Do you communicate your policies clearly to your employees so they know what’s expected of them?

Do you have an efficient recording system in place to monitor your team’s attendance?

Pure^® Human Resources is an HR consultancy with decades of HR policy experience within our professional and friendly team. We are passionate about helping businesses to implement and maintain efficient processes to ensure they run smoothly and harmoniously, with a motivated and productive workforce.
In this article, we cover four key steps on the topic of managing absence in the workplace, so that you can make sure all your ducks are in a row.

Step 1 – Make sure you have robust policies in place

As well as having comprehensive employment contracts, you should also, ideally, have a sickness/attendance management policy, which we can help you to draw up.  This will ensure that your employees are clear about what you consider to be reasonable attendance at work – and what you consider to be unreasonable. They will know what your process is for managing attendance, and the support you have available to them.

We can also advise you on appropriate sickness absence trigger points, as well as the practical application of collecting data or reviewing a case.
There are no hard and fast rules about acceptable levels of attendance. It is up to each company to decide what is right for them, and we can help you with standard guidelines.

Clarity should make any discussions you have to have with your employees on this topic straightforward and amicable.

Step 2 – Communicate clearly with your employees

Communication is key. From knowing who to call or email when they can’t come in to work, to being aware of what process will be followed if their attendance level becomes an issue, it is crucial that your employees know what is expected of them and that there is no ambiguity.

You will want to reassure your employees that you care about their welfare, and that monitoring absence is as much about their wellbeing as it is about your company’s productivity.

Managing this potentially emotive situation in the right way will encourage a positive dialogue; your employees won’t feel like they’re ‘in trouble’ if you ask to have a meeting with them about their attendance levels. They will hopefully feel supported and know that you are simply checking in, to see if you’re okay and if there’s anything going on that you can help them with or make easier for them.

Step 3 – Record and monitor attendance efficiently

Having a smooth-running system in place to accurately record your employees’ attendance is the backbone of any organisation’s HR processes.
It is perfectly reasonable to expect your employees to meet reasonable standards of attendance, and monitoring their absences is the best way to achieve this.
There are several versatile, all-encompassing and intuitive software platforms that provide excellent record keeping across absence, sickness and holiday. We can walk you through your options and help you to decide the best one for your business.

Trigger points

Once your system is in place, you can set up triggers and run reports that will instantly flag any potential absence issues.
What those trigger points are is up to you.
For some businesses, it might be when someone has had more than four periods of sickness absence in a rolling 12 month period, or it might be when someone has had more than 10 short absences, for example.
Numerous short absences tend to get less attention than someone with one long, continuous period of absence, so tracking all absences diligently ensures that frequent short absences don’t fall between the cracks.

Pay

Another important reason for accurate recording is to make sure your payroll department knows the timings for payments of statutory sick pay, which starts on day four of the employee’s absence and is paid for a maximum of 28 weeks.
Your absence records can also be used to manage the amount, terms and timings of any discretionary payments on top of statutory sick pay that your company has chosen to pay that individual.

Step 4 – Follow a clear process

Having comprehensive and clear processes in place is a fantastic foundation for managing absence in the workplace.  When your reporting system triggers a potential issue, you can then simply follow your clearly set out processes.

Clients often ask us, “How do I deal with frequent absences?”

Frequent absence and long-term absence need different approaches.  You could say that accurate reporting is extra important for frequent absences as lots of ‘odd days off here and there’ can go unnoticed, and it can be a surprise when your reporting shows how much those days can add up.

Long-term continual absence is much more visible. After a four-week continual absence, you are likely to have made a referral to Occupational Health, to properly appraise the situation directly with the individual, and manage a phased return appropriately and sensitively.

Tackling an issue

When you are aware of a potential issue, you can meet with the individual to discuss any underlying issues or patterns.
If it comes to the point of needing to set them an attendance target, you will need to keep on top of the situation with regular reviews, which your employee should be expecting as you will have clearly communicated your standard processes.

Return-To-Work interviews

We would always recommend that you conduct a Return-To-Work interview after a significant absence. Not only does it give you the opportunity to make sure that your employee is definitely ready to come back to work, but it also highlights to them that you are aware of their absence which can, in itself, have a positive impact on their future attendance.

A Return-To-Work interview doesn’t have to be a formal and complex process. It can just be a simple checklist, or part of your software reporting tool.
It can also be a nice opportunity to welcome your employee back to work.

The next step

If a situation with an employee doesn’t improve and you need to go down a more formal route, you should invite them to a meeting, having given them at least two days’ notice and informing them that they can invite a colleague or union representative to attend the meeting with them.

Firstly, you need to establish if there are any justifiable explanations for their absences and then do everything that you reasonably can to support them.
If you don’t see short-term absence levels improving then, ultimately, if the individual’s attendance level doesn’t improve to a reasonable standard that’s clearly laid out in your policy, and you’ve taken into account any reasonable adjustments for someone who fits into the definition of having a disability under the Equality Act 2010, you can choose to progress with written warnings and, finally, dismiss them from your employment.

You may also be faced with the unfortunate situation where somebody is terminally ill. In these sad circumstances, you will want to handle this as sensitively and support that individual as best you can.

How can Pure^® Human Resources help you manage absence?

We can help you on many levels when it comes to managing absence in the workplace. Everything from giving you advice, support and recommendations, to processing any referrals to Occupational Health and implementing any feedback.

We can help you to draw up or revise your employment contracts, and put efficient recording resources in place.

If you have attendance review procedures, we can help you to prepare the documentation involved, write a script for you to follow in the meeting or even sit in with you on those meetings.

You may want to outsource an individual’s appeal for us to totally manage on your behalf.

Some of the organisations we work with like us to support them with a very light touch, and others like us to be very hands on throughout the process. We are happy to work with you in whichever way works best for you and your business.

Contact Pure® Human Resources

If you have any HR queries or requests that we could help you with, our friendly and expert team would love to hear from you.
You can call us on 01794 329470, email us or fill out our Contact Form.