Serving over 2 Million visitors each year

Search
    Get a FREE Website for Your Business
Getting British Business Online is providing 100,000 British businesses with a free website.
Find out how to claim your free website now

Employers' guide to managing sick leave

print  e-mail 

As a small business owner, it is likely that you will have had at least a couple of employees call in sick this winter and with the cold weather expected to last a while longer, sick leave may become a HR issue that you deal with well into Spring.

Unexpected absences can affect business productivity and profits and, if they become a regular occurrence, they may affect morale and motivation. As a small business owner, ensure that you manage sick leave effectively to minimise the impact of absences.

Overseeing HR issues such as sick leave may seem complicated but it is simpler than you think. There is a range of free advice and guidance available on the Business Link website to help small business bosses comply with employment legislation. Instead of seeking expensive, external HR support to help you in this area, see how the online tools might enable you to meet your obligations yourself.

Below are three top tips from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills to help you keep on top of staff absence.

Set out clear policies and procedures

As a small business, any issue amongst staff - big or small - can have an impact on your company’s success. Laying down clear policies and procedures on how you tackle absence should prevent problems developing and will help employees recognise that you take this matter seriously.

It’s important to develop your absence and sickness policies in consultation with line managers and employee representatives. If your business recognises a trade union, you should also involve them. Think about what you need to include in the particulars and consider what will be relevant to you and your staff.

You could include details on some of the following:

  • How an employee should notify you if they are ill, late for work, or absent for any other reasons
  • When they should submit a self certificate or a medical certificate
  • Sick pay arrangements. Statutory – and any contractual. This should also be covered in the written statement of terms and conditions of employment. To create a written statement, click here.
  • When time off might be permitted, e.g. jury service leave and time off for emergencies involving dependents
  • Consequences of not complying with policy
Clear guidelines on sick leave can bring business benefits, including improved productivity and better profits, so having these in place is vital.

Measure and monitor absence

Setting up ways to measure absence and sickness in the workplace allows you to find how much working time has been lost, where absence occurs most and how often individual employees are absent.

You can also use the information collected to identify trends. If you notice a high level of absence in a department where motivation is a problem, you may want to take appropriate action to resolve the situation. Monitoring absences will also make it easier for you to identify and deal with different types of leave appropriately. For example, you should treat an employee on long-term sick leave differently from an employee who regularly calls in sick on a Friday.

If you notice that your business has a high absence rate, you may need to think about improving your working conditions. Consider offering flexible working patterns, training and promotion opportunities, as well as other staff incentives.

Understand your legal requirements

As an employer, you are required to keep information on absence and sickness. However, this information is kept for statutory sick pay purposes only and should not contain reasons for absence. If you would like to hold more detailed records – perhaps for the purpose of monitoring absence levels – you need the employee’s permission. This sort of information is sensitive personal data and you need to set out your policy in the terms and conditions of employment in order to document this detail. For more information on how to do this, click here.

As a small business owner, you will understand that absence and sick leave is a serious matter which can heavily impact your business. Setting out clear policies, monitoring absences and understanding your legal requirements will enable you to keep on top of the issues and hopefully reduce the amount of time your staff take off.

Further resources on Bytestart

Posted February 3, 2010
Latest articles in Staff Guides
 
Bullying in the workplace - advice for employees
Reports of workplace bullying have doubled in the last ten years and the recession has put extra pressure on managers and bosses to get results meaning they may act in a way that is out of character. Some expert legal advice to employees who are being bullied in the workplace. [March 2, 2010]
 
Employers' guide to managing sick leave
As a small business owner, it is likely that you will have had at least a couple of employees call in sick this winter and with the cold weather expected to last a while longer, sick leave may become a HR issue that you deal with well into Spring. [February 3, 2010]
 
Employers and festive staff holidays - the basics
Businesses could be heading for trouble over the festive season if they haven’t organised employees’ holiday entitlement correctly. Here are the answers to the most frequently asked festive holiday queries. [December 22, 2009]
 
Top tips for managing staff holidays
As a small business owner, you should think about the ways in which you handle staff holiday. Outlined in this article are four top tips to help you manage this process yourself and save money. [December 1, 2009]
 
The new Equality Bill and what businesses should be aware of
The Equality Bill 2008-2009 is an attempt to consolidate the nation’s discrimination legislation into one enactment and in doing so simplify the law as it currently stands. [August 6, 2009]
 
Holiday planning tips for small business owners
As the peak holiday season arrives, small businesses need to prepare themselves to deal with the absence of key staff. Here is a checklist to help business owners prepare in advance for the summer break. [July 16, 2009]
 
How to manage flexible working - top tips
Flexible working has come into its own in the recession, with poll after poll suggesting that most companies have considered it as a way of reducing costs and saving jobs. But what happens after the recession? Includes some essential flexible working tips. [July 14, 2009]
 
Employee sickness absence - a complete guide for employers - Part 1
A comprehensive employers' guide to dealing with employee sickness absence. In this introductory piece, we look at sickness absence policies, and the most common situations that employers are faced with. [July 7, 2009]
 
Employee sickness absence - a complete guide for employers - Part 2
In the second part of our series on dealing with employee sickness absence, we look at Sick pay, Statutory sick pay (SSP), notification of absence, evidence of incapacity, contractual sick pay, discretionary sick pay, and holiday during sickness absence. [July 7, 2009]
 
Employee sickness absence - a complete guide for employers - Part 3
In this final part of our series on dealing with sickness absence, we look at how to handle an employee returning to work following sickness, disagreements, dismissal, and an important mention of the disability discrimination rules [July 7, 2009]
 
How to handle disciplinary issues in the workplace
Despite every effort, even the best-run business may encounter disciplinary problems with employees from time to time. Having clear and fair disciplinary procedures is both a legal requirement and the first step to avoiding difficult claims tribunals. [June 8, 2009]
 
Employers' guide to employee holiday and leave entitlement
Small business employers are urged to understand their their rights when it comes to employee leave entitlement. How to deal with requests for annual leave from employees. [June 2, 2009]
 
The redundancy process – how to manage your obligations as an employer
If you are forced to reduce the size of your workforce, there are a number of measures that you need to apply to ensure that you follow the fair dismissals procedure and also keep the affected employees informed. [April 29, 2009]
 
How to deal with mental health issues in the workplace
Most employers shy away from the subject of mental illness in the workplace. Given that 1 in 6 of the workforce is affected by some kind of mental health condition - more so in certain professions, we look at how business owners can properly approach the subject. [January 29, 2009]
 
Guide to Redundancy for small companies
A legal guide to ensure employers follow the correct redundancy procedures before dismissing an employee. [November 26, 2008]
 


Click Here



Our Partners
Key Services
Key Services
Legal Guides

© Bytestart Limited 2005-2010 - All Rights Reserved | Terms of Use | Site List | Website Feeds | Rss Feed RSS Feed

Business Insurance, Business Bank Accounts, Public Liability Insurance, Professional Indemnity, Startups, Limited Company, Sole Trader