Managing Sickness Absence

Everyone gets ill ‒ even those with the strongest constitutions need to take sick leave from time to time. However, there is no denying that sickness absence is expensive for employers and that this cost has grown further over the past couple of years thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has helped put a spotlight on the importance of a well-structured framework for managing sickness absence: one that supports the health needs of employees and enables firm action if staff try to take advantage. Taking the time to monitor and measure sickness absence should help identify not only those few employees who are prone to ‘pulling a sickie’ but also bigger patterns or problems within the workforce.

Central to the sickness absence framework are some basic tools and principles which are fundamental to getting it right.

This book is an in-depth look at managing the problems of short-term, intermittent and long-term absence. It examines:-

• the mechanics of sickness absence management
• how basic principles can help form the building blocks of a solid foundation from which to deal with trickier issues
• the tools available to help employers manage absence
• dealing with stress
• dealing with pregnancy-related illness
• making reasonable adjustments
• handling returning to work
• dismissal
• holidays and sickness absence
• recurring absences