The following article assumes you already have effective absence policies in place and you’ve clearly communicated to your staff and they know what it is expected of them, and that you’re efficiently recording and monitoring attendance levels. If this isn’t the case yet, don’t worry.  You can read the related articles, by clicking on the highlighted words, or you can give us a call and we will support you to set up absence policies and absence recording systems that work for you.

So then, once you have your policies and absence monitoring processes in place, what do you do when your recording process flags an absence issue that needs to be addressed?

It is not unreasonable for you to raise an absence issue with an employee, in a situation where you believe that their attendance is below what you have deemed to be the acceptable level.

In this article, sharing their decades of combined HR and recruitment experience, Pure^® Human Resources walks through the process of actioning absence issues.

Raising an issue of frequent absence

If your absence management reporting software platform flags to you that someone’s level of absence has become unreasonable, with multiple instances of short-term absence, their line manager or supervisor should have an informal chat with the employee.

It’s a good idea to record any conversation, however informal, in the form of a Return-To-Work interview so that you have an audit trail you can refer back to in the future if you need to.

At this point, you would want to say that you’ve noticed there’s been an increase in their absence in the last 12 month period. You should ask them if everything’s okay, establishing if there’s an underlying situation causing their frequent absence, and reassure them that you’re here to support them.

If there is an underlying cause, you need to recognise that and see if there are any adjustments you need to make to their workplace.

You could also determine if it would be helpful to make a referral to Occupational Health to find out whether there’s an issue or if they are just taking a significant amount of time off work which has reached a level that you, as an employer, are justified in not tolerating.

An informal conversation could also reveal if your employee is feeling stress or anxiety in the workplace. If this is the case, you have some obligations around carrying out a stress risk assessment, for example.

So, it’s making sure that you are doing everything you can before things evolve into a more formal process.

Return-To-Work interview

After an employee’s absence, carrying out a Return-To-Work interview is a good opportunity to welcome them back, and it is another effective way to support your employee, keep the lines of communication open, and establish if there are any underlying issues that you need to support and be sympathetic to.

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 reminds the individual of the dates they’ve been off – you may want to raise the fact that this is the third or fourth period in the last six months, for example, and that you just want to check if there’s anything going on that they need support with.

A Return-To-Work interview should also check that they are fit and healthy to be at work. By coming back they are declaring that they are fit to be at work, but they may be worrying about their attendance levels and feel under pressure to come back before they’re ready, so you have a duty of care to make sure that they’re okay.

Simply going through this Return-To-Work interview process can have a positive effect on improving someone’s future attendance.

Referral to Occupational Health

When should you refer an employee to Occupational Health? It’s up to you but, as a rule of thumb…

If someone has had a continual sickness absence for four weeks, and you believe there may be ongoing medical issues, it is probably the appropriate time to make a referral to an Occupational Health specialist.

In the case of a mental health issue, we would suggest referring an employee to Occupational Health after a two-week continual period of absence.

When you make a referral to Occupational Health, you will want to get a rough indication of how long the employee’s absence is likely to go on for, and if they will need rehabilitation support to re-adjust to coming back to work.

It may be appropriate to organise a phased return to work, which would typically happen over a four week period, with the individual’s hours increasing week by week.

We advise that referring to an Occupational Health specialist is more cost effective and effective than going down the GP route. We can recommend an Occupational Health supplier who we work with and know and trust.  Read more on the reasons why you should consider using an Occupational Health specialist.

The process of referring to Occupational Health starts with a referral form and cover letter being sent to your employee.

When you have the employee’s consent to the referral form’s contents, Occupational Health will talk directly to the individual, in confidence, before sending a written report directly back to you as their employer.

We can talk through that report with you, helping you to interpret its contents and guide you on deciding the best actions going forwards.

If Occupational Health’s report states that there are no underlying reasons or problems why that person can’t attend work on a reasonable and regular basis, or if making some reasonable adjustments will allow them to do so, then you can set attendance targets for the individual, re-confirming the hours they are contracted to work and your expectation that they should attend work on a regular basis.

Addressing an underlying disability or medical condition

All employers are bound by the Equality Act 2010, which legally protects all employees from discrimination in the workplace.

Disability is one of the protected characteristic covered in the Act. Crucially, we always need a medic to confirm whether someone legitimately has a disability.

The threshold for disability is pretty low, so it is likely that you will have a number of employees within your business who, under the Equality Act, do officially have a disability.

This is when a referral to Occupational Health is really important, as part of that process is for the appointed medic to confirm if that person has a disability as defined by the Equality Act.

If your employee does have a disability, you need to discuss and review the reasonable adjustments you need to make to their workplace to enable them to do their job safely and comfortably.

Absence and Pay

As a part of your absence management process, you are obligated to pay the current level of government-dictated statutory sick pay. The government reviews the amount, and usually increases it, every April. The first three days of sickness absence are unpaid and statutory sick pay kicks in on day four of the employee’s absence.

If you choose to, you can add a discretionary payment above and beyond statutory sick pay. If you do, we would advise that you put the details in writing, explaining to the individual what you will be paying them and why, and how long the arrangement is going to last for.

How to carry out a formal absence management review

If you get to a point where you need to put things on a more formal footing, then you should follow the principles of the Acas code of practice.

• You would invite the individual to a meeting, in writing, giving them at least two days’ notice and making it clear what the meeting is about.
• When you invite them to the meeting, you should tell them that they have the right to be accompanied by a work colleague or trade union official, even if they don’t recognise a trade union.
• At the meeting, you should go over their level of attendance and remind them of your attendance policy.
• You can ask them if there’s a reason why they are not meeting your company’s attendance threshold and, depending on their answer, you may want to issue a written warning, in line with the policy that you hopefully have in place.
• You make it clear to the individual that they have the right to appeal, which you then put in writing with a follow up letter.
• Next, you monitor attendance and hopefully see an improvement moving forwards.

What happens if absence doesn’t improve

Ultimately, if the individual’s attendance level doesn’t improve to a reasonable standard that’s clearly laid out in your absence policy, you have followed your fair procedures and taken into account any reasonable adjustments for someone who fits into the definition of having a disability under the Equality Act, you can choose to progress with written warnings and, finally, dismiss them from your employment.

How Pure Human Resources can help you

If you need to go through absence management procedures, we can help you to prepare the documentation involved, write a script for you to follow in the meeting, sit in with you on those meetings or you may want to outsource an individual’s appeal to us to manage.

Regarding an Occupational Health referral, our expert team at Pure Human Resources can liaise with the Occupational Health specialist on your behalf. Our extensive experience is helpful for drafting the referral letter, as the medic will only answer the questions you ask them, so it’s important to make sure you include the right questions, in order to get the responses you need.

We can be as hands on as you would like us to be with all areas of actioning absence, supporting you and your organisation however you need us to.  We offer a Pay As You Go HR service as well as retained HR service packages. In addition, you may benefit from our absence management training.

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