Having an absence and sickness policy can bring clear business benefits including:

• lower insurance costs
• higher rates of staff retention and motivation
• improved productivity, profitability and morale

You may also find that the reputation of your business is improved and that this, in turn, aids employee recruitment.

Management benefits of having an absence and sickness policy

From a management point of view, having an absence and sickness policy can help you to:

• prevent small problems from developing into larger ones
• measure and monitor employee absence - see measure and monitor absence and sickness
• identify and tackle underlying problems, such as workload demands, poor working conditions, work-life balance issues, conflict at work, or lack of adequate training/career development

Monitoring reasons for unexpected absences is just one of the ways of managing staff health and wellbeing and how you can control staff turnover.

You may find that monitoring reasons for absences makes it easier for you to identify and deal with different types of absences appropriately.

See employee absence as a capability issue and employee absence as a conduct issue.

You should develop your absence and sickness policy/procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives.

What should my absence and sickness policy include?

An absence and sickness policy could include the following:

• When time off might or must be permitted, eg jury service leave and time off for emergencies involving dependants. See allowing time off work.
• How the worker should notify you if they are ill, going to be late for work, or absent for other unexpected reasons, eg because a dependant has had an accident or fallen ill. It might be helpful to clarify the circumstances when dependants leave would typically be applicable, such as where the reason for absence relates to an emergency situation or unexpected disruption. See parental leave and time off for dependants.
• When they should submit a medical statement, known as a fit note, from their healthcare professional or self-certify their illness and the implications of failure to provide appropriate certification. Note that under statutory sick pay rules, self-certification is only required from the fourth day, and a medical statement from the eighth day, of an absence. See manage workplace absence and sickness.
• Details of any methods used to measure absence eg Bradford Factor.
• An indication of what is deemed unacceptable levels of absence and trigger points for taking action to review.
• Statutory - and any contractual - sick pay arrangements. This should also be covered in each employee's written statement of employment particulars.
• The circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a capability issue and the circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a conduct issue.
• Possible procedures for using the employer's own doctor/medical adviser or the procedure for seeking an employee's consent to obtain a medical report from their GP/medical practitioner.
• If applicable, the need to attend a return-to-work interview
• Consequences of not complying with the policy, eg when disciplinary measures will be taken.
• Identifies who is responsible for keeping attendance records.
• Reference to any other relevant policies, eg alcohol/drug misuse, health and safety, discipline and grievance, annual leave, maternity/adoption/paternity/parental leave. See staff documents and employment policies.

You may also want to include the following points:

• If you have good reason to believe an employee is abusing the system, you may begin disciplinary action against them.
• While you will treat those who fall ill sympathetically, excessive sickness can result in dismissal. For information on dealing with employee illness fairly, see employee absence as a capability issue.

Supporting staff with long-term sickness

There are other options you may want to consider, including:

• offering a counselling service (or arranging a referral to specialist assistance)
• setting up rehabilitation programmes for long-term sickness
• a referral to an occupational health service that can provide useful information regarding staff on long-term sickness absence and support their return to work
• appointing an absence case manager

There are a number of steps you should take to manage unexpected workplace absence and sickness effectively:

• Produce clear written procedures for reporting absence. See absence and sickness policies: what to include.
• Accurately record and monitor absence. See measure and monitor absence and sickness.
• Train managers on how to handle absence.
• Set targets for absence levels.
• Conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to find out if there are underlying causes.
• Provide special equipment if appropriate, eg specialist chairs or chair aids for employees with back problems. Find out about the help available to employers from the Health and Work Support Branch.
• Develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance, eg improvement of working conditions, the introduction of flexible working, provision of counselling and healthcare facilities.

Statement of fitness for work or the fit note

A statement of fitness for work, also known as a fit note is a medical statement that healthcare professionals issue to patients whose health condition affects their ability to work.

A healthcare professional may only issue a fit note after seven calendar days of sickness absence. For sickness absences of seven calendar days or fewer, employees can self-certify.

A statement of fitness for work allows a healthcare professional to advise either that the patient is unfit for work or that they may be fit for work if appropriate support is available eg a phased return to work, altered hours, amended duties, or workplace adaptations.

In the latter case, the healthcare professional may also comment on the functional effects of the patient's health condition and, if appropriate, what changes you, as the patient's employer, could make - in agreement with the employee - to help them get back to work as part of their recovery.

While you don't have to act on the healthcare professional's advice, the statement may help you make simple and practical workplace adjustments to help your staff return to work and reduce unnecessary sickness absences.

Regardless of what a statement says, you must still make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees under the disability provisions in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has a number of guides, factsheets and Q&As on absence management.

Setting up procedures for measuring absence and sickness in the workplace allows you to identify:

• how much working time has been lost
• where absence occurs the most, eg among particular types of worker or department
• how often individual workers are absent
• whether there is a pattern of absence, eg where a worker regularly calls in sick on a Friday
• sickness absence reasons

It will also show whether the absence is:

• due to short-term sickness and certificated
• due to short-term sickness and uncertificated
• due to long-term sickness
• not sickness-related and authorised
• not sickness-related, but unauthorised

With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve workplace absence and sickness levels.

Reasons for employee absence

Reasons for unauthorised absence can be personal, eg due to domestic problems, or work-related, eg due to verbal abuse from customers or heavy workloads and, in turn, increased levels of stress.

Consider improving such conditions by:

• examining job design
• using temporary staff during busy periods
• developing policies and procedures to tackle anti-social behaviour against public-facing staff
• offering flexible working patterns, training and promotion opportunities, staff incentives, etc
• offering employees training on managing work-related stress
• offering managers training on managing stress in the workplace

Return-to-work interviews

Return-to-work interviews can be an effective way of collecting absence data. Carried out sensitively, they can help establish:

• if there is a hidden reason for a worker's absence, eg workplace bullying or domestic problems
• f they are fit to return to work
• whether there is any underlying medical condition
• the likelihood of any recurrence of the problem/illness
• if there is an absence problem
• whether any action is required and allow the employer to explain the consequences of any further absences
• if medical referral is necessary
• whether a disability exists

Keeping sickness and absence records

Prior to 6 April 2014 under regulation 7 (13) of Schedule 4 to the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001, an employer had to keep wage records for all employees.

Regulation 13 of the SSP General Regulations 1982, as amended by Regulations 3 of the Social Security Contributions, Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Sick Pay (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1996, required an employer to keep sick absence records for each employee for each year.

With effect from 6 April 2014 regulation 13 was revoked and employers are no longer required to keep records of sickness absence.

Regulation 13A is still in force and an employer may be required to produce records to show statutory sick pay has been paid to their employees. See statutory sick pay forms and record-keeping.

An employee may become incapable of doing their job to the required standard because they are genuinely affected by either of the following:

• long-term ill health related to an underlying medical condition and therefore they don't attend work for a long period of time
• frequent bouts of short-term sickness related to an underlying medical condition and they are therefore unable to attend work regularly

Addressing absence as a capability issue

In either of these circumstances, you should treat any absence as a capability issue and:

• deal with the situation sensitively
• investigate, measure, and monitor the employee's absence record
• consult them regularly to find out about their health and discuss ways of enabling them to remain in the workplace, or if on long-term sickness absence the likelihood of a return to work
• set time limits on assessing the situation and tell the employee
• let them know if their job is at risk, and why
• obtain medical reports - although you'll need their permission
• consider adjustments to their job to allow them to return to work and/or do their job more easily
• consider offering any other vacancy you may have which has duties that the employee may be fit to perform

To avoid an unfair dismissal claim, only dismiss as a last resort. Make sure you have followed fair and proper procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See dismissing employees.

Keep in mind the following:

• Check if the illness relates to a disability - if so, you may need to make reasonable adjustments so that the employee can carry out their job. For the definition of disability, see how to prevent discrimination and value diversity.
• Discount any periods of absence related to a pregnancy-related illness when taking action over someone's absence record. For the rights of pregnant employees, see pregnancy at work.
• An eligible employee may be entitled to statutory sick pay for up to 28 weeks - as well as any contractual sick pay. See pay: employer obligations.

Absence related to drugs and alcohol

Treat employees addicted to drugs or alcohol similarly to employees with any other serious illness. However, if an employee won't accept they have a problem or seek help, the issue may become one of unacceptable conduct.

Where the issue is purely one of conduct, ie the employee is not addicted to alcohol or drugs but their drug/alcohol consumption is leading to regular absence/lateness, you should consider subjecting them to your disciplinary procedure.

See workplace policies on smoking, drugs, and alcohol, and employee absence as a conduct issue.

Persistent short term absence due to illness, where there is no specific medical cause, should be dealt with as a conduct issue and you may wish to take disciplinary action.

Be aware though that sickness, domestic problems or travel difficulties leading to absence or lateness may not necessarily amount to misconduct. Absences relating to an underlying medical condition should be dealt with as a capability issue. Additionally, if the sickness is pregnancy related, you must not take disciplinary action. See employee absence as a capability issue.

Investigations before taking disciplinary action

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you should:

• review the employee's attendance record
• meet with the employee to discuss and review their overall attendance record

If there is no reasonable explanation for the absence you may decide to take disciplinary action.

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you could:

• caution employees that it is a requirement to comply with your absence and sickness policy/procedures and this would include ensuring they phone in at or by a given time each day
• ensure line managers follow up on any unexplained absence

Where employees are finding it difficult to manage home and work responsibilities, consider introducing flexible working arrangements.

Note that eligible employees have the right to request flexible working.

You must consider such requests seriously - see flexible working: the law and best practice.

Taking disciplinary action

The employee should be given an opportunity to improve. Usually warnings, both oral and written, are sufficient.

If the situation does not improve, you may have to consider dismissal, but only as a last resort and after following proper and fair procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

An employee may be absent because of a conflict at work. This absence could either be in the form of sick leave or unauthorised and unexplained. With any type of absence, the employee may telephone you to explain what has caused it, or you may have to call the employee instead.

Resolving conflict at work

If you find out that an employee's absence is being caused by a conflict at work, you need to take steps to resolve it.

You may wish to use mediation as a way of resolving the problem. Mediation is a process whereby an independent third party intervenes in a workplace dispute to assist the parties to reach a satisfactory outcome. Mediation is especially suitable when used at the early stages of a problem at work and can be used in any dispute, but is particularly useful in relationship issues. The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) provides a free mediation service.

However, the employee might just tell you that they are affected by depression or stress. If so, you should try to find out - if it's not immediately clear - the underlying cause to determine whether it's work-related.

With unauthorised absence, the employee may be reluctant to tell you why they are absent, ie they might either avoid giving you an explanation or give you an explanation that you find unconvincing. In either case, you should arrange a return-to-work interview with the employee to find out the underlying cause of their absence.

If the employee continues to take periods of unauthorised absence, you may treat it as a conduct issue and apply your disciplinary procedure (which should as a minimum comply with the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures). You may find that, during a disciplinary hearing, the employee raises a grievance relating to a conflict at work that has ultimately led to their absence. If this happens, you should consider suspending the disciplinary process for a short period in order to deal with the grievance. However, if the grievance constitutes the employee's defence to the disciplinary issue, you may find it convenient to deal with both issues concurrently.

See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals and handling grievances.

Return-to-work interviews

Whenever an employee returns to work after a period of sickness absence, you should hold a return-to-work interview with them.

As part of the discussion, you can:

• welcome the employee back
• check they are well enough to be at work
• update them on any news while they were absent
• ask them about the cause of their absence

You may find that they were absent because of a conflict at work. For example:

• they have an ongoing disagreement with a peer or their manager
• they are being bullied or harassed by a colleague, client or customer
• before their absence, you had called them to a meeting on an unrelated disciplinary matter, eg to discuss their performance or conduct
• there is a dispute between groups of workers
• there is a dispute between a group of workers and management over, for example, pay or conditions, which may have already led - or may lead in future - to industrial action

If so, you need to take steps to deal with the conflict. See managing conflict.

If you are already aware that the absence was caused by a conflict at work, you should inform the employee about the steps that you have taken or plan to take to resolve it. They should also have a clear understanding of what may happen if they continue to be absent from work.

Continuing absence during a disciplinary procedure

If you think an employee's continuing absence is itself due to a forthcoming disciplinary hearing and, as a result, they fail to attend it, you should:

• rearrange the date of the meeting
• consider seeking medical advice on an employee's fitness to attend a disciplinary hearing
• warn the employee that, if they fail to attend again without good reason, you could make your decision on the matter in their absence

If the employee repeatedly fails to attend rearranged disciplinary hearings, you need to consider all the facts and come to a reasonable decision on how to proceed.

Considerations may include:

• any rules you have for dealing with failure to attend disciplinary meetings
• the seriousness of the disciplinary issue under consideration
• the employee's disciplinary record (including current warnings), general work record, work experience, position and length of service
• medical opinion on whether the employee is fit to attend the meeting
• how you have dealt with similar cases in the past
• the explanations and reasons for non-attendance given by the employee

However, eventually you will be entitled to reach your disciplinary decision in their absence, whether it's a warning, action short of dismissal such as demotion, or even dismissal itself.

Bad weather - particularly heavy snow - and the resulting transport problems can lead to a large number of employees being absent from or late for work.

To reduce the impact of bad weather, you should plan ahead. For example, think about issues such as alternative working patterns or who can cover at short notice.

It's also a good idea to include a section on bad weather in your absence policy so that you and your staff know what to do when these situations arise.

Remote working

It's worth considering a more flexible approach to matters such as location - you could allow employees to work from home/remotely if, for example, all or most of their work is done using a computer with an internet connection.

Alternatively you could agree with the employee that they start and finish at a later time, or that they take a day's holiday or perhaps any accrued time off in lieu.

In addition, information technology could be useful in enabling a business to run effectively if many employees are absent from work, for example using laptops or smartphones to work remotely. See remote access security best practice.

Pay issues

You do not have to pay an employee if, because of bad weather:

• they are unable to get to work
• they are late for work (unless the travel itself is part of their working time or - in some situations - where you provide the transport)

However, you may have to pay an employee if:

• the right to payment is set out in their employment contract or a collective agreement
• it's become custom and practice for you to do so in these circumstances

Finally, providing you do not discriminate, you might, even without obligation, choose to pay for a short lateness absence, making it clear it is not a precedent. Such a consideration can engender staff goodwill.

Dealing with absence issues fairly

Even if your business is damaged by the effects of absent workers, make sure that any disciplinary action you take is carried out according to proper and fair procedure.

This will help maintain good, fair, and consistent employment relations and help prevent complaints to industrial tribunals. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

As an employer, you should ensure you have appropriate systems in place to manage unexpected staff absences. These absences can affect productivity and profits and can even lower morale and motivation.

Top tips to manage workplace sickness and absences 

The following top tips will help you to better manage unexpected absences in your business.

1. Understand the reasons for employee absence

It's important to be aware of potential factors contributing to the absence levels in your business. Reasons for absence could be personal or work-related. Some common reasons include unsafe work practices; heavy workloads; family problems; abuse from customers; conflict at work; ill health; drug or alcohol dependency; and bad weather. See how to manage absence and sickness.

2. Put effective policies and procedures in place

You can improve the impact of absences by putting effective policies and procedures in place and applying these fairly and consistently. These should be backed up by agreeable working conditions, good management, and a focus on staff motivation. Having an absence and sickness policy brings clear business benefits including lower insurance costs, higher rates of staff retention, and improved productivity. Having set procedures in place can also help you to prevent small problems from developing into larger ones, measure and monitor absence and identify underlying problems. Read about the benefits of having an absence and sickness policy.

3. Spend time developing your absence and sickness policy

You should develop your absence and sickness policy and procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives. Your policy could include: when time off is permitted; how and when the worker should notify you of absence; when a worker should submit a medical statement or fit note from their healthcare professional; statutory sick pay arrangements; consequences of not complying with the policy; and responsibility for keeping attendance records. Absence and sickness policies: what to include.

4. Prepare for and manage unexpected absences

You should adhere to your absence and sickness policy and procedures when an instance of unexpected absence occurs. There are also a number of steps you should take to prepare for such an event: accurately record and monitor absence; train managers on how to handle absence; provide special equipment if appropriate; and set targets for absence levels. You should also conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to assess if there are any underlying causes. You could also develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance such as the introduction of flexible working or introducing counselling and healthcare packages. Manage workplace absence and sickness.

5. Measure and monitor absence in your business

Monitoring absence in your business allows you to find out how much working time has been lost, where the absence occurs most, how often individual workers are absent, and whether there is a pattern of absence. With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve the situation. See measure and monitor absence and sickness. Not least, measuring and monitoring absences might reveal annual patterns of stress points which can help you prepare for and manage absences to a degree eg restrict (within contract limits) leave at such times.

Having an absence and sickness policy can bring clear business benefits including:

• lower insurance costs
• higher rates of staff retention and motivation
• improved productivity, profitability and morale

You may also find that the reputation of your business is improved and that this, in turn, aids employee recruitment.

Management benefits of having an absence and sickness policy

From a management point of view, having an absence and sickness policy can help you to:

• prevent small problems from developing into larger ones
• measure and monitor employee absence - see measure and monitor absence and sickness
• identify and tackle underlying problems, such as workload demands, poor working conditions, work-life balance issues, conflict at work, or lack of adequate training/career development

Monitoring reasons for unexpected absences is just one of the ways of managing staff health and wellbeing and how you can control staff turnover.

You may find that monitoring reasons for absences makes it easier for you to identify and deal with different types of absences appropriately.

See employee absence as a capability issue and employee absence as a conduct issue.

You should develop your absence and sickness policy/procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives.

What should my absence and sickness policy include?

An absence and sickness policy could include the following:

• When time off might or must be permitted, eg jury service leave and time off for emergencies involving dependants. See allowing time off work.
• How the worker should notify you if they are ill, going to be late for work, or absent for other unexpected reasons, eg because a dependant has had an accident or fallen ill. It might be helpful to clarify the circumstances when dependants leave would typically be applicable, such as where the reason for absence relates to an emergency situation or unexpected disruption. See parental leave and time off for dependants.
• When they should submit a medical statement, known as a fit note, from their healthcare professional or self-certify their illness and the implications of failure to provide appropriate certification. Note that under statutory sick pay rules, self-certification is only required from the fourth day, and a medical statement from the eighth day, of an absence. See manage workplace absence and sickness.
• Details of any methods used to measure absence eg Bradford Factor.
• An indication of what is deemed unacceptable levels of absence and trigger points for taking action to review.
• Statutory - and any contractual - sick pay arrangements. This should also be covered in each employee's written statement of employment particulars.
• The circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a capability issue and the circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a conduct issue.
• Possible procedures for using the employer's own doctor/medical adviser or the procedure for seeking an employee's consent to obtain a medical report from their GP/medical practitioner.
• If applicable, the need to attend a return-to-work interview
• Consequences of not complying with the policy, eg when disciplinary measures will be taken.
• Identifies who is responsible for keeping attendance records.
• Reference to any other relevant policies, eg alcohol/drug misuse, health and safety, discipline and grievance, annual leave, maternity/adoption/paternity/parental leave. See staff documents and employment policies.

You may also want to include the following points:

• If you have good reason to believe an employee is abusing the system, you may begin disciplinary action against them.
• While you will treat those who fall ill sympathetically, excessive sickness can result in dismissal. For information on dealing with employee illness fairly, see employee absence as a capability issue.

Supporting staff with long-term sickness

There are other options you may want to consider, including:

• offering a counselling service (or arranging a referral to specialist assistance)
• setting up rehabilitation programmes for long-term sickness
• a referral to an occupational health service that can provide useful information regarding staff on long-term sickness absence and support their return to work
• appointing an absence case manager

There are a number of steps you should take to manage unexpected workplace absence and sickness effectively:

• Produce clear written procedures for reporting absence. See absence and sickness policies: what to include.
• Accurately record and monitor absence. See measure and monitor absence and sickness.
• Train managers on how to handle absence.
• Set targets for absence levels.
• Conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to find out if there are underlying causes.
• Provide special equipment if appropriate, eg specialist chairs or chair aids for employees with back problems. Find out about the help available to employers from the Health and Work Support Branch.
• Develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance, eg improvement of working conditions, the introduction of flexible working, provision of counselling and healthcare facilities.

Statement of fitness for work or the fit note

A statement of fitness for work, also known as a fit note is a medical statement that healthcare professionals issue to patients whose health condition affects their ability to work.

A healthcare professional may only issue a fit note after seven calendar days of sickness absence. For sickness absences of seven calendar days or fewer, employees can self-certify.

A statement of fitness for work allows a healthcare professional to advise either that the patient is unfit for work or that they may be fit for work if appropriate support is available eg a phased return to work, altered hours, amended duties, or workplace adaptations.

In the latter case, the healthcare professional may also comment on the functional effects of the patient's health condition and, if appropriate, what changes you, as the patient's employer, could make - in agreement with the employee - to help them get back to work as part of their recovery.

While you don't have to act on the healthcare professional's advice, the statement may help you make simple and practical workplace adjustments to help your staff return to work and reduce unnecessary sickness absences.

Regardless of what a statement says, you must still make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees under the disability provisions in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has a number of guides, factsheets and Q&As on absence management.

Setting up procedures for measuring absence and sickness in the workplace allows you to identify:

• how much working time has been lost
• where absence occurs the most, eg among particular types of worker or department
• how often individual workers are absent
• whether there is a pattern of absence, eg where a worker regularly calls in sick on a Friday
• sickness absence reasons

It will also show whether the absence is:

• due to short-term sickness and certificated
• due to short-term sickness and uncertificated
• due to long-term sickness
• not sickness-related and authorised
• not sickness-related, but unauthorised

With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve workplace absence and sickness levels.

Reasons for employee absence

Reasons for unauthorised absence can be personal, eg due to domestic problems, or work-related, eg due to verbal abuse from customers or heavy workloads and, in turn, increased levels of stress.

Consider improving such conditions by:

• examining job design
• using temporary staff during busy periods
• developing policies and procedures to tackle anti-social behaviour against public-facing staff
• offering flexible working patterns, training and promotion opportunities, staff incentives, etc
• offering employees training on managing work-related stress
• offering managers training on managing stress in the workplace

Return-to-work interviews

Return-to-work interviews can be an effective way of collecting absence data. Carried out sensitively, they can help establish:

• if there is a hidden reason for a worker's absence, eg workplace bullying or domestic problems
• f they are fit to return to work
• whether there is any underlying medical condition
• the likelihood of any recurrence of the problem/illness
• if there is an absence problem
• whether any action is required and allow the employer to explain the consequences of any further absences
• if medical referral is necessary
• whether a disability exists

Keeping sickness and absence records

Prior to 6 April 2014 under regulation 7 (13) of Schedule 4 to the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001, an employer had to keep wage records for all employees.

Regulation 13 of the SSP General Regulations 1982, as amended by Regulations 3 of the Social Security Contributions, Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Sick Pay (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1996, required an employer to keep sick absence records for each employee for each year.

With effect from 6 April 2014 regulation 13 was revoked and employers are no longer required to keep records of sickness absence.

Regulation 13A is still in force and an employer may be required to produce records to show statutory sick pay has been paid to their employees. See statutory sick pay forms and record-keeping.

An employee may become incapable of doing their job to the required standard because they are genuinely affected by either of the following:

• long-term ill health related to an underlying medical condition and therefore they don't attend work for a long period of time
• frequent bouts of short-term sickness related to an underlying medical condition and they are therefore unable to attend work regularly

Addressing absence as a capability issue

In either of these circumstances, you should treat any absence as a capability issue and:

• deal with the situation sensitively
• investigate, measure, and monitor the employee's absence record
• consult them regularly to find out about their health and discuss ways of enabling them to remain in the workplace, or if on long-term sickness absence the likelihood of a return to work
• set time limits on assessing the situation and tell the employee
• let them know if their job is at risk, and why
• obtain medical reports - although you'll need their permission
• consider adjustments to their job to allow them to return to work and/or do their job more easily
• consider offering any other vacancy you may have which has duties that the employee may be fit to perform

To avoid an unfair dismissal claim, only dismiss as a last resort. Make sure you have followed fair and proper procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See dismissing employees.

Keep in mind the following:

• Check if the illness relates to a disability - if so, you may need to make reasonable adjustments so that the employee can carry out their job. For the definition of disability, see how to prevent discrimination and value diversity.
• Discount any periods of absence related to a pregnancy-related illness when taking action over someone's absence record. For the rights of pregnant employees, see pregnancy at work.
• An eligible employee may be entitled to statutory sick pay for up to 28 weeks - as well as any contractual sick pay. See pay: employer obligations.

Absence related to drugs and alcohol

Treat employees addicted to drugs or alcohol similarly to employees with any other serious illness. However, if an employee won't accept they have a problem or seek help, the issue may become one of unacceptable conduct.

Where the issue is purely one of conduct, ie the employee is not addicted to alcohol or drugs but their drug/alcohol consumption is leading to regular absence/lateness, you should consider subjecting them to your disciplinary procedure.

See workplace policies on smoking, drugs, and alcohol, and employee absence as a conduct issue.

Persistent short term absence due to illness, where there is no specific medical cause, should be dealt with as a conduct issue and you may wish to take disciplinary action.

Be aware though that sickness, domestic problems or travel difficulties leading to absence or lateness may not necessarily amount to misconduct. Absences relating to an underlying medical condition should be dealt with as a capability issue. Additionally, if the sickness is pregnancy related, you must not take disciplinary action. See employee absence as a capability issue.

Investigations before taking disciplinary action

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you should:

• review the employee's attendance record
• meet with the employee to discuss and review their overall attendance record

If there is no reasonable explanation for the absence you may decide to take disciplinary action.

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you could:

• caution employees that it is a requirement to comply with your absence and sickness policy/procedures and this would include ensuring they phone in at or by a given time each day
• ensure line managers follow up on any unexplained absence

Where employees are finding it difficult to manage home and work responsibilities, consider introducing flexible working arrangements.

Note that eligible employees have the right to request flexible working.

You must consider such requests seriously - see flexible working: the law and best practice.

Taking disciplinary action

The employee should be given an opportunity to improve. Usually warnings, both oral and written, are sufficient.

If the situation does not improve, you may have to consider dismissal, but only as a last resort and after following proper and fair procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

An employee may be absent because of a conflict at work. This absence could either be in the form of sick leave or unauthorised and unexplained. With any type of absence, the employee may telephone you to explain what has caused it, or you may have to call the employee instead.

Resolving conflict at work

If you find out that an employee's absence is being caused by a conflict at work, you need to take steps to resolve it.

You may wish to use mediation as a way of resolving the problem. Mediation is a process whereby an independent third party intervenes in a workplace dispute to assist the parties to reach a satisfactory outcome. Mediation is especially suitable when used at the early stages of a problem at work and can be used in any dispute, but is particularly useful in relationship issues. The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) provides a free mediation service.

However, the employee might just tell you that they are affected by depression or stress. If so, you should try to find out - if it's not immediately clear - the underlying cause to determine whether it's work-related.

With unauthorised absence, the employee may be reluctant to tell you why they are absent, ie they might either avoid giving you an explanation or give you an explanation that you find unconvincing. In either case, you should arrange a return-to-work interview with the employee to find out the underlying cause of their absence.

If the employee continues to take periods of unauthorised absence, you may treat it as a conduct issue and apply your disciplinary procedure (which should as a minimum comply with the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures). You may find that, during a disciplinary hearing, the employee raises a grievance relating to a conflict at work that has ultimately led to their absence. If this happens, you should consider suspending the disciplinary process for a short period in order to deal with the grievance. However, if the grievance constitutes the employee's defence to the disciplinary issue, you may find it convenient to deal with both issues concurrently.

See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals and handling grievances.

Return-to-work interviews

Whenever an employee returns to work after a period of sickness absence, you should hold a return-to-work interview with them.

As part of the discussion, you can:

• welcome the employee back
• check they are well enough to be at work
• update them on any news while they were absent
• ask them about the cause of their absence

You may find that they were absent because of a conflict at work. For example:

• they have an ongoing disagreement with a peer or their manager
• they are being bullied or harassed by a colleague, client or customer
• before their absence, you had called them to a meeting on an unrelated disciplinary matter, eg to discuss their performance or conduct
• there is a dispute between groups of workers
• there is a dispute between a group of workers and management over, for example, pay or conditions, which may have already led - or may lead in future - to industrial action

If so, you need to take steps to deal with the conflict. See managing conflict.

If you are already aware that the absence was caused by a conflict at work, you should inform the employee about the steps that you have taken or plan to take to resolve it. They should also have a clear understanding of what may happen if they continue to be absent from work.

Continuing absence during a disciplinary procedure

If you think an employee's continuing absence is itself due to a forthcoming disciplinary hearing and, as a result, they fail to attend it, you should:

• rearrange the date of the meeting
• consider seeking medical advice on an employee's fitness to attend a disciplinary hearing
• warn the employee that, if they fail to attend again without good reason, you could make your decision on the matter in their absence

If the employee repeatedly fails to attend rearranged disciplinary hearings, you need to consider all the facts and come to a reasonable decision on how to proceed.

Considerations may include:

• any rules you have for dealing with failure to attend disciplinary meetings
• the seriousness of the disciplinary issue under consideration
• the employee's disciplinary record (including current warnings), general work record, work experience, position and length of service
• medical opinion on whether the employee is fit to attend the meeting
• how you have dealt with similar cases in the past
• the explanations and reasons for non-attendance given by the employee

However, eventually you will be entitled to reach your disciplinary decision in their absence, whether it's a warning, action short of dismissal such as demotion, or even dismissal itself.

Bad weather - particularly heavy snow - and the resulting transport problems can lead to a large number of employees being absent from or late for work.

To reduce the impact of bad weather, you should plan ahead. For example, think about issues such as alternative working patterns or who can cover at short notice.

It's also a good idea to include a section on bad weather in your absence policy so that you and your staff know what to do when these situations arise.

Remote working

It's worth considering a more flexible approach to matters such as location - you could allow employees to work from home/remotely if, for example, all or most of their work is done using a computer with an internet connection.

Alternatively you could agree with the employee that they start and finish at a later time, or that they take a day's holiday or perhaps any accrued time off in lieu.

In addition, information technology could be useful in enabling a business to run effectively if many employees are absent from work, for example using laptops or smartphones to work remotely. See remote access security best practice.

Pay issues

You do not have to pay an employee if, because of bad weather:

• they are unable to get to work
• they are late for work (unless the travel itself is part of their working time or - in some situations - where you provide the transport)

However, you may have to pay an employee if:

• the right to payment is set out in their employment contract or a collective agreement
• it's become custom and practice for you to do so in these circumstances

Finally, providing you do not discriminate, you might, even without obligation, choose to pay for a short lateness absence, making it clear it is not a precedent. Such a consideration can engender staff goodwill.

Dealing with absence issues fairly

Even if your business is damaged by the effects of absent workers, make sure that any disciplinary action you take is carried out according to proper and fair procedure.

This will help maintain good, fair, and consistent employment relations and help prevent complaints to industrial tribunals. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

As an employer, you should ensure you have appropriate systems in place to manage unexpected staff absences. These absences can affect productivity and profits and can even lower morale and motivation.

Top tips to manage workplace sickness and absences 

The following top tips will help you to better manage unexpected absences in your business.

1. Understand the reasons for employee absence

It's important to be aware of potential factors contributing to the absence levels in your business. Reasons for absence could be personal or work-related. Some common reasons include unsafe work practices; heavy workloads; family problems; abuse from customers; conflict at work; ill health; drug or alcohol dependency; and bad weather. See how to manage absence and sickness.

2. Put effective policies and procedures in place

You can improve the impact of absences by putting effective policies and procedures in place and applying these fairly and consistently. These should be backed up by agreeable working conditions, good management, and a focus on staff motivation. Having an absence and sickness policy brings clear business benefits including lower insurance costs, higher rates of staff retention, and improved productivity. Having set procedures in place can also help you to prevent small problems from developing into larger ones, measure and monitor absence and identify underlying problems. Read about the benefits of having an absence and sickness policy.

3. Spend time developing your absence and sickness policy

You should develop your absence and sickness policy and procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives. Your policy could include: when time off is permitted; how and when the worker should notify you of absence; when a worker should submit a medical statement or fit note from their healthcare professional; statutory sick pay arrangements; consequences of not complying with the policy; and responsibility for keeping attendance records. Absence and sickness policies: what to include.

4. Prepare for and manage unexpected absences

You should adhere to your absence and sickness policy and procedures when an instance of unexpected absence occurs. There are also a number of steps you should take to prepare for such an event: accurately record and monitor absence; train managers on how to handle absence; provide special equipment if appropriate; and set targets for absence levels. You should also conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to assess if there are any underlying causes. You could also develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance such as the introduction of flexible working or introducing counselling and healthcare packages. Manage workplace absence and sickness.

5. Measure and monitor absence in your business

Monitoring absence in your business allows you to find out how much working time has been lost, where the absence occurs most, how often individual workers are absent, and whether there is a pattern of absence. With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve the situation. See measure and monitor absence and sickness. Not least, measuring and monitoring absences might reveal annual patterns of stress points which can help you prepare for and manage absences to a degree eg restrict (within contract limits) leave at such times.

Having an absence and sickness policy can bring clear business benefits including:

• lower insurance costs
• higher rates of staff retention and motivation
• improved productivity, profitability and morale

You may also find that the reputation of your business is improved and that this, in turn, aids employee recruitment.

Management benefits of having an absence and sickness policy

From a management point of view, having an absence and sickness policy can help you to:

• prevent small problems from developing into larger ones
• measure and monitor employee absence - see measure and monitor absence and sickness
• identify and tackle underlying problems, such as workload demands, poor working conditions, work-life balance issues, conflict at work, or lack of adequate training/career development

Monitoring reasons for unexpected absences is just one of the ways of managing staff health and wellbeing and how you can control staff turnover.

You may find that monitoring reasons for absences makes it easier for you to identify and deal with different types of absences appropriately.

See employee absence as a capability issue and employee absence as a conduct issue.

You should develop your absence and sickness policy/procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives.

What should my absence and sickness policy include?

An absence and sickness policy could include the following:

• When time off might or must be permitted, eg jury service leave and time off for emergencies involving dependants. See allowing time off work.
• How the worker should notify you if they are ill, going to be late for work, or absent for other unexpected reasons, eg because a dependant has had an accident or fallen ill. It might be helpful to clarify the circumstances when dependants leave would typically be applicable, such as where the reason for absence relates to an emergency situation or unexpected disruption. See parental leave and time off for dependants.
• When they should submit a medical statement, known as a fit note, from their healthcare professional or self-certify their illness and the implications of failure to provide appropriate certification. Note that under statutory sick pay rules, self-certification is only required from the fourth day, and a medical statement from the eighth day, of an absence. See manage workplace absence and sickness.
• Details of any methods used to measure absence eg Bradford Factor.
• An indication of what is deemed unacceptable levels of absence and trigger points for taking action to review.
• Statutory - and any contractual - sick pay arrangements. This should also be covered in each employee's written statement of employment particulars.
• The circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a capability issue and the circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a conduct issue.
• Possible procedures for using the employer's own doctor/medical adviser or the procedure for seeking an employee's consent to obtain a medical report from their GP/medical practitioner.
• If applicable, the need to attend a return-to-work interview
• Consequences of not complying with the policy, eg when disciplinary measures will be taken.
• Identifies who is responsible for keeping attendance records.
• Reference to any other relevant policies, eg alcohol/drug misuse, health and safety, discipline and grievance, annual leave, maternity/adoption/paternity/parental leave. See staff documents and employment policies.

You may also want to include the following points:

• If you have good reason to believe an employee is abusing the system, you may begin disciplinary action against them.
• While you will treat those who fall ill sympathetically, excessive sickness can result in dismissal. For information on dealing with employee illness fairly, see employee absence as a capability issue.

Supporting staff with long-term sickness

There are other options you may want to consider, including:

• offering a counselling service (or arranging a referral to specialist assistance)
• setting up rehabilitation programmes for long-term sickness
• a referral to an occupational health service that can provide useful information regarding staff on long-term sickness absence and support their return to work
• appointing an absence case manager

There are a number of steps you should take to manage unexpected workplace absence and sickness effectively:

• Produce clear written procedures for reporting absence. See absence and sickness policies: what to include.
• Accurately record and monitor absence. See measure and monitor absence and sickness.
• Train managers on how to handle absence.
• Set targets for absence levels.
• Conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to find out if there are underlying causes.
• Provide special equipment if appropriate, eg specialist chairs or chair aids for employees with back problems. Find out about the help available to employers from the Health and Work Support Branch.
• Develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance, eg improvement of working conditions, the introduction of flexible working, provision of counselling and healthcare facilities.

Statement of fitness for work or the fit note

A statement of fitness for work, also known as a fit note is a medical statement that healthcare professionals issue to patients whose health condition affects their ability to work.

A healthcare professional may only issue a fit note after seven calendar days of sickness absence. For sickness absences of seven calendar days or fewer, employees can self-certify.

A statement of fitness for work allows a healthcare professional to advise either that the patient is unfit for work or that they may be fit for work if appropriate support is available eg a phased return to work, altered hours, amended duties, or workplace adaptations.

In the latter case, the healthcare professional may also comment on the functional effects of the patient's health condition and, if appropriate, what changes you, as the patient's employer, could make - in agreement with the employee - to help them get back to work as part of their recovery.

While you don't have to act on the healthcare professional's advice, the statement may help you make simple and practical workplace adjustments to help your staff return to work and reduce unnecessary sickness absences.

Regardless of what a statement says, you must still make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees under the disability provisions in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has a number of guides, factsheets and Q&As on absence management.

Setting up procedures for measuring absence and sickness in the workplace allows you to identify:

• how much working time has been lost
• where absence occurs the most, eg among particular types of worker or department
• how often individual workers are absent
• whether there is a pattern of absence, eg where a worker regularly calls in sick on a Friday
• sickness absence reasons

It will also show whether the absence is:

• due to short-term sickness and certificated
• due to short-term sickness and uncertificated
• due to long-term sickness
• not sickness-related and authorised
• not sickness-related, but unauthorised

With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve workplace absence and sickness levels.

Reasons for employee absence

Reasons for unauthorised absence can be personal, eg due to domestic problems, or work-related, eg due to verbal abuse from customers or heavy workloads and, in turn, increased levels of stress.

Consider improving such conditions by:

• examining job design
• using temporary staff during busy periods
• developing policies and procedures to tackle anti-social behaviour against public-facing staff
• offering flexible working patterns, training and promotion opportunities, staff incentives, etc
• offering employees training on managing work-related stress
• offering managers training on managing stress in the workplace

Return-to-work interviews

Return-to-work interviews can be an effective way of collecting absence data. Carried out sensitively, they can help establish:

• if there is a hidden reason for a worker's absence, eg workplace bullying or domestic problems
• f they are fit to return to work
• whether there is any underlying medical condition
• the likelihood of any recurrence of the problem/illness
• if there is an absence problem
• whether any action is required and allow the employer to explain the consequences of any further absences
• if medical referral is necessary
• whether a disability exists

Keeping sickness and absence records

Prior to 6 April 2014 under regulation 7 (13) of Schedule 4 to the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001, an employer had to keep wage records for all employees.

Regulation 13 of the SSP General Regulations 1982, as amended by Regulations 3 of the Social Security Contributions, Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Sick Pay (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1996, required an employer to keep sick absence records for each employee for each year.

With effect from 6 April 2014 regulation 13 was revoked and employers are no longer required to keep records of sickness absence.

Regulation 13A is still in force and an employer may be required to produce records to show statutory sick pay has been paid to their employees. See statutory sick pay forms and record-keeping.

An employee may become incapable of doing their job to the required standard because they are genuinely affected by either of the following:

• long-term ill health related to an underlying medical condition and therefore they don't attend work for a long period of time
• frequent bouts of short-term sickness related to an underlying medical condition and they are therefore unable to attend work regularly

Addressing absence as a capability issue

In either of these circumstances, you should treat any absence as a capability issue and:

• deal with the situation sensitively
• investigate, measure, and monitor the employee's absence record
• consult them regularly to find out about their health and discuss ways of enabling them to remain in the workplace, or if on long-term sickness absence the likelihood of a return to work
• set time limits on assessing the situation and tell the employee
• let them know if their job is at risk, and why
• obtain medical reports - although you'll need their permission
• consider adjustments to their job to allow them to return to work and/or do their job more easily
• consider offering any other vacancy you may have which has duties that the employee may be fit to perform

To avoid an unfair dismissal claim, only dismiss as a last resort. Make sure you have followed fair and proper procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See dismissing employees.

Keep in mind the following:

• Check if the illness relates to a disability - if so, you may need to make reasonable adjustments so that the employee can carry out their job. For the definition of disability, see how to prevent discrimination and value diversity.
• Discount any periods of absence related to a pregnancy-related illness when taking action over someone's absence record. For the rights of pregnant employees, see pregnancy at work.
• An eligible employee may be entitled to statutory sick pay for up to 28 weeks - as well as any contractual sick pay. See pay: employer obligations.

Absence related to drugs and alcohol

Treat employees addicted to drugs or alcohol similarly to employees with any other serious illness. However, if an employee won't accept they have a problem or seek help, the issue may become one of unacceptable conduct.

Where the issue is purely one of conduct, ie the employee is not addicted to alcohol or drugs but their drug/alcohol consumption is leading to regular absence/lateness, you should consider subjecting them to your disciplinary procedure.

See workplace policies on smoking, drugs, and alcohol, and employee absence as a conduct issue.

Persistent short term absence due to illness, where there is no specific medical cause, should be dealt with as a conduct issue and you may wish to take disciplinary action.

Be aware though that sickness, domestic problems or travel difficulties leading to absence or lateness may not necessarily amount to misconduct. Absences relating to an underlying medical condition should be dealt with as a capability issue. Additionally, if the sickness is pregnancy related, you must not take disciplinary action. See employee absence as a capability issue.

Investigations before taking disciplinary action

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you should:

• review the employee's attendance record
• meet with the employee to discuss and review their overall attendance record

If there is no reasonable explanation for the absence you may decide to take disciplinary action.

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you could:

• caution employees that it is a requirement to comply with your absence and sickness policy/procedures and this would include ensuring they phone in at or by a given time each day
• ensure line managers follow up on any unexplained absence

Where employees are finding it difficult to manage home and work responsibilities, consider introducing flexible working arrangements.

Note that eligible employees have the right to request flexible working.

You must consider such requests seriously - see flexible working: the law and best practice.

Taking disciplinary action

The employee should be given an opportunity to improve. Usually warnings, both oral and written, are sufficient.

If the situation does not improve, you may have to consider dismissal, but only as a last resort and after following proper and fair procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

An employee may be absent because of a conflict at work. This absence could either be in the form of sick leave or unauthorised and unexplained. With any type of absence, the employee may telephone you to explain what has caused it, or you may have to call the employee instead.

Resolving conflict at work

If you find out that an employee's absence is being caused by a conflict at work, you need to take steps to resolve it.

You may wish to use mediation as a way of resolving the problem. Mediation is a process whereby an independent third party intervenes in a workplace dispute to assist the parties to reach a satisfactory outcome. Mediation is especially suitable when used at the early stages of a problem at work and can be used in any dispute, but is particularly useful in relationship issues. The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) provides a free mediation service.

However, the employee might just tell you that they are affected by depression or stress. If so, you should try to find out - if it's not immediately clear - the underlying cause to determine whether it's work-related.

With unauthorised absence, the employee may be reluctant to tell you why they are absent, ie they might either avoid giving you an explanation or give you an explanation that you find unconvincing. In either case, you should arrange a return-to-work interview with the employee to find out the underlying cause of their absence.

If the employee continues to take periods of unauthorised absence, you may treat it as a conduct issue and apply your disciplinary procedure (which should as a minimum comply with the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures). You may find that, during a disciplinary hearing, the employee raises a grievance relating to a conflict at work that has ultimately led to their absence. If this happens, you should consider suspending the disciplinary process for a short period in order to deal with the grievance. However, if the grievance constitutes the employee's defence to the disciplinary issue, you may find it convenient to deal with both issues concurrently.

See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals and handling grievances.

Return-to-work interviews

Whenever an employee returns to work after a period of sickness absence, you should hold a return-to-work interview with them.

As part of the discussion, you can:

• welcome the employee back
• check they are well enough to be at work
• update them on any news while they were absent
• ask them about the cause of their absence

You may find that they were absent because of a conflict at work. For example:

• they have an ongoing disagreement with a peer or their manager
• they are being bullied or harassed by a colleague, client or customer
• before their absence, you had called them to a meeting on an unrelated disciplinary matter, eg to discuss their performance or conduct
• there is a dispute between groups of workers
• there is a dispute between a group of workers and management over, for example, pay or conditions, which may have already led - or may lead in future - to industrial action

If so, you need to take steps to deal with the conflict. See managing conflict.

If you are already aware that the absence was caused by a conflict at work, you should inform the employee about the steps that you have taken or plan to take to resolve it. They should also have a clear understanding of what may happen if they continue to be absent from work.

Continuing absence during a disciplinary procedure

If you think an employee's continuing absence is itself due to a forthcoming disciplinary hearing and, as a result, they fail to attend it, you should:

• rearrange the date of the meeting
• consider seeking medical advice on an employee's fitness to attend a disciplinary hearing
• warn the employee that, if they fail to attend again without good reason, you could make your decision on the matter in their absence

If the employee repeatedly fails to attend rearranged disciplinary hearings, you need to consider all the facts and come to a reasonable decision on how to proceed.

Considerations may include:

• any rules you have for dealing with failure to attend disciplinary meetings
• the seriousness of the disciplinary issue under consideration
• the employee's disciplinary record (including current warnings), general work record, work experience, position and length of service
• medical opinion on whether the employee is fit to attend the meeting
• how you have dealt with similar cases in the past
• the explanations and reasons for non-attendance given by the employee

However, eventually you will be entitled to reach your disciplinary decision in their absence, whether it's a warning, action short of dismissal such as demotion, or even dismissal itself.

Bad weather - particularly heavy snow - and the resulting transport problems can lead to a large number of employees being absent from or late for work.

To reduce the impact of bad weather, you should plan ahead. For example, think about issues such as alternative working patterns or who can cover at short notice.

It's also a good idea to include a section on bad weather in your absence policy so that you and your staff know what to do when these situations arise.

Remote working

It's worth considering a more flexible approach to matters such as location - you could allow employees to work from home/remotely if, for example, all or most of their work is done using a computer with an internet connection.

Alternatively you could agree with the employee that they start and finish at a later time, or that they take a day's holiday or perhaps any accrued time off in lieu.

In addition, information technology could be useful in enabling a business to run effectively if many employees are absent from work, for example using laptops or smartphones to work remotely. See remote access security best practice.

Pay issues

You do not have to pay an employee if, because of bad weather:

• they are unable to get to work
• they are late for work (unless the travel itself is part of their working time or - in some situations - where you provide the transport)

However, you may have to pay an employee if:

• the right to payment is set out in their employment contract or a collective agreement
• it's become custom and practice for you to do so in these circumstances

Finally, providing you do not discriminate, you might, even without obligation, choose to pay for a short lateness absence, making it clear it is not a precedent. Such a consideration can engender staff goodwill.

Dealing with absence issues fairly

Even if your business is damaged by the effects of absent workers, make sure that any disciplinary action you take is carried out according to proper and fair procedure.

This will help maintain good, fair, and consistent employment relations and help prevent complaints to industrial tribunals. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

As an employer, you should ensure you have appropriate systems in place to manage unexpected staff absences. These absences can affect productivity and profits and can even lower morale and motivation.

Top tips to manage workplace sickness and absences 

The following top tips will help you to better manage unexpected absences in your business.

1. Understand the reasons for employee absence

It's important to be aware of potential factors contributing to the absence levels in your business. Reasons for absence could be personal or work-related. Some common reasons include unsafe work practices; heavy workloads; family problems; abuse from customers; conflict at work; ill health; drug or alcohol dependency; and bad weather. See how to manage absence and sickness.

2. Put effective policies and procedures in place

You can improve the impact of absences by putting effective policies and procedures in place and applying these fairly and consistently. These should be backed up by agreeable working conditions, good management, and a focus on staff motivation. Having an absence and sickness policy brings clear business benefits including lower insurance costs, higher rates of staff retention, and improved productivity. Having set procedures in place can also help you to prevent small problems from developing into larger ones, measure and monitor absence and identify underlying problems. Read about the benefits of having an absence and sickness policy.

3. Spend time developing your absence and sickness policy

You should develop your absence and sickness policy and procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives. Your policy could include: when time off is permitted; how and when the worker should notify you of absence; when a worker should submit a medical statement or fit note from their healthcare professional; statutory sick pay arrangements; consequences of not complying with the policy; and responsibility for keeping attendance records. Absence and sickness policies: what to include.

4. Prepare for and manage unexpected absences

You should adhere to your absence and sickness policy and procedures when an instance of unexpected absence occurs. There are also a number of steps you should take to prepare for such an event: accurately record and monitor absence; train managers on how to handle absence; provide special equipment if appropriate; and set targets for absence levels. You should also conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to assess if there are any underlying causes. You could also develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance such as the introduction of flexible working or introducing counselling and healthcare packages. Manage workplace absence and sickness.

5. Measure and monitor absence in your business

Monitoring absence in your business allows you to find out how much working time has been lost, where the absence occurs most, how often individual workers are absent, and whether there is a pattern of absence. With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve the situation. See measure and monitor absence and sickness. Not least, measuring and monitoring absences might reveal annual patterns of stress points which can help you prepare for and manage absences to a degree eg restrict (within contract limits) leave at such times.

Having an absence and sickness policy can bring clear business benefits including:

• lower insurance costs
• higher rates of staff retention and motivation
• improved productivity, profitability and morale

You may also find that the reputation of your business is improved and that this, in turn, aids employee recruitment.

Management benefits of having an absence and sickness policy

From a management point of view, having an absence and sickness policy can help you to:

• prevent small problems from developing into larger ones
• measure and monitor employee absence - see measure and monitor absence and sickness
• identify and tackle underlying problems, such as workload demands, poor working conditions, work-life balance issues, conflict at work, or lack of adequate training/career development

Monitoring reasons for unexpected absences is just one of the ways of managing staff health and wellbeing and how you can control staff turnover.

You may find that monitoring reasons for absences makes it easier for you to identify and deal with different types of absences appropriately.

See employee absence as a capability issue and employee absence as a conduct issue.

You should develop your absence and sickness policy/procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives.

What should my absence and sickness policy include?

An absence and sickness policy could include the following:

• When time off might or must be permitted, eg jury service leave and time off for emergencies involving dependants. See allowing time off work.
• How the worker should notify you if they are ill, going to be late for work, or absent for other unexpected reasons, eg because a dependant has had an accident or fallen ill. It might be helpful to clarify the circumstances when dependants leave would typically be applicable, such as where the reason for absence relates to an emergency situation or unexpected disruption. See parental leave and time off for dependants.
• When they should submit a medical statement, known as a fit note, from their healthcare professional or self-certify their illness and the implications of failure to provide appropriate certification. Note that under statutory sick pay rules, self-certification is only required from the fourth day, and a medical statement from the eighth day, of an absence. See manage workplace absence and sickness.
• Details of any methods used to measure absence eg Bradford Factor.
• An indication of what is deemed unacceptable levels of absence and trigger points for taking action to review.
• Statutory - and any contractual - sick pay arrangements. This should also be covered in each employee's written statement of employment particulars.
• The circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a capability issue and the circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a conduct issue.
• Possible procedures for using the employer's own doctor/medical adviser or the procedure for seeking an employee's consent to obtain a medical report from their GP/medical practitioner.
• If applicable, the need to attend a return-to-work interview
• Consequences of not complying with the policy, eg when disciplinary measures will be taken.
• Identifies who is responsible for keeping attendance records.
• Reference to any other relevant policies, eg alcohol/drug misuse, health and safety, discipline and grievance, annual leave, maternity/adoption/paternity/parental leave. See staff documents and employment policies.

You may also want to include the following points:

• If you have good reason to believe an employee is abusing the system, you may begin disciplinary action against them.
• While you will treat those who fall ill sympathetically, excessive sickness can result in dismissal. For information on dealing with employee illness fairly, see employee absence as a capability issue.

Supporting staff with long-term sickness

There are other options you may want to consider, including:

• offering a counselling service (or arranging a referral to specialist assistance)
• setting up rehabilitation programmes for long-term sickness
• a referral to an occupational health service that can provide useful information regarding staff on long-term sickness absence and support their return to work
• appointing an absence case manager

There are a number of steps you should take to manage unexpected workplace absence and sickness effectively:

• Produce clear written procedures for reporting absence. See absence and sickness policies: what to include.
• Accurately record and monitor absence. See measure and monitor absence and sickness.
• Train managers on how to handle absence.
• Set targets for absence levels.
• Conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to find out if there are underlying causes.
• Provide special equipment if appropriate, eg specialist chairs or chair aids for employees with back problems. Find out about the help available to employers from the Health and Work Support Branch.
• Develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance, eg improvement of working conditions, the introduction of flexible working, provision of counselling and healthcare facilities.

Statement of fitness for work or the fit note

A statement of fitness for work, also known as a fit note is a medical statement that healthcare professionals issue to patients whose health condition affects their ability to work.

A healthcare professional may only issue a fit note after seven calendar days of sickness absence. For sickness absences of seven calendar days or fewer, employees can self-certify.

A statement of fitness for work allows a healthcare professional to advise either that the patient is unfit for work or that they may be fit for work if appropriate support is available eg a phased return to work, altered hours, amended duties, or workplace adaptations.

In the latter case, the healthcare professional may also comment on the functional effects of the patient's health condition and, if appropriate, what changes you, as the patient's employer, could make - in agreement with the employee - to help them get back to work as part of their recovery.

While you don't have to act on the healthcare professional's advice, the statement may help you make simple and practical workplace adjustments to help your staff return to work and reduce unnecessary sickness absences.

Regardless of what a statement says, you must still make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees under the disability provisions in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has a number of guides, factsheets and Q&As on absence management.

Setting up procedures for measuring absence and sickness in the workplace allows you to identify:

• how much working time has been lost
• where absence occurs the most, eg among particular types of worker or department
• how often individual workers are absent
• whether there is a pattern of absence, eg where a worker regularly calls in sick on a Friday
• sickness absence reasons

It will also show whether the absence is:

• due to short-term sickness and certificated
• due to short-term sickness and uncertificated
• due to long-term sickness
• not sickness-related and authorised
• not sickness-related, but unauthorised

With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve workplace absence and sickness levels.

Reasons for employee absence

Reasons for unauthorised absence can be personal, eg due to domestic problems, or work-related, eg due to verbal abuse from customers or heavy workloads and, in turn, increased levels of stress.

Consider improving such conditions by:

• examining job design
• using temporary staff during busy periods
• developing policies and procedures to tackle anti-social behaviour against public-facing staff
• offering flexible working patterns, training and promotion opportunities, staff incentives, etc
• offering employees training on managing work-related stress
• offering managers training on managing stress in the workplace

Return-to-work interviews

Return-to-work interviews can be an effective way of collecting absence data. Carried out sensitively, they can help establish:

• if there is a hidden reason for a worker's absence, eg workplace bullying or domestic problems
• f they are fit to return to work
• whether there is any underlying medical condition
• the likelihood of any recurrence of the problem/illness
• if there is an absence problem
• whether any action is required and allow the employer to explain the consequences of any further absences
• if medical referral is necessary
• whether a disability exists

Keeping sickness and absence records

Prior to 6 April 2014 under regulation 7 (13) of Schedule 4 to the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001, an employer had to keep wage records for all employees.

Regulation 13 of the SSP General Regulations 1982, as amended by Regulations 3 of the Social Security Contributions, Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Sick Pay (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1996, required an employer to keep sick absence records for each employee for each year.

With effect from 6 April 2014 regulation 13 was revoked and employers are no longer required to keep records of sickness absence.

Regulation 13A is still in force and an employer may be required to produce records to show statutory sick pay has been paid to their employees. See statutory sick pay forms and record-keeping.

An employee may become incapable of doing their job to the required standard because they are genuinely affected by either of the following:

• long-term ill health related to an underlying medical condition and therefore they don't attend work for a long period of time
• frequent bouts of short-term sickness related to an underlying medical condition and they are therefore unable to attend work regularly

Addressing absence as a capability issue

In either of these circumstances, you should treat any absence as a capability issue and:

• deal with the situation sensitively
• investigate, measure, and monitor the employee's absence record
• consult them regularly to find out about their health and discuss ways of enabling them to remain in the workplace, or if on long-term sickness absence the likelihood of a return to work
• set time limits on assessing the situation and tell the employee
• let them know if their job is at risk, and why
• obtain medical reports - although you'll need their permission
• consider adjustments to their job to allow them to return to work and/or do their job more easily
• consider offering any other vacancy you may have which has duties that the employee may be fit to perform

To avoid an unfair dismissal claim, only dismiss as a last resort. Make sure you have followed fair and proper procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See dismissing employees.

Keep in mind the following:

• Check if the illness relates to a disability - if so, you may need to make reasonable adjustments so that the employee can carry out their job. For the definition of disability, see how to prevent discrimination and value diversity.
• Discount any periods of absence related to a pregnancy-related illness when taking action over someone's absence record. For the rights of pregnant employees, see pregnancy at work.
• An eligible employee may be entitled to statutory sick pay for up to 28 weeks - as well as any contractual sick pay. See pay: employer obligations.

Absence related to drugs and alcohol

Treat employees addicted to drugs or alcohol similarly to employees with any other serious illness. However, if an employee won't accept they have a problem or seek help, the issue may become one of unacceptable conduct.

Where the issue is purely one of conduct, ie the employee is not addicted to alcohol or drugs but their drug/alcohol consumption is leading to regular absence/lateness, you should consider subjecting them to your disciplinary procedure.

See workplace policies on smoking, drugs, and alcohol, and employee absence as a conduct issue.

Persistent short term absence due to illness, where there is no specific medical cause, should be dealt with as a conduct issue and you may wish to take disciplinary action.

Be aware though that sickness, domestic problems or travel difficulties leading to absence or lateness may not necessarily amount to misconduct. Absences relating to an underlying medical condition should be dealt with as a capability issue. Additionally, if the sickness is pregnancy related, you must not take disciplinary action. See employee absence as a capability issue.

Investigations before taking disciplinary action

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you should:

• review the employee's attendance record
• meet with the employee to discuss and review their overall attendance record

If there is no reasonable explanation for the absence you may decide to take disciplinary action.

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you could:

• caution employees that it is a requirement to comply with your absence and sickness policy/procedures and this would include ensuring they phone in at or by a given time each day
• ensure line managers follow up on any unexplained absence

Where employees are finding it difficult to manage home and work responsibilities, consider introducing flexible working arrangements.

Note that eligible employees have the right to request flexible working.

You must consider such requests seriously - see flexible working: the law and best practice.

Taking disciplinary action

The employee should be given an opportunity to improve. Usually warnings, both oral and written, are sufficient.

If the situation does not improve, you may have to consider dismissal, but only as a last resort and after following proper and fair procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

An employee may be absent because of a conflict at work. This absence could either be in the form of sick leave or unauthorised and unexplained. With any type of absence, the employee may telephone you to explain what has caused it, or you may have to call the employee instead.

Resolving conflict at work

If you find out that an employee's absence is being caused by a conflict at work, you need to take steps to resolve it.

You may wish to use mediation as a way of resolving the problem. Mediation is a process whereby an independent third party intervenes in a workplace dispute to assist the parties to reach a satisfactory outcome. Mediation is especially suitable when used at the early stages of a problem at work and can be used in any dispute, but is particularly useful in relationship issues. The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) provides a free mediation service.

However, the employee might just tell you that they are affected by depression or stress. If so, you should try to find out - if it's not immediately clear - the underlying cause to determine whether it's work-related.

With unauthorised absence, the employee may be reluctant to tell you why they are absent, ie they might either avoid giving you an explanation or give you an explanation that you find unconvincing. In either case, you should arrange a return-to-work interview with the employee to find out the underlying cause of their absence.

If the employee continues to take periods of unauthorised absence, you may treat it as a conduct issue and apply your disciplinary procedure (which should as a minimum comply with the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures). You may find that, during a disciplinary hearing, the employee raises a grievance relating to a conflict at work that has ultimately led to their absence. If this happens, you should consider suspending the disciplinary process for a short period in order to deal with the grievance. However, if the grievance constitutes the employee's defence to the disciplinary issue, you may find it convenient to deal with both issues concurrently.

See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals and handling grievances.

Return-to-work interviews

Whenever an employee returns to work after a period of sickness absence, you should hold a return-to-work interview with them.

As part of the discussion, you can:

• welcome the employee back
• check they are well enough to be at work
• update them on any news while they were absent
• ask them about the cause of their absence

You may find that they were absent because of a conflict at work. For example:

• they have an ongoing disagreement with a peer or their manager
• they are being bullied or harassed by a colleague, client or customer
• before their absence, you had called them to a meeting on an unrelated disciplinary matter, eg to discuss their performance or conduct
• there is a dispute between groups of workers
• there is a dispute between a group of workers and management over, for example, pay or conditions, which may have already led - or may lead in future - to industrial action

If so, you need to take steps to deal with the conflict. See managing conflict.

If you are already aware that the absence was caused by a conflict at work, you should inform the employee about the steps that you have taken or plan to take to resolve it. They should also have a clear understanding of what may happen if they continue to be absent from work.

Continuing absence during a disciplinary procedure

If you think an employee's continuing absence is itself due to a forthcoming disciplinary hearing and, as a result, they fail to attend it, you should:

• rearrange the date of the meeting
• consider seeking medical advice on an employee's fitness to attend a disciplinary hearing
• warn the employee that, if they fail to attend again without good reason, you could make your decision on the matter in their absence

If the employee repeatedly fails to attend rearranged disciplinary hearings, you need to consider all the facts and come to a reasonable decision on how to proceed.

Considerations may include:

• any rules you have for dealing with failure to attend disciplinary meetings
• the seriousness of the disciplinary issue under consideration
• the employee's disciplinary record (including current warnings), general work record, work experience, position and length of service
• medical opinion on whether the employee is fit to attend the meeting
• how you have dealt with similar cases in the past
• the explanations and reasons for non-attendance given by the employee

However, eventually you will be entitled to reach your disciplinary decision in their absence, whether it's a warning, action short of dismissal such as demotion, or even dismissal itself.

Bad weather - particularly heavy snow - and the resulting transport problems can lead to a large number of employees being absent from or late for work.

To reduce the impact of bad weather, you should plan ahead. For example, think about issues such as alternative working patterns or who can cover at short notice.

It's also a good idea to include a section on bad weather in your absence policy so that you and your staff know what to do when these situations arise.

Remote working

It's worth considering a more flexible approach to matters such as location - you could allow employees to work from home/remotely if, for example, all or most of their work is done using a computer with an internet connection.

Alternatively you could agree with the employee that they start and finish at a later time, or that they take a day's holiday or perhaps any accrued time off in lieu.

In addition, information technology could be useful in enabling a business to run effectively if many employees are absent from work, for example using laptops or smartphones to work remotely. See remote access security best practice.

Pay issues

You do not have to pay an employee if, because of bad weather:

• they are unable to get to work
• they are late for work (unless the travel itself is part of their working time or - in some situations - where you provide the transport)

However, you may have to pay an employee if:

• the right to payment is set out in their employment contract or a collective agreement
• it's become custom and practice for you to do so in these circumstances

Finally, providing you do not discriminate, you might, even without obligation, choose to pay for a short lateness absence, making it clear it is not a precedent. Such a consideration can engender staff goodwill.

Dealing with absence issues fairly

Even if your business is damaged by the effects of absent workers, make sure that any disciplinary action you take is carried out according to proper and fair procedure.

This will help maintain good, fair, and consistent employment relations and help prevent complaints to industrial tribunals. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

As an employer, you should ensure you have appropriate systems in place to manage unexpected staff absences. These absences can affect productivity and profits and can even lower morale and motivation.

Top tips to manage workplace sickness and absences 

The following top tips will help you to better manage unexpected absences in your business.

1. Understand the reasons for employee absence

It's important to be aware of potential factors contributing to the absence levels in your business. Reasons for absence could be personal or work-related. Some common reasons include unsafe work practices; heavy workloads; family problems; abuse from customers; conflict at work; ill health; drug or alcohol dependency; and bad weather. See how to manage absence and sickness.

2. Put effective policies and procedures in place

You can improve the impact of absences by putting effective policies and procedures in place and applying these fairly and consistently. These should be backed up by agreeable working conditions, good management, and a focus on staff motivation. Having an absence and sickness policy brings clear business benefits including lower insurance costs, higher rates of staff retention, and improved productivity. Having set procedures in place can also help you to prevent small problems from developing into larger ones, measure and monitor absence and identify underlying problems. Read about the benefits of having an absence and sickness policy.

3. Spend time developing your absence and sickness policy

You should develop your absence and sickness policy and procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives. Your policy could include: when time off is permitted; how and when the worker should notify you of absence; when a worker should submit a medical statement or fit note from their healthcare professional; statutory sick pay arrangements; consequences of not complying with the policy; and responsibility for keeping attendance records. Absence and sickness policies: what to include.

4. Prepare for and manage unexpected absences

You should adhere to your absence and sickness policy and procedures when an instance of unexpected absence occurs. There are also a number of steps you should take to prepare for such an event: accurately record and monitor absence; train managers on how to handle absence; provide special equipment if appropriate; and set targets for absence levels. You should also conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to assess if there are any underlying causes. You could also develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance such as the introduction of flexible working or introducing counselling and healthcare packages. Manage workplace absence and sickness.

5. Measure and monitor absence in your business

Monitoring absence in your business allows you to find out how much working time has been lost, where the absence occurs most, how often individual workers are absent, and whether there is a pattern of absence. With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve the situation. See measure and monitor absence and sickness. Not least, measuring and monitoring absences might reveal annual patterns of stress points which can help you prepare for and manage absences to a degree eg restrict (within contract limits) leave at such times.

Having an absence and sickness policy can bring clear business benefits including:

• lower insurance costs
• higher rates of staff retention and motivation
• improved productivity, profitability and morale

You may also find that the reputation of your business is improved and that this, in turn, aids employee recruitment.

Management benefits of having an absence and sickness policy

From a management point of view, having an absence and sickness policy can help you to:

• prevent small problems from developing into larger ones
• measure and monitor employee absence - see measure and monitor absence and sickness
• identify and tackle underlying problems, such as workload demands, poor working conditions, work-life balance issues, conflict at work, or lack of adequate training/career development

Monitoring reasons for unexpected absences is just one of the ways of managing staff health and wellbeing and how you can control staff turnover.

You may find that monitoring reasons for absences makes it easier for you to identify and deal with different types of absences appropriately.

See employee absence as a capability issue and employee absence as a conduct issue.

You should develop your absence and sickness policy/procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives.

What should my absence and sickness policy include?

An absence and sickness policy could include the following:

• When time off might or must be permitted, eg jury service leave and time off for emergencies involving dependants. See allowing time off work.
• How the worker should notify you if they are ill, going to be late for work, or absent for other unexpected reasons, eg because a dependant has had an accident or fallen ill. It might be helpful to clarify the circumstances when dependants leave would typically be applicable, such as where the reason for absence relates to an emergency situation or unexpected disruption. See parental leave and time off for dependants.
• When they should submit a medical statement, known as a fit note, from their healthcare professional or self-certify their illness and the implications of failure to provide appropriate certification. Note that under statutory sick pay rules, self-certification is only required from the fourth day, and a medical statement from the eighth day, of an absence. See manage workplace absence and sickness.
• Details of any methods used to measure absence eg Bradford Factor.
• An indication of what is deemed unacceptable levels of absence and trigger points for taking action to review.
• Statutory - and any contractual - sick pay arrangements. This should also be covered in each employee's written statement of employment particulars.
• The circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a capability issue and the circumstances when absences will be dealt with as a conduct issue.
• Possible procedures for using the employer's own doctor/medical adviser or the procedure for seeking an employee's consent to obtain a medical report from their GP/medical practitioner.
• If applicable, the need to attend a return-to-work interview
• Consequences of not complying with the policy, eg when disciplinary measures will be taken.
• Identifies who is responsible for keeping attendance records.
• Reference to any other relevant policies, eg alcohol/drug misuse, health and safety, discipline and grievance, annual leave, maternity/adoption/paternity/parental leave. See staff documents and employment policies.

You may also want to include the following points:

• If you have good reason to believe an employee is abusing the system, you may begin disciplinary action against them.
• While you will treat those who fall ill sympathetically, excessive sickness can result in dismissal. For information on dealing with employee illness fairly, see employee absence as a capability issue.

Supporting staff with long-term sickness

There are other options you may want to consider, including:

• offering a counselling service (or arranging a referral to specialist assistance)
• setting up rehabilitation programmes for long-term sickness
• a referral to an occupational health service that can provide useful information regarding staff on long-term sickness absence and support their return to work
• appointing an absence case manager

There are a number of steps you should take to manage unexpected workplace absence and sickness effectively:

• Produce clear written procedures for reporting absence. See absence and sickness policies: what to include.
• Accurately record and monitor absence. See measure and monitor absence and sickness.
• Train managers on how to handle absence.
• Set targets for absence levels.
• Conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to find out if there are underlying causes.
• Provide special equipment if appropriate, eg specialist chairs or chair aids for employees with back problems. Find out about the help available to employers from the Health and Work Support Branch.
• Develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance, eg improvement of working conditions, the introduction of flexible working, provision of counselling and healthcare facilities.

Statement of fitness for work or the fit note

A statement of fitness for work, also known as a fit note is a medical statement that healthcare professionals issue to patients whose health condition affects their ability to work.

A healthcare professional may only issue a fit note after seven calendar days of sickness absence. For sickness absences of seven calendar days or fewer, employees can self-certify.

A statement of fitness for work allows a healthcare professional to advise either that the patient is unfit for work or that they may be fit for work if appropriate support is available eg a phased return to work, altered hours, amended duties, or workplace adaptations.

In the latter case, the healthcare professional may also comment on the functional effects of the patient's health condition and, if appropriate, what changes you, as the patient's employer, could make - in agreement with the employee - to help them get back to work as part of their recovery.

While you don't have to act on the healthcare professional's advice, the statement may help you make simple and practical workplace adjustments to help your staff return to work and reduce unnecessary sickness absences.

Regardless of what a statement says, you must still make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees under the disability provisions in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has a number of guides, factsheets and Q&As on absence management.

Setting up procedures for measuring absence and sickness in the workplace allows you to identify:

• how much working time has been lost
• where absence occurs the most, eg among particular types of worker or department
• how often individual workers are absent
• whether there is a pattern of absence, eg where a worker regularly calls in sick on a Friday
• sickness absence reasons

It will also show whether the absence is:

• due to short-term sickness and certificated
• due to short-term sickness and uncertificated
• due to long-term sickness
• not sickness-related and authorised
• not sickness-related, but unauthorised

With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve workplace absence and sickness levels.

Reasons for employee absence

Reasons for unauthorised absence can be personal, eg due to domestic problems, or work-related, eg due to verbal abuse from customers or heavy workloads and, in turn, increased levels of stress.

Consider improving such conditions by:

• examining job design
• using temporary staff during busy periods
• developing policies and procedures to tackle anti-social behaviour against public-facing staff
• offering flexible working patterns, training and promotion opportunities, staff incentives, etc
• offering employees training on managing work-related stress
• offering managers training on managing stress in the workplace

Return-to-work interviews

Return-to-work interviews can be an effective way of collecting absence data. Carried out sensitively, they can help establish:

• if there is a hidden reason for a worker's absence, eg workplace bullying or domestic problems
• f they are fit to return to work
• whether there is any underlying medical condition
• the likelihood of any recurrence of the problem/illness
• if there is an absence problem
• whether any action is required and allow the employer to explain the consequences of any further absences
• if medical referral is necessary
• whether a disability exists

Keeping sickness and absence records

Prior to 6 April 2014 under regulation 7 (13) of Schedule 4 to the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001, an employer had to keep wage records for all employees.

Regulation 13 of the SSP General Regulations 1982, as amended by Regulations 3 of the Social Security Contributions, Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Sick Pay (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1996, required an employer to keep sick absence records for each employee for each year.

With effect from 6 April 2014 regulation 13 was revoked and employers are no longer required to keep records of sickness absence.

Regulation 13A is still in force and an employer may be required to produce records to show statutory sick pay has been paid to their employees. See statutory sick pay forms and record-keeping.

An employee may become incapable of doing their job to the required standard because they are genuinely affected by either of the following:

• long-term ill health related to an underlying medical condition and therefore they don't attend work for a long period of time
• frequent bouts of short-term sickness related to an underlying medical condition and they are therefore unable to attend work regularly

Addressing absence as a capability issue

In either of these circumstances, you should treat any absence as a capability issue and:

• deal with the situation sensitively
• investigate, measure, and monitor the employee's absence record
• consult them regularly to find out about their health and discuss ways of enabling them to remain in the workplace, or if on long-term sickness absence the likelihood of a return to work
• set time limits on assessing the situation and tell the employee
• let them know if their job is at risk, and why
• obtain medical reports - although you'll need their permission
• consider adjustments to their job to allow them to return to work and/or do their job more easily
• consider offering any other vacancy you may have which has duties that the employee may be fit to perform

To avoid an unfair dismissal claim, only dismiss as a last resort. Make sure you have followed fair and proper procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See dismissing employees.

Keep in mind the following:

• Check if the illness relates to a disability - if so, you may need to make reasonable adjustments so that the employee can carry out their job. For the definition of disability, see how to prevent discrimination and value diversity.
• Discount any periods of absence related to a pregnancy-related illness when taking action over someone's absence record. For the rights of pregnant employees, see pregnancy at work.
• An eligible employee may be entitled to statutory sick pay for up to 28 weeks - as well as any contractual sick pay. See pay: employer obligations.

Absence related to drugs and alcohol

Treat employees addicted to drugs or alcohol similarly to employees with any other serious illness. However, if an employee won't accept they have a problem or seek help, the issue may become one of unacceptable conduct.

Where the issue is purely one of conduct, ie the employee is not addicted to alcohol or drugs but their drug/alcohol consumption is leading to regular absence/lateness, you should consider subjecting them to your disciplinary procedure.

See workplace policies on smoking, drugs, and alcohol, and employee absence as a conduct issue.

Persistent short term absence due to illness, where there is no specific medical cause, should be dealt with as a conduct issue and you may wish to take disciplinary action.

Be aware though that sickness, domestic problems or travel difficulties leading to absence or lateness may not necessarily amount to misconduct. Absences relating to an underlying medical condition should be dealt with as a capability issue. Additionally, if the sickness is pregnancy related, you must not take disciplinary action. See employee absence as a capability issue.

Investigations before taking disciplinary action

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you should:

• review the employee's attendance record
• meet with the employee to discuss and review their overall attendance record

If there is no reasonable explanation for the absence you may decide to take disciplinary action.

Prior to taking disciplinary action, you could:

• caution employees that it is a requirement to comply with your absence and sickness policy/procedures and this would include ensuring they phone in at or by a given time each day
• ensure line managers follow up on any unexplained absence

Where employees are finding it difficult to manage home and work responsibilities, consider introducing flexible working arrangements.

Note that eligible employees have the right to request flexible working.

You must consider such requests seriously - see flexible working: the law and best practice.

Taking disciplinary action

The employee should be given an opportunity to improve. Usually warnings, both oral and written, are sufficient.

If the situation does not improve, you may have to consider dismissal, but only as a last resort and after following proper and fair procedures, including statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

An employee may be absent because of a conflict at work. This absence could either be in the form of sick leave or unauthorised and unexplained. With any type of absence, the employee may telephone you to explain what has caused it, or you may have to call the employee instead.

Resolving conflict at work

If you find out that an employee's absence is being caused by a conflict at work, you need to take steps to resolve it.

You may wish to use mediation as a way of resolving the problem. Mediation is a process whereby an independent third party intervenes in a workplace dispute to assist the parties to reach a satisfactory outcome. Mediation is especially suitable when used at the early stages of a problem at work and can be used in any dispute, but is particularly useful in relationship issues. The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) provides a free mediation service.

However, the employee might just tell you that they are affected by depression or stress. If so, you should try to find out - if it's not immediately clear - the underlying cause to determine whether it's work-related.

With unauthorised absence, the employee may be reluctant to tell you why they are absent, ie they might either avoid giving you an explanation or give you an explanation that you find unconvincing. In either case, you should arrange a return-to-work interview with the employee to find out the underlying cause of their absence.

If the employee continues to take periods of unauthorised absence, you may treat it as a conduct issue and apply your disciplinary procedure (which should as a minimum comply with the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures). You may find that, during a disciplinary hearing, the employee raises a grievance relating to a conflict at work that has ultimately led to their absence. If this happens, you should consider suspending the disciplinary process for a short period in order to deal with the grievance. However, if the grievance constitutes the employee's defence to the disciplinary issue, you may find it convenient to deal with both issues concurrently.

See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals and handling grievances.

Return-to-work interviews

Whenever an employee returns to work after a period of sickness absence, you should hold a return-to-work interview with them.

As part of the discussion, you can:

• welcome the employee back
• check they are well enough to be at work
• update them on any news while they were absent
• ask them about the cause of their absence

You may find that they were absent because of a conflict at work. For example:

• they have an ongoing disagreement with a peer or their manager
• they are being bullied or harassed by a colleague, client or customer
• before their absence, you had called them to a meeting on an unrelated disciplinary matter, eg to discuss their performance or conduct
• there is a dispute between groups of workers
• there is a dispute between a group of workers and management over, for example, pay or conditions, which may have already led - or may lead in future - to industrial action

If so, you need to take steps to deal with the conflict. See managing conflict.

If you are already aware that the absence was caused by a conflict at work, you should inform the employee about the steps that you have taken or plan to take to resolve it. They should also have a clear understanding of what may happen if they continue to be absent from work.

Continuing absence during a disciplinary procedure

If you think an employee's continuing absence is itself due to a forthcoming disciplinary hearing and, as a result, they fail to attend it, you should:

• rearrange the date of the meeting
• consider seeking medical advice on an employee's fitness to attend a disciplinary hearing
• warn the employee that, if they fail to attend again without good reason, you could make your decision on the matter in their absence

If the employee repeatedly fails to attend rearranged disciplinary hearings, you need to consider all the facts and come to a reasonable decision on how to proceed.

Considerations may include:

• any rules you have for dealing with failure to attend disciplinary meetings
• the seriousness of the disciplinary issue under consideration
• the employee's disciplinary record (including current warnings), general work record, work experience, position and length of service
• medical opinion on whether the employee is fit to attend the meeting
• how you have dealt with similar cases in the past
• the explanations and reasons for non-attendance given by the employee

However, eventually you will be entitled to reach your disciplinary decision in their absence, whether it's a warning, action short of dismissal such as demotion, or even dismissal itself.

Bad weather - particularly heavy snow - and the resulting transport problems can lead to a large number of employees being absent from or late for work.

To reduce the impact of bad weather, you should plan ahead. For example, think about issues such as alternative working patterns or who can cover at short notice.

It's also a good idea to include a section on bad weather in your absence policy so that you and your staff know what to do when these situations arise.

Remote working

It's worth considering a more flexible approach to matters such as location - you could allow employees to work from home/remotely if, for example, all or most of their work is done using a computer with an internet connection.

Alternatively you could agree with the employee that they start and finish at a later time, or that they take a day's holiday or perhaps any accrued time off in lieu.

In addition, information technology could be useful in enabling a business to run effectively if many employees are absent from work, for example using laptops or smartphones to work remotely. See remote access security best practice.

Pay issues

You do not have to pay an employee if, because of bad weather:

• they are unable to get to work
• they are late for work (unless the travel itself is part of their working time or - in some situations - where you provide the transport)

However, you may have to pay an employee if:

• the right to payment is set out in their employment contract or a collective agreement
• it's become custom and practice for you to do so in these circumstances

Finally, providing you do not discriminate, you might, even without obligation, choose to pay for a short lateness absence, making it clear it is not a precedent. Such a consideration can engender staff goodwill.

Dealing with absence issues fairly

Even if your business is damaged by the effects of absent workers, make sure that any disciplinary action you take is carried out according to proper and fair procedure.

This will help maintain good, fair, and consistent employment relations and help prevent complaints to industrial tribunals. See disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals.

As an employer, you should ensure you have appropriate systems in place to manage unexpected staff absences. These absences can affect productivity and profits and can even lower morale and motivation.

Top tips to manage workplace sickness and absences 

The following top tips will help you to better manage unexpected absences in your business.

1. Understand the reasons for employee absence

It's important to be aware of potential factors contributing to the absence levels in your business. Reasons for absence could be personal or work-related. Some common reasons include unsafe work practices; heavy workloads; family problems; abuse from customers; conflict at work; ill health; drug or alcohol dependency; and bad weather. See how to manage absence and sickness.

2. Put effective policies and procedures in place

You can improve the impact of absences by putting effective policies and procedures in place and applying these fairly and consistently. These should be backed up by agreeable working conditions, good management, and a focus on staff motivation. Having an absence and sickness policy brings clear business benefits including lower insurance costs, higher rates of staff retention, and improved productivity. Having set procedures in place can also help you to prevent small problems from developing into larger ones, measure and monitor absence and identify underlying problems. Read about the benefits of having an absence and sickness policy.

3. Spend time developing your absence and sickness policy

You should develop your absence and sickness policy and procedures in consultation with line managers and workplace representatives. Your policy could include: when time off is permitted; how and when the worker should notify you of absence; when a worker should submit a medical statement or fit note from their healthcare professional; statutory sick pay arrangements; consequences of not complying with the policy; and responsibility for keeping attendance records. Absence and sickness policies: what to include.

4. Prepare for and manage unexpected absences

You should adhere to your absence and sickness policy and procedures when an instance of unexpected absence occurs. There are also a number of steps you should take to prepare for such an event: accurately record and monitor absence; train managers on how to handle absence; provide special equipment if appropriate; and set targets for absence levels. You should also conduct return-to-work interviews after absences, interviewing sensitively to assess if there are any underlying causes. You could also develop other initiatives to encourage good attendance such as the introduction of flexible working or introducing counselling and healthcare packages. Manage workplace absence and sickness.

5. Measure and monitor absence in your business

Monitoring absence in your business allows you to find out how much working time has been lost, where the absence occurs most, how often individual workers are absent, and whether there is a pattern of absence. With this information, you should be able to take the appropriate action to improve the situation. See measure and monitor absence and sickness. Not least, measuring and monitoring absences might reveal annual patterns of stress points which can help you prepare for and manage absences to a degree eg restrict (within contract limits) leave at such times.