Sickness absence is a huge issue for employers – arranging cover, organising sick pay, and reorganising workloads can all eat into your company’s time and productivity.

According to the 2012/13 CBI Absence Survey the average worker is absent from work for 5.3 days a year, costing the UK economy is £14billion annually.

Here we explain, step-by-step, how you can manage employee absence and mitigate its impact on your business.

Communicate your sickness policy

This should underpin the way your procedure for managing sickness absence, clearly setting out the individual responsibilities of employees and line managers.

It should cover:

•   The steps every individual employee need to take if they cannot come to work, ie, who they should inform and when.

•   When employees are required to provide medical certificates or ‘fit notes’.

•   When the company may require a medical report or a referral to an occupational health scheme.

•   Entitlement to sick pay and details of any workplace sick pay scheme.

•   Whether, and at what point, ‘unacceptable’ levels of short-term sickness may be investigated and managed under your company’s disciplinary procedure.

•   The point at which an individual’s absence levels would trigger further action such as a review, investigation and/or disciplinary procedures (for example, three instances within a six-month period)

It should also set out the reasons behind having a sickness policy – to help ensure that sickness absence is managed fairly and consistently throughout the business and to mitigate the impact of absences on colleagues and customers.

Circulate the policy throughout the company and ensure it is easily accessible – you could communicate it at induction, include it in your staff handbook and on your intranet.

Conduct back-to-work meetings

It’s good practice to require every employee to attend a back-to-work meeting with their line manager when they return. This sends out the message that you're monitoring absence and that the company treats it as a serious issue. 

It's much easier for an employee to take a 'sickie' if they know that no questions will be asked about the absence and they can slip back to work unnoticed. People are less likely to feign illness when they know they are going to have to have a one-to-one conversation with their boss.

The focus of these meetings should be to express concern and offer support and not as punitive action – you should always remain sensitive to individual circumstances.

Empower your line managers

Ensure line managers have the knowledge and confidence to manage absences within their team effectively, for example, skills for communicating with absent employees; how to record absences; what forms to use; when further action/investigation is needed; and where they can get further support. Provide training where required.

Line managers are in a powerful position to manager and minimise absence as they have a personal relationship with their staff and are in a good position to spot potential problems before they get out of hand. Working closely with their team members also means that they have an opportunity to influence behaviour by keeping their staff motivated and happy in their jobs.

Ask leavers to identify problems

Exit interviews or questionnaires when employees leave the company can help identify any issues that are making workers unhappy – disengaged workers take more sick days. People are more likely to honest if they are leaving the company anyway.

Foster a culture of open communication

When employees feel a sense of responsibility for their work and loyalty to their team, they’re much less likely to phone in sick on a whim because they won’t want to let their colleagues or clients down.  People will also be more willing to talk openly to their manager if they have a health problem and need support from the business and understanding from their peers. 

Focus on employee motivation

Research shows that well motivated employees, who enjoy high levels of job satisfaction, are more committed and less likely to 'throw a sickie'.

Allow staff as much control over their work as possible – increasing autonomy is a valuable staff motivation idea, sending the message that they’re trusted and valued.

Consult your employees wherever possible, on issues that affect them – when people have been involved with a decision, they have a vested interest in a successful outcome.

Recognise achievements

Everybody needs recognition that their contribution is meaningful and appreciated. Implementing an employee incentive scheme, where rewards are linked to achievement can be a powerful way to reinvigorate engagement and optimise performance in a tangible way.

The effectiveness of an incentive scheme depends on consistency and timeliness of delivery/Consider how to make awards consistent and their delivery straightforward – gift vouchers or cards are a popular choice as they meet both requirements as well as offering choice to the employee.

Offer flexibility

If possible, give managers discretion to allow a reasonable degree of flexibility, for example, allowing an employee to come in an hour or so late to deal with a domestic issue and make-up the time later. This can help prevent a ‘sickie’ and also help improve employee relations and strengthen commitment.

During major sporting events, like the World Cup or the Olympics, you may experience an increase in the number of employees calling in sick. If you think this is likely to happen, consider whether you could make any changes to normal working practice to take the event into account. For example, you may be able to extend the working day so that a football match can be watched during work time.

Reward low absence rates

Attendance incentives or bonuses are sometimes used as an incentive for future attendance and to reward good attendance records. They are sometimes used as part of a broader absence management programme. This approach requires careful consideration and planning so as not to disadvantage employees who have to take time off sick because of a disability or a pregnancy-related illness (both of these groups are protected in law).

Take steps to reduce stress

A little stress is not a bad thing – but too much pressure can manifest in physical symptoms and lead to serious illness.

Train line managers to look out for signs of stress among employees and try and find ways to help them cope better with the demands of their job. Encourage them to use both formal and informal performance conversations to keep a check on how well people are coping with their workload so that they can provide advice and support where needed.

Create culture where people feel comfortable about approaching their managers and to openly discuss any problems or concerns they have about work.