Absence management: Developing an absence policy
Section 4 of the Personnel Today Management Resources one stop guide to absence management, covering: how to develop an organisational absence policy; how to ensure management commitment; and a sample absence policy. Other sections.
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Effective absence management requires careful customisation to address the specific needs of the organisation as a whole and of any particular problem areas. At the same time, it needs to be built on a foundation of clear principles and practices, which are applied consistently to all employees across all parts of the organisation.
Developing your own absence policy
The first step is to ensure the organisation has in place a clearly defined, commonly accepted and widely understood set of absence policies and procedures. Without such common standards, it will prove almost impossible to manage absence effectively at either the organisational or the individual level.
In practice, however, absence policies are often non-existent, incomplete or poorly drafted. Even when good policies do exist, they are commonly not disseminated effectively beyond the HR function, so there is little awareness of their content or provisions either among operational managers or the workforce at large.
It is therefore important that policies and procedures are developed that fully and appropriately meet the needs of the organisation, and which are effectively and regularly communicated to managers and staff.
If possible, absence policies should be developed in consultation with managers and employees - for example, tested through group sessions and discussions - to ensure the content and provisions are workable, and that there is common acceptance of the key principles. It is important that absence management is seen as a core responsibility for all managers, rather than simply a bureaucratic requirement imposed by the HR function.
In broad terms, an absence management policy should contain the following key elements:
A clear statement on the organisation's attitude to absence and attendance
The starting point should be that employees are paid to attend work, and that they are expected to do so unless they have significant and legitimate reasons for their absence. Employees should recognise that any absence, however justified, will inevitably have a financial and operational impact on the organisation.
At the same time, the policy should also recognise that employees will have legitimate reasons for absence from time to time. The organisation itself will provide all reasonable support to employees who are absent for good reasons, with the aim of assisting their return to work. The organisation will also aim, where possible, to provide reasonable support to employees in balancing their working and domestic commitments.
Clear definitions of the roles of managers and the HR function in managing absence
The statement should emphasise that responsibility for managing attendance lies, in the first instance, with local line managers. Managers should be responsible for monitoring individual and collective absence levels in their own teams, and for ensuring that any individual absence issues are addressed promptly and appropriately.
The role of the HR function is normally to provide advice and guidance as required, to act as a contact point with occupational health (OH) and other advisers, and to ensure the policies and procedures are applied fairly and consistently. In practice, HR should monitor absence levels on an organisation-wide basis, identifying and supporting any areas where absence levels appear relatively high.
Clear procedures to be followed in the event of absence
The policy should clearly set out the procedures to be followed by employees if they are absent from work. This will include procedures for notifying their manager on the first day of absence, requirements for regular updates in the event of extended absence, requirements for the production of medical certificates, and the procedures to be followed by employees and their managers following the return to work.
It is important to stress that responsibility for following the procedures lies with the employee, not with their manager, and that failure to follow the procedures may result in disciplinary action.
Defined procedures for dealing with long-term absence
It is helpful to set out as fully as possible, for the benefit of both employees and managers, the procedures and timescales that will be applied in dealing with extended absences.
This should include defining the point at which medical certificates will be required, the points at which the organisation will normally be in contact with the individual (normally initially by telephone and then for home visits), the points at which advice will be sought from the organisation's OH adviser and/or the individual's own GP, and any limits of the payment of occupational sick pay.
It should be stressed that these procedures are in place to support and assist the individual, as well as to ensure the employer has full and up-to-date information about the case. The aim should be to facilitate the employee's return to work at the earliest reasonable point, while also ensuring the employee's condition is being handled appropriately.
Defined procedures for dealing with recurrent short-term absence
In particular, this should define the 'trigger points' at which an individual can be expected to be interviewed by their manager and/or HR, and the kinds of formal action that might ensue. In most cases, a formal interview will be initiated either if the employee exceeds a specified number of absences or a specified number of days off within a defined period - for example, more than three periods of absence or 10 days off in any 12-month period.
It should be stressed that, at this point, the procedure makes no assumptions about the legitimacy or otherwise of the absences, and the interview does not constitute part of the formal disciplinary procedure. The initial interview is essentially exploratory, with the aim of helping the employer to assess if there is any underlying reason for the recurrent absence.
The interview may conclude that the individual has simply been unfortunate - for example, suffering from several unrelated but genuine medical conditions - in which case no action would normally be taken other than to highlight the required attendance standards.
On the other hand, the interview might conclude that, although genuine, the absence is indicative of some underlying medical condition. In this case, it may be appropriate to seek advice from an OH adviser, ideally with the individual's agreement to approach their GP. The aim here would be to seek a prognosis about future attendance and, if appropriate, to see whether any further support can be given to alleviate the problem.
Finally, of course, it is also possible the interview might conclude that, on the basis of the available evidence, the absence does not appear to have been justified. In this case, it may be appropriate to institute formal disciplinary procedures, either immediately or on the basis of any recurrence.
The policy should also emphasise that, although the guidelines will be applied consistently, each case will be treated on its individual merits. For example, if there is clear evidence that a given absence is unjustified, it may be appropriate to initiate disciplinary procedures immediately. Equally, if an individual is known to be suffering from a persistent but short-term medical condition, it may be unnecessary and inappropriate to initiate any immediate action.
An example of a sample absence policy is in the box below.
Ensuring management commitment
The development and publication of an absence policy is a critical first step towards the effective management of absence. This provides the bedrock on which the broader absence management strategy is built, ensuring that all parties have a clear understanding of the organisation's needs and expectations, and of their own roles and obligations.
All too often, the published absence policy is perceived simply as a product of the HR function, with no real understanding of or commitment to its provisions among senior or operational managers across the organisation. Therefore, it is critical to ensure there is full commitment to the principles and content of the absence policy from the top of the organisation downwards.
The starting point is a clearly defined business case signed off by the senior management team that sets out, as precisely as possible, the potential benefits that will be realised through improved absence management. This is important because managers, even at senior levels, will often underestimate the potential benefits that can accrue through reducing absence levels, and will therefore not accord it an appropriate priority.
If the senior team is aware that each 1% reduction in absence brings a defined and substantial cost saving - which, it is important to recall, is generally an immediate addition to the bottom line - they are likely to treat the issue seriously. It is important to bear in mind that the return on investment in good absence management will often be much more substantial than any equivalent capital investment. Ideally, consideration of absence levels should be a regular item in the senior team's agenda so that they are able to track progress, sponsor any associated initiatives, and provide explicit and visible leadership for the whole process.
Alongside this visible sponsorship from the senior team, it is important to obtain the practical support of operational and line managers across the organisation. Although most managers will endorse effective absence management in principle, in practice, there is often a reluctance to engage with absence problems in their own areas.
This means it is important to ensure that the proposed policies and procedures are seen as practical and credible by those who will actually have to apply them.
If the organisation is developing new or substantially revised absence policies or is investing significantly in reducing absence levels, it may be worth establishing a cross-functional management steering group to oversee the process. This helps to ensure that all parts of the organisation are involved and consulted in the development process.
The group might, for example, oversee issues such as:
The skills and development needs of managers and team leaders in handling absence issues. Managers are often reluctant to tackle absence issues because they lack the required skills or confidence - in particular, the skills to handle potentially sensitive individual cases. The steering group can explore development needs in operational areas and work with HR to identify appropriate solutions
The practicalities of handling absence in different operational environments. This may be a particularly pertinent issue in environments where individual absence can cause immediate resourcing difficulties - for example, production lines, telephone contact centres and so on. In these kinds of environments, managers need to know immediately if staff are expecting to be absent, and will need to have well-established contingency arrangements. In such cases, the procedures for reporting on and responding to absence may need to be highly stringent. In a clerical or management environment, the immediate reporting requirements may be less critical, although the ultimate impact of the absence may be equal or greater. It is important therefore that the organisation establishes absence procedures that fully meet the operational needs of managers, while not placing an unreasonable burden on employees
The existing culture of the organisation. If the organisation has previously tended to adopt an over-tolerant attitude to absence, then some care may be needed in moving towards a more rigorous approach. It may be, for example, that managers will lack credibility or be perceived as behaving unreasonably if they seek to change their style overnight, and that a more incremental change is needed. The steering group should be able to consult and advise about what is practical within their own areas, enabling an appropriate strategy to be developed.
It is preferable to establish a practical set of policies and procedures, which managers accept as workable and reasonable, rather than trying to import 'best practice'. This kind of steering group also provides a continuing forum to review the effectiveness of the absence strategy over time, enabling managers to feed back their perceptions and experience so that any problems or opportunities for improvement can be quickly identified.
If the organisation is unionised or has an equivalent form of staff representation, it may also be appropriate and useful to include staff representatives on the steering group. Staff representatives generally welcome the principles of effective absence management because they want to ensure that staff are treated fairly and consistently, as well as recognising that unjustified absence can place an unnecessary burden on other staff.
At the same time, representatives will often have concerns either about the procedures themselves or their practical operation. They may, for example, perceive the procedures as unduly punitive - particularly if they potentially include the withholding of occupational sick pay - or they may have concerns about the consistency of application.
If they are involved in the development and monitoring of the policies and procedures, then these concerns can be raised and addressed at the earliest opportunity. The resulting procedures are likely to be most credible if they are endorsed and supported by staff representatives as well as management.
We recognise that, from time to time, employees will have genuine and acceptable reasons to take time off work. Nevertheless, the company expects satisfactory attendance from all our employees, on the basis that unplanned absence causes substantial operational and performance problems to other employees and to the business as a whole. The aim of this policy is to minimise absence levels across the organisation, while also ensuring that we provide appropriate support to those who are legitimately absent with the aim of facilitating their return to work. We aim to ensure that all employees are treated fairly and consistently.
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Section two: Do we have a problem? Section three: What causes employee absence? Section four: Developing an absence policy Section five: Establishing absence procedures Section six: Handling 'problem' absence Section seven: Developing positive initiatives Section eight: Legal implications
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