I’ve recently read two articles about sickness absence, both of which have really made me think. The first was an article explaining research that found that presenteeism, or turning up to work when ill, adversely affects work performance. Apparently, there are three factors significantly affecting whether or not sick people come to work, which are: personal financial pressures, stress relating to the workplace and perceived pressure from management and other colleagues to come in to work even when an individual isn’t feeling well enough. The article also says that employers tend to focus on monitoring and managing sickness absence and thus underestimate or completely miss the adverse effects of presenteeism.
Well, duh! I’m sorry but did we really need a full report on “why do employees come to work when ill?”? Every single one of us has gone to work when we really shouldn’t have and we’ve all suffered because of it. While the appeal of staying in bed was strong, the combination of the desire to avoid the paltry sum that is statutory sick pay, the stress of knowing you had that project to finish, and the fact that your team wouldn’t even talk to you if you’d taken the day off to supposedly wallow in self-pity was sufficient to get you up and out the door. Instead of taking the day off, we’ve all forced ourselves to work and suffered the consequences of ignoring what our sick bodies are telling us. The irony, of course, is that we end up having the week off to recover after pushing ourselves to near collapse!
Whether or not the pressure to go to work when ill is real or imagined is irrelevant. Companies tend to spend too much time worrying about their sickness absence figures and the detrimental effect that has on their business. The culture of discouraging sickness absence because of the costs to the business makes every conscientious employee drag themselves out of their sickbed to come into work. Meanwhile, the less scrupulous employees take full advantage! What’s really needed is more less focus on the financial costs and more analysis to find patterns, especially in individual sick days. If you have an employee who takes every Friday off to get ready for the weekend and every Monday off to recover from it, then you have a problem which should be dealt with as soon as possible!
The second article that caught my eye was a news release from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). They’ve also done some research recently (what is it with sickness absence being a hot topic at the minute?) which indicates that new rules on long-term sick leave are preventing small businesses from taking on new staff. Effectively, a new ruling from the European Court of Justice says that statutory entitlement to annual leave will continue during long-term sick leave. The FSB research shows that the ruling will affect a significant number of small businesses in the UK, specifically affecting the way they recruit and employ staff. A number of small businesses will, as a result, be more cautious about taking on new staff, especially those with health problems. Even more worryingly, 17% of small businesses said that as a result of the new rules, they would be more likely to dismiss employees on long-term sick leave.
Any small business owner knows that having just one employee on long-term sick leave can be crippling for the business so it’s no wonder that the new rules are being viewed with such suspicion.
Surprisingly enough, new legislation introduced on the 6th of April this year may well be the answer to the problems explained in these two articles. I’m referring of course to the new statement of fitness to work (otherwise known as the fit note). I’ve written about fit notes before, what the changes are and what they mean to businesses, however, I think it needs to be made clearer to small businesses that the changes could well mean a member of staff can come back to work more quickly.
The new fit notes allow GPs to recommend changes in order to allow someone on sick leave to return to work. Employers may be asked to consider changes to workload, normal working hours or even a change of desk or work station. These changes are surely a small price to pay for the benefits of having that member of staff back at work? Every person counts in a small business so even if the employer has to fork out some cash to get a different type of office chair, for example, it’s got to be worth it in the long run.
Fit notes could also help with the problem of presenteeism by addressing the employer’s need to pressurise (whether overtly or covertly) their employees into coming into work, regardless of their state of health. If employers feel that the GP will make a considered assessment of the employee’s health and effectively do everything in their power to allow that individual to return to work then perhaps they will feel more confident that any absence from work is in fact unavoidable. A fit note would also relieve the stress felt by many employees who could return to work earlier than expected, albeit perhaps with reduced hours or reduced responsibilities. I know I’d prefer to be at work doing something rather than at home doing nothing and worrying about it!
As always, I welcome your comments and opinions – we’re all entitled to them, after all!
