Absenteeism in the workplace can be a difficult issue to negotiate. Treat it too lightly and you risk being taken advantage of, but putting undue pressure on an employee to return to work could result in a damaged working relationship or worse.
Whilst to your employees ‘pulling a sickie’ may seem harmless, the cumulative costs of absenteeism in the workplace is staggering. In fact, the estimated cost to the British economy of absenteeism is £14 billion a year, according to a recent joint report from Pfizer & the Confederation of British Industry.
Unfortunately, closer to home, it seems that workplace illness is a growing problem. Last week we heard that at Neath Port Talbot County Council, sickness targets are not being met. Head of Corporate Strategy and Democratic Services, Karen Jones, confirmed that levels of absenteeism at the Local Authority had increased by 1.2% over the past year.
What Can Be Done to Reduce the Negative Impact of Absenteeism?
Obviously, distinction needs to be made between culpable and non-culpable absence; those who do have a legitimate excuse and those who do not. Whilst there will always be unavoidable absences from work due to genuine illness, injury, or personal circumstances, occurrences of culpable absenteeism also occur regularly and need to be dealt with swiftly and fairly.
In order to most effectively deal with absences, employers should have an attendance policy to formally set out what is expected from employees. In addition to this, a record of absences should be kept in order to allow the employer to monitor average absenteeism so that effective plans can be formulated to manage its effects.
Read more: How to Reduce Absenteeism in the Workplace
The New Health and Work Service
Apart from avoiding the more obvious costs, since the 6th April 2014 there has been a further incentive for employers to reduce their levels of absenteeism. Since that date, employers have no longer been able to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay which exceeds 13% of its National Insurance contributions in a month.
The money saved by the Government is being used to fund the new Health and Work Service, due to be rolled out fully by May 2015. In England & Wales the scheme will be run by Maximus, one of the largest providers of Occupational Health services in the UK. Employees absent for more than four weeks will be referred by their GP to this service, so that a report can be produced to try and effectively formulate a back-to-work plan. Employees will also be assigned a case manager, who will be responsible for follow-up meetings and continuity of care.
How effective the scheme will be remains to be seen, but is expected to allow employers to take a more holistic approach to health and absence management, and be of particular help to SMEs.
Implementing an Absence Policy
In any efforts to reduce absenteeism, it’s important to remember that as a starting point employers should ensure they have a robust absence code of conduct as well as policies which incentivise good attendance.
If you would like any advice or assistance with implementing an absence policy, or indeed have any other issues relating to employment law or HR, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and the team of employment solicitors at Howells who will be happy to help.
