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They are concerned about tackling this issue, as they have heard that some absences are “protected”, and want to ensure whatever actions they take are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory. What do you suggest?
A. All employers should have in place absence management procedures, and if your client doesn’t already, we would strongly encourage them to implement them. These procedures allow for monitoring of absence levels and management of excessive absences, and ensure a mechanism is in place to deal with any employees who require a reasonable adjustment at work.
An absence management procedure can include:
- Return to work interviews.
- How to access support available within the organisation, occupational health guidance or an external Employee Assistance Programme.
- Informal discussion of absence levels.
- Formal proceedings to discuss concerns with absence levels, and notify the employee that if improvement is not seen action will be taken.
- Formal action following formal proceedings, which eventually could lead to dismissal.
- Assessment of the needs of employees who have a disability and implementation of reasonable adjustments that enable them to do their work.
Key to managing absence is establishing expectations. Of course, ideally no employees would be off sick, but in reality, it’s likely to happen and they need to be managed. This can be achieved by setting out triggers for action should absence levels exceed them and taking appropriate action if they do.
Care needs to be taken when applying these expectations to certain groups, however.
For example, your client is advised to discount any absences related to pregnancy from absence triggers, to avoid the risk of pregnancy discrimination.
It may also be necessary to adjust absence trigger levels for employees that have a disability under the Equality Act 2010, which places upon employers the duty to make reasonable adjustments for those who are deemed to be disabled under that Act.
Under that Act, a disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on someone’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. “Long-term” means that the impairment has lasted, or is likely to last, for at least 12 months. “Substantial” means more than minor or trivial.
Your client will need to act carefully where this is the case, so as not to treat these employees less favourably than their colleagues. An employee may not disclose such an illness, however, where it is obvious from their absence levels, reasons for absence, and observation within the workplace (such as employees with stomach issues that cause them to be away from their workstation for lengthy periods), then it is reasonable to assume this is the case.
Acas guidance encourages employers to not wait for the employee to be formally disclosed in these circumstances before considering reasonable adjustments.
There are many benefits to effective absence management, and as long as your client is careful with the above, they should start to see improvements once they implement it.
