The Importance of Effective Absence Management

Staff absence can be one of the most frustrating aspects of running any business. As an employer you rely on your employees attending work as expected and it can cause all sorts of difficulties when people fail to show up.

It is important to realise that there will always be genuine reasons for absence. Everyone gets ill from time to time, experiences traffic problems, trains and buses breakdown, and accidents can and do happen. But the key to effective staff absence management is actually to ‘manage’ absence and not to simply let it happen around you. 

Most contracts of employment and employee handbooks will set out the rules and/or policies for managing employee absence. Having an employee absence management policy in your staff handbook is essential, and it generally includes clearly set out guidelines on what employees can expect if they are absent, as well as an instruction that employees call the office before a certain time to inform their manager of their absence and to explain what is wrong with them – if they can and they are not incapacitated in some way. 

The number of businesses that allow employees to text or send messages in to report an absence is really rather high and this is quite astounding. Whilst we may live in a world where digitisation prevails and messaging is the norm, there is a good reason why managers ask employees to call in to report their absence – this being, it’s much harder for someone to “wing it” on a phone call. 

As set out earlier, we all have reasons to be absent sometimes and in general staff absence levels are low. However, it is useful to keep track of employee absence and there are numerous HR absence management software platforms that may help flag absence numbers to make life easier. An effective HR absence management software platform should be able to report on individual employee absences so that you can spot any pattern absentees that you may have within your business.

What is absence management in HR terms? In simple terms, it is managing staff absence effectively, looking at regular or pattern absentees, and helping the line manager to reasonably and correctly manage those employees who are frequently absent.

If you identify employees who are regularly absent or have pattern absences, the key thing is to prepare your facts and, in this case, HR absence management software can help, if you have it. Make sure you have logged all of the days of absence and arrange to meet with the employee to discuss their absence.

When presented with the facts of their absence, employees can be quite shocked. The fact that the manager has registered and logged that a particular employee has two Mondays off every month, takes every Friday off before they go on holiday, and takes every Monday off when returning from holiday, can be incredibly powerful. 

Asking for an explanation for these absences and setting out clear expectations in relation to your absence management policy is essential. It is important to ascertain if the employee has a medical issue of any kind that may be impacting on their ability to attend work or if there is another issue that you should be aware of. Once again, log the facts and if there is something that requires further investigation, liaise with your HR team or seek professional support.

Some business use very specific tools to support their absence management policy, such as the Bradford Factor or Bradford Formula. This is a tool that measures absences and gives each employee a score. One of the benefits of using the Bradford Factor is that it highlights short term frequent absences rather than long term conditions and, as such, highlights those employees who may be of most concern.

When using the Bradford Factor, you should have a very clear absence management policy setting out how the tool will be used and what the potential consequences may be. For example, once your score hits 50 you will have a meeting that may result in a verbal warning, at 100 you will have a meeting that may result in a written warning, and frequent and repeatedly unacceptable absences can result in dismissal.

A return-to-work interview, even if only for a short absence, is recommended. This could simply be a brief catch-up phone call if necessary to check the absentee is fit to return to work and to see if anything further is needed. This also works to show that managers are aware of the absences and may even put off those who are essentially feigning an illness.

If persistent absence is a problem and it becomes apparent someone may no longer be able to do their job, you can start what is called a capability procedure (templates are available on the FresHR portal to assist you with this). This takes the employee through several stages to identify why attendance is poor, and if additional adjustments and support are required. Here, managers may utilise occupational health services and request to see GP records in order to help them understand what could be beneficial in assisting employees.
When it comes to making any reasonable adjustments to assist, note that the word reasonable is very subjective! For example, if the case ends in a tribunal, the judge’s role is to ascertain whether a reasonable employer would consider this adjustment appropriate given certain factors (such as status of the company, size of company, company profits, etc). A large multi-national company (think Apple, Google, or National Rail) would be expected to make more reasonable adjustments than a small not-for-profit charity with under five employees. Obviously, these are extreme examples, but it is all relative.

Consistency is key when going through such procedures, not only to ensure that the process is effective, but also to avoid discrimination. To this end, it is a good idea to stick to a plan, with dates for certain actions being adhered to. For example, if an employee is required to submit a doctor’s note by a specific date, ensure you follow up if the deadline is missed. Not following up is thought to be a common reason for absences not being addressed for excessive amounts of time.

In the case of long-term sickness, it is recommended to keep in contact with these employees. Often, employers believe they should leave people on long-term sick leave alone, however regularly touching base with them can have positive results as it makes employees still feel valued and acknowledged, instead of cast aside and forgotten about, which can be very beneficial and help allay any anxiety when the time to return to work comes around.

It is important to ensure that absences relating to disabilities are carefully considered, as additional advice and guidance may be needed in these cases. Regarding dismissal of any employee, it is important to have the correct advice in place. On our FresHR portal, you can find everything that you need to effectively manage employee absence, from templates pertaining to capability and dismissal, through to guidance on the correct procedures to follow in order to effectively manage employee absence effectively and legally.