Short-term sickness - line manager training

Authors: Lynda Macdonald and Hilary Cordery

Brightmine editor: Laura Kimpton

Introduction

Short-term sickness absence is costly and disruptive. It also impacts on areas such as productivity, customer satisfaction and employee morale.

This training guide discusses the role line managers play in managing short-term sickness absence effectively and in compliance with employment law. It covers:

• the benefits of absence management;
• conducting return-to-work meetings;
• workplace factors for sickness absence; and
• starting a formal absence management procedure.

We have a separate training guide on long-term sickness, which is often defined as absence lasting more than four weeks.