A recent survey by Mercer HR Consulting reports that one quarter of European employers now offer incentives to encourage staff to take fewer sick days. Does this represent an increasing trend in the UK? What view do HR professionals take of such moves?

Buy a new car today and a fairly standard benefit will be breakdown cover from the AA, RAC or a similar provider – you hope you don’t have to use it, but the reassurance is there that the support is there – if you ever need it. But what would you think if somehow there was mechanism in place whereby you have to pay the garage an additional fee if the vehicle didn’t break down during the first year? I can’t imagine many people going for that one!

Translate that concept into employment though and it does happen. Attendance bonuses are gaining ground in some areas. Call me old fashioned if you like, but I subscribe to the view that people are paid to come to work and that norm shouldn’t need further reward. However I recognise that few businesses will throw hard-earned money away flippantly and I assume they believe there to be a business benefit from it.

One of the best known schemes within the UK operated within Royal Mail with their ‘Be in to win’ promotion whereby staff could win a car, holiday vouchers or other benefits in recognition of perfect attendance over a 12 month period. And according to the figures the promotion seems to be working with a reduction from 6.4% to 5.7% of days lost. Apparently this equated to a return of £80 for each £1 spent on the scheme.

I have a concern thought that schemes such as this are dealing with the symptoms rather than the real problem. Taking the Royal Mail example, and I am quoting them as figures are easily available, a sickness rate of 6.4% equates to an average of around 14 days absence per year. In my experience that is significantly above the typical average of 6 or 7 days per year. From my understanding working for Royal Mail is not significantly more hazardous or accident prone than the average employer, so why the higher rates of absenteeism? The fact that a reduction was possible may suggest that not all the absences were genuine, or what I like to term ‘discretionary’ absence.

One area that I have little information on is what happenings to the attendance levels of those employees who have some genuine sickness early in the assessment year, and as a result are excluded from the reward scheme. Does their attendance level fall off to the lower end of expectations? I would interested to see some data on this and how businesses manage this aspect of such schemes.

My assessment is that frequently attendance bonus schemes are in place to counteract poor management. From my experience absence problems are best managed through a process of return to work interviews, medical assessments and, where necessary, disciplinary action. However this needs to be seen to be handled fairly and take into account any individual issues that employee present.

Businesses also need to recognise what happens when employees are forced back to work too early. There are risks of people coming back to work too soon and either exacerbating their illnesses or passing them on to others. Again however sensible management can manage this risk. Common sense, advice of Occupational health practitioners can all be used to determine if people should come back to work.

What is your experience of attendance bonuses? How do you manage absence within your organisation? What stories do you have of managing absence within your place of work?

Quentin Colborn is an independent HR consultant based in Essex who advises management teams on operational and strategic HR issues. Quentin can be contacted on 01376 571360 or via Quentin@qcpeople.co.uk