Following our article on absence issues in November, Nicky Machin now takes a look at the variety of approaches that some of the UK?s larger companies are currently taking to manage their absence levels.

Please note: these are examples only - not recommendations!

• Royal Mail have just introduced an incentive scheme to improve their absence records. All employees with a 100% attendance record from August 2004 through to January 2005 will be entered into a raffle with the chance to win one of 30 cars. However, whilst encouraging employees to improve their attendance record, they are also potentially running the risk that employees who are genuinely ill will come into work and either worsen their condition, or spread the illness throughout the work place.
• Asda doesn't pay staff for the first 3 days that they are off in a period of absence (as per statutory sick pay arrangements), as they believe that this will cut down the number of people who take non-genuine sick days. The argument against this policy runs that if people are not being paid for being off work, the feeling of guilt for being absent lessens.
• One company that accepts that everyone has days where they wake up and just can't face work is British PR firm August One Communications. The introduction of the 'Duvet Day' in 1997 within the company was seen as a step forward in absence management, as it allowed employees to take a day off at short notice, without feeling it necessary to pretend to have an illness or feeling guilty and made it easier to measure 'genuine' absence.
• If a member of staff calls in sick at Pictons Removal Company , the name is passed onto a team of nurses from a contracted company who then call the absentee back to talk through the problem and advise on the best course of treatment. Pictons feels that this is a positive approach that gets help to employees who are genuinely ill and can help speed their return to work, whilst it also discourages malingerers who will find it harder to convince a nurse that they are sick. However employees might feel that the company suspects them of 'skiving' and so care must be taken to ensure this is a positive process not simply a means of checking up on staff.

The introduction of an incentive, penalty or management scheme (such as the using the Bradford Index for monitoring) to try to control absence related issues is basically just that, a control. These schemes do not offer solutions, merely ways to try to get employees to behave in a more acceptable manner in terms of their absence.

High absenteeism is often more likely to be due to underlying problems or issues within the working environment. It all comes back to the fact that if staff are generally happy at work then they won't be absent unless there really is a genuine reason.

So effective absence management looks at both the effects and the causes of absence. Please call Campbell or Nicky on 01494 435 310 or email campbell@hradvantage.co.uk if you have any queries about managing absence in general or any specific absence issues you have concerns with.

December 2004