Seven steps to managing attendance

Managing absence positively and clearly can reduce a sickness rate and decrease disruption and cost absence can cause an organisation. Take seven steps to better absence management.

The average employee has seven days off work a year attributed to sickness.  This increases to 12 for those in call centres and 10 in local government employment. The cost of this is estimated between two and five times the direct salary costs. This is in addition to the disruption that long term absence or repeated spells of short term absence cause the business.

Whilst no one wants people to come to work when they are too ill to contribute, the sickness absence can be reduced if managers work to a clear, agreed system. In the light of the new Fit Note procedures for GPs introduced in April of this year, the following concepts will aid in managing all spells of sickness positively: