To tackle absenteeism effectively, says Paul Roberts, you must establish a solution that lets you detect and address the situation early to avoid short-term absenteeism becoming a long term issue.
1 Ensure you have a clear policy in place
Your company policy should be easy to understand and not open to varying interpretations. It should outline details such as when an employee is entitled to be absent from the workplace, at what time the employee must inform their line manager that they are absent, and where employees should go for support.
2 Act on day one
The first action to manage absenteeism should be on the first day that an employee is not present in the workplace. Check the facts surrounding the absence and address any resulting workload issues to ensure business continues. Line managers should highlight the services available to support the employee such as health insurance policies, company doctor services or an employee assistance programme. Ensure your line managers are fully supported and have the relevant training to ensure they keep within the employment legal framework, such as the Disability and Discrimination Act (DDA), Medical Reports Act and the Data Protection Act.
3 Review at week three
This trigger point is to catch cases that start to become long-term. Fifteen days of absence is nearly twice the national average. A system that highlights an employee who is absent for 15 days will ensure that the organisation is supporting the employee, their family, and facilitating return to work.
Discussions should focus positively on when the employee is likely to return. If the case is serious, occupational health professionals can be utilised to give an independent medical opinion. Managers can base their business decisions on this information and take it into account if the DDA applies.
4 Monitor trends
Trends often emerge among absent employees. Working practices, times of opening and commercial deadlines can all play a part, rather than illness itself. Ensuring you record reasons for absence will enable you to identify trends in the workplace to help avoid future absentee cases.
5 Nominate departmental responsibility
Integrating health services is the key to providing the best and fastest support to the employee, resulting in an early return to work. In many organisations, a range of departments have some input into health services, such as compensation and benefits, health and safety, and HR. Often, these services overlap, leading to duplication. Nominate one department to be responsible for all health providers, insurers and services, to achieve economies of scale and to avoid duplication.
6 Involve others
Absence management is a team effort and should not fall to just one person. Involving relevant parties in the solution will relieve the burden and highlight that tackling absenteeism is a normal part of working at your organisation, and not a flash-in-the-pan project.
7 Communicate
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