Does a Workplace Need a Staff Sickness Policy?
Employee absences are an inevitable part of running a business, but how you manage them can significantly impact your organisation’s success.
This blog explores why every workplace benefits from a clear and effective sickness absence policy. We’ll cover what it should include, how it can reduce unauthorised absences, and tips to foster a healthier, more supportive work environment.
What is a sickness absence policy and why is it important?
A staff sickness policy outlines how your company will deal with sickness absences. It ensures that absences are handled legally and employees are treated fairly. Not only is it a reminder for you as an employer, but it also acts as guidelines for employees to follow. An effective policy therefore helps limit the negative consequences of high absence levels and reduces the number of unauthorised absences.
When do you need a staff sickness policy?
All businesses can benefit from a staff sickness policy. Absences are a reality that can happen to anyone, so ensuring employees act within their rights and your expectations of them as a company is crucial.
An absence policy will set out the processes for them to follow if they cannot work. It may be because of an unexpected day of sickness, a planned holiday, or bereavement. No matter the reason, having the procedures in place makes sure that te appropriate actions are taken.
What should your absence policy include?
A well-curated staff sickness policy should consider a wide range of absence possibilities. The more prepared you are for a scenario, the easier it will be when it actually occurs.
Generally speaking, the policy should cover how you deal with planned absences. This involves holidays, paternity, maternity, adoption, or parental leave, and time off for medical appointments – time off that is planned in advance.
The policy also needs to include how you deal with unplanned absences. This includes ill health, time off for dependants (partners, children, parents, a person who relies on them) and bereavement, and travel or weather disruption.
When creating your policy, you should consider including:
- How employees should book planned absences
- How employees should report unplanned absences
- Outlines of trigger points, which act as benchmarks for employers to take further action
- Support you will offer employees while they are off work
- How you will conduct return-to-work interviews
- How you will track and manage attendance
- The differing processes for short and long-term sickness absences
It is also important to have disciplinary procedures in place if an employee continually violates your absence policies and other measures have been exhausted.
Managing sickness absence
Managing short-term sickness absence
Frequent short-term sickness absences can disrupt the workplace, but addressing the issue proactively can make a difference. An attendance meeting that sets out clear boundaries and addresses the issue at hand can be beneficial. Reminding them of the sickness absence policy can help prevent further absences, especially by clarifying the policy’s trigger points.
Trigger points act as a clear prompt that their attendance is impacting the organisation and that improvement is necessary. By outlining these expectations, you encourage better attendance, while also making it clear that more serious disciplinary measures may follow if the issue persists.
Managing long-term sickness absence
Trigger points are less effective in cases of long-term sickness absence. This is because long-term sickness will often be a result of an underlying medical condition or other issue that is not easily resolved.
In these circumstances, reasonable procedure involves regular meetings with the employee to keep in touch, helping them get an occupational health referral, an eventual return to work meeting, or legal proceedings regarding dismissal.
If you require advice or support with long-term sickness absence, Trusted HR can help with this. Or, read more in our blog: How to Manage Occupational Health Referrals [Coming Soon]
Our tips to help reduce employee absences
Staff sickness policies are in place to help ensure smooth absence procedures. But wouldn’t it be great if you could reduce staff absence in general? By following our tips, you might be able to reduce absence in your organisation.
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Familiarise yourself with the causes of absence
Knowing the reasons why people often take time off work can help to address the underlying causes and prevent their leaving. By offering more flexible ways of working, people may feel less pressure to juggle home and work responsibilities. Training managers to support employees through work-related stress can help them feel more assisted.
Try and gain an understanding of why your employees take sick leave so that you can find ways to reduce similar absences in the future.
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Work to create a positive work environment
If employees feel comfortable speaking to managers about issues where they trust they will be listened to, understood, and receive the support they need, they are more likely to stay in work.
Alternatively, they could take leave from work to personally handle what they are experiencing, rather than leaning on their employer for help. Feeling supported by colleagues and having a positive work environment are key factors in reducing employee absences.
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Encourage a good work-life balance
Employees who are happy with their work-life balance are less likely to take a leave of absence. To assist them in getting to this point, you can offer flexible working, have regular catch-ups to see how they are doing, lead by example, create an open space for speaking up, and train managers to spot signs of stress and anxiety.
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Have an effective absence policy and management system
Policies make your employees aware of what is expected of them. Ensuring you are consistent in upholding a sickness absence policy will encourage others to follow its guidelines, reducing unauthorised absences. Be mindful of individual circumstances and that it is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.
Absence Management at Trusted HR
If you are looking to create a sickness absence policy or need help with absence management, Trusted HR is a professional consultancy that can assist you. With many years experience in various projects regarding absence management, we tailor all our services to each individual case.
Whether you need short, medium or long-term support, our HR consultancy service is the perfect solution. We can offer support and guidance, help develop clear absence policies, monitor employee absences and help you take the appropriate actions.
Request a consultation to learn more about how our consultancy service can help your organisation succeed. Trusted HR offers a free, 45-minute, no-obligation consultation on any HR issue to help you get started.
We can also help with:
- Managing Conduct
- Management and Leadership Development
