27 July 2005

Please note that this article covers ideas for prevention and identification of absenteeism, and reducing the length of long-term absences. It does not cover the action to be taken to deal with absenteeism once it has been discovered. If you would like advice on this subject, please contact a member of the Clarkslegal employment team.

The CBI and CIPD have both recently published reports putting sickness absence in the UK firmly at the top of the Human Resources agenda. These reports highlight both the cost to business of absence and the latest approaches for combating it.

The CBI/AXA absence report estimates that the total annual cost to UK business of absence is £12.2bn. Of this figure, employers estimate that ‘sickies’ account for about £1.7bn.

Short-term and long-term absence are very different, but every business should be clear about what can be done to minimise the impact of both.

Short-term absenteeism

The first and arguably the most important thing for an employer is to create a culture in which staff do not want to be absent. There are two main ways of achieving this and, where they are both present, the employer is likely to reap the benefits in terms of low absence levels:

The feeling of being an important part of the team. Arguably, this is one reason that the reports found lower absenteeism in smaller companies i.e. that individuals in smaller businesses feel greater responsibility for the success of their employer and respond positively to that responsibility. If an individual feels like an insignificant cog in a large machine, he or she may not feel as motivated to come in to work when they are not feeling quite 100%.

Opportunities for personal progression are also important. The reports found that IT professionals and lawyers had amongst the lowest absence levels. Both these professions often provide real opportunities for progression and regular absence is likely to hamper progress. The flip side is that an individual in a ‘dead-end’ job is likely to be more tempted to take ‘sickies’, because the personal incentive to be at work is not present.
In some jobs, there is simply no room for career progression. In these cases, financial incentives to attend and/or disincentives for absence, can be used. Famously, Tesco’s recently started using such an approach in 20 of its stores. Its ‘carrot and stick’ approach involves offering extra holiday in the hope that it will reduce ‘sickies’ and vouchers for good attendance. Set against that, there is no payment for the first three days of absence.

After addressing the cultural issues, prompt identification of potential absenteeism is usually the next practical step for any business. In a small business, it may be relatively easy to work out who is absent on a regular basis. In a larger business, clear systems are needed to ensure that managers across the business identify potential absenteeism consistently at an early stage and take steps to address it. One way of doing this is to have compulsory ‘return to work’ meetings after any period of absence, however short. Alternatively, or in addition to these meetings, ‘Attendance meetings’ could be triggered automatically after a set number of days of absence in a financial year. These meetings have been found to be effective as deterrents to persistent short-term absence. They also enable the employer to find out more about the reasons for absence and identify any underlying causes which may exist.

Long-term absence

Long-term absence is a very different proposition and must be handled sensitively. However, employers need not, and should not, simply leave employees on long-term sick leave to their own devices until they are ready to return to work or the employer decides it must take action to dismiss.

Many employees on long-term sick can return to work more quickly if the employer takes a more proactive approach. Occupational Health professionals are increasingly being used to examine more closely the reasons for absence and what might be done to assist an employee to return. Private medical insurance can lead to employees getting swifter treatment and being able to return to work more quickly.

Finally, whatever you do, it is crucial to maintain contact with the employee, otherwise an employee who might have returned to work as a productive member of the workforce may become isolated and disillusioned, leading to longer lasting absence and, potentially, conflict.