Answer: Absenteeism evolves around two types; genuine & non-genuine sickness absence. When workers are absent, for example, because of pre-booked holidays the employer can be prepared to organise cover. However, the main problem occurs with sickness absence which cannot be foreseen & always occurs at short notice. All employees have a contractual obligation to attend work consistently. Absence for whatever reason must be monitored & controlled by the employer. It is important to adopt a method of recording absence with an inbuilt trigger to ensure that any unacceptable level of absence is recognised quickly & the cause is identified.

When absence occurs for non-genuine reasons, it actually constitutes a conduct offence which has to be dealt with through the conduct procedures. In order to control sickness absence it is important to set out what you expect of your existing employees & also to new recruits during the induction process – do not wait for problems to occur. Employees should be told exactly what standards of evidence are required should sickness occur, & also what penalties will be imposed (both financial & disciplinary) if they fail to meet these standards. These standards should be set out in writing & form part of the contract of employment.

Self-certification will cover the first seven days of a period of absence & thereafter a signed medical certificate from the GP should be required.

Implement an absence reporting procedure whereby an employee should be required to notify you in person as soon as reasonably practicable on the first day of absence that he is sick & to be able to give you details regarding his situation. If he is too ill to call then that is acceptable.

Once the individual returns to work he should undergo a return to work interview during which the absence, its cause & likely occurrences are discussed. In most cases this will result in the manager authorising the appropriate payment for sickness absence whether that is statutory sick pay or SSP plus company sick pay.

Keep detailed records which will show up any patterns, such as continual Mondays or Fridays off. In the event that such a pattern does appear the individual should then be interviewed, initially to determine whether the absence is caused by something relating to work. If the pattern is overwhelming & there is no satisfactory explanation then inform the individual that there will be a disciplinary hearing in the near future because you are dissatisfied with the answers he/she provided. If the absence is genuine but occurs too frequently, as long as you follow the appropriate procedures & medical reports, you are able to dismiss the individual if no amendments to the work or the job can be made to allow the individual to continue.

You must ensure that the procedures are consistently & uniformly applied within & across departments & any absences caused by disabilities or pregnancy-related issues must not be included in any form of scoring of absences.

The issue of sickness is a very sensitive one & people must be treated sympathetically & appropriately to their individual circumstances. It is however, also important to have a standard procedure that everyone knows & follows, because the employer does have a right to get the job done.