Absence we know affects all businesses and the knock-on effects can be catastrophic if we consider the implications to staff morale, work performance and the additional work loads placed on the shoulders of existing staff attempting to cover the additional workloads.
What we must try and ensure is that we have an efficient method or process for tracking this to ensure we can identify persistent offenders and put an end to any unnecessary absence from employees. Of course, we are all human and from time-to-time we must acknowledge that there will be times when we become ill and ultimately unfit to work, usually for a short period of time.
Absence we know affects all businesses and the knock-on effects can be catastrophic if we consider the implications to staff morale, work performance and the additional work loads placed on the shoulders of existing staff attempting to cover the additional workloads.
What we must try and ensure is that we have an efficient method or process for tracking this to ensure we can identify persistent offenders and put an end to any unnecessary absence from employees. Of course, we are all human and from time-to-time we must acknowledge that there will be times when we become ill and ultimately unfit to work, usually for a short period of time.
Try and Address Absences Immediately
Effective tracking is necessary if we want to get on top of any absence levels in the workplace. We need to ensure that any tracker that we implement into our business is both comprehensive, easy to follow and understand. This way there shouldn’t be any room for error or someone getting away with a possible sanction.
Trigger points are also crucial particularly for potential persistent offenders. The key in the initial phases will be the line managers and supervisors. They will need to be aware of when there are possible issues on the horizon and identify the problems before they arise.
Dealing with the issues immediately is important because, busy periods of work could encourage the manager to neglect the initial processes or put off at a later date. If this happens then the process is not given any real authority and it weakens the impact it should have.
Importance of our Line Managers
As mentioned earlier, the line manager is so important, as they play a key role in implementing the policy we have and are integral to keeping these absence levels under control. They have the potential to identify when there could be a problem on the way or address the issues head on to reinforce our business policy and procedures.
Step 1. Return to Work Interviews
These are crucial because, this is the first point of contact after the initial absence. This is where the employee has to sit down face-to-face with their manager to explain their absence. This in itself has two major benefits:
- It allows the manager or supervisor to ascertain if there are any underlying or serious issues that have contributed to the absences. If there are serious issues in someone’s homelife (they have been evicted from their home for example) then this gives the company the opportunity to potentially help and assist the employee.
- If there are any concerns regarding the legitimacy of their absence, they will have to explain that to their line manager face-to-face whilst looking at them in the eye. Those who may have been limited with the truth may feel uncomfortable with this and therefore are less likely to deceive their line manager.
Step 2. Progress to formal meetings
Here is where it starts to get serious for persistent employees. You may decide to have a policy where after 3 separate periods of absence (inside a 12-month period) is reached. This then triggers the step 2 stage where a formal meeting takes place to decide if further or disciplinary action is to be taken.
I most cases, once these processes are in place and the business have their specific set process in operation, very rarely should there be the need to escalate any further providing these specific steps are followed through.
Keys to Successfully Track and Effect Absence in the Workplace
To ensure that the above has a significant impact in our business, we must ensure the following:
- Communicate the company absence policy to all staff
- Maintain consistency with each of the steps and processes
- Educate your managers and supervisors to ensure that they have knowledge of the process
- Inform your employees of the process and highlight the benefits of this – if there are underlying personal issues, we can help them to address this and eradicating consistent absence benefits all employees and the company
- Consider a return-to-work program for long term absence where they need assistance in getting back to work
