Employee Absence - a guide on managing absence effectively

With the Christmas season looming, we're likely to see an increase in absence and sickness.

Smaller businesses really feel the impact of ad hoc absences, especially during periods which may either be seasonal highs for production or where higher levels of holidays are authorised as businesses quieten down before the Christmas break.

Many business owners feel they cannot take proactive steps to reduce absence when in fact there are a number of simple processes you can have in place that can make a big difference to ad hoc and unauthorised absence.

A starting point is to have effective Sickness and Absence Policies in place which clearly set out the standard that are expected of your employees and give your managers guidance on how to deal with absence issues fairly and consistently.

You may choose to implement an absence management system such as Bradford Scoring which gives a formula to calculate a score every time and employee is absent and the score prompts what action is taken. There are a number of schemes like this which are aimed at reducing the ad hoc absence rather than dealing with employees with longer term medical conditions.

Keeping a track of absence effectively can also ensure that you identify patterns in absence, such as the Monday and Friday syndrome, and raise these concerns with employees. This may be from using a system such as our HR Toolkit or from a more manual system.

How to minimise absence and lateness

Having policies and systems will only have a positive impact when they are used consistently and so it is important you and your Manager are confident in applying these policies.

Making sure all employees use self-certification forms and have a return to work discussion also help manage attendance. General communication on the requirements of their roles, the aims of the business and the impact of lost days are all discussions that can help.

In addition, if workers know that absence will be noticed and investigated, they are less likely to take time off work without proper cause.

If you would like any help or support in managing absence please call Quest Consulting Services on 0844 8797286 or visit www.questconsultingservices.co.uk