lengthy spells of absence
Some times these cannot be avoided, for instance, where an employee suffers a serious accident necessitating a long period of recuperation. However, absences of this sort will usually resolve themselves simply by the employee getting better and returning to work.
However, if the organisation is experiencing multiple lengthy absences, it can be symptomatic of a deeper underlying management problem, for instance where a spate of such absences are concentrated within a particular team or business area. If so, can a reason be identified – for example do they involve a particular manager or management style?
Identifying the underlying cause may help to focus on what can be done to resolve the issue causing the problem.
Intermittent persistent short-term absences.
If particular employees are frequently taking short-term absences, or if the problem is widespread within the organisation, is often indicative of a previous failure to manage absence appropriately. It will be particularly important to address the issue in order to avoid the development of a culture where sick leave is seen by employees as a convenient form of informal holiday.
Fortunately, this is also one of the easiest forms of absence to deal with as it generally responds well to good management.
Again, analysis of the absences will be helpful:
- Do absences tend to fall on a Monday or Friday?
- What reasons does the employee give for their absences?
- Are they a string of unrelated reasons, or do they point to a particular underlying health issue?
Sickness absence policy
Next, look at the organisation’s policy on sickness absence.
It is hugely important to have clear, well-publicised policies so that employees know what is expected of them and managers know how to enforce them.
What is the sickness reporting procedure? Your policy should make it clear by what time the employee is expected (unless there is very good reason) to have reported their non-attendance. Specify by what method of communication is to be used for this sickness reporting. And to whom they should report it.
Equally important is to make clear what is not compliance with the procedure. Examples could include leaving voicemails outside office hours, or sending a text to work colleagues of their choice.
Make it clear also that entitlement to sick pay is conditional on the procedure being adhered to.
Also look at the organisation’s contractual sick pay entitlement: Whilst employers will generally want to support employees with genuine health issues, they should take care to ensure they don’t inadvertently encourage absence.
A contractual entitlement providing for relatively few paid sick days each year won’t prevent an employer paying more on a discretionary basis if a particular employee’s circumstances warrant it, and employees won’t be encouraged to prolong their absence or to take more frequent absence than is genuinely necessary if they can’t rely on being paid during absence.
The message to staff
It is advisable to look at what message is given to staff about sickness absence.
Employees must be made aware that absence will be monitored, and that unwarranted absence will not be tolerated, but there is no need to be unduly heavy-handed about it. The best approach is simply to make absence management a routine procedure.
Back to work interviews following absence, which could simply take the form of a brief chat to discuss the reasons for their absence, will be useful. Put the spotlight on an employee’s absence. Employees who know they were not genuinely sick can find it uncomfortable when asked to give an in-person explanation of their absence. This may cause them to think twice before ‘pulling a sickie’ in future. Of course, back to work interviews should not used to interrogate or intimidate the genuine employee. If the interview is part of a clear and routinely applied policy there is no reason why it should be seen as such. Properly conducted, such interviews can provide a valuable tool for managing employee’s expectations of the consequences of their absence and so help to modify behaviour. Routine application of a standard procedure will also help guard against potential allegations that a particular employee has been singled out and ‘bullied and harassed’.
For the same reasons, it is also helpful to have an escalation of the back to work interview which is triggered once a certain level of absence has been reached. This could coincide with the point at which employees cease to be entitled to contractual sick pay, or at some other point. If it does coincide with the end of contractual sick pay, this can be drawn to the employee’s attention. Particularly where expressly permitted by the contract, it may be useful to canvass with the employee whether it is necessary to refer them for medical examination.
Clearly employers will want to be sensitive and make clear they are supportive of those who are genuinely ill but employees should be aware that their absence is being monitored. They should also be aware of the effects and consequences of their absence on their work colleagues as well as for their own continuing employment.
In serious cases, the appropriate disciplinary or capability procedure should be invoked as part of the routine.
The point is that it should not be too easy for an employee to skive. Ignoring absence problems implicitly condones it and can help to entrench the attitude that routine absence is okay.
Disability issues
Managers are often worried about inadvertently committing unlawful disability discrimination. Good news here too: recent case law has established that provided a person without the disability would, in the same circumstances, have been treated in the same way it will not be unlawful discrimination to treat a disabled person in that way too.
There is one caveat to that general principle: particular care must still be taken not to penalise an employee for their absence if it was caused by the employer’s failure to make reasonable adjustments.
Summary of key points
- Have a clear sickness policy and sickness reporting procedure.
- Enforce it and make it part of the routine.
- Include trigger points where the process escalates. Where appropriate, invoke the disciplinary/capability process.
- Make sure there are consequences – triggered interviews and, where appropriate, formal capability/disciplinary procedures.
- Consider terms and conditions of employment – do they encourage sickness absence by providing overly generous contractual sick pay?
- Focus on the employee and their absence, making them aware of the impact on colleagues and the consequences for their own employment.
- Don’t make skiving easy.