Employees are sick from time to time, and quite often feel bad about letting their employer down. However, if there is a pattern of repeated short-term sickness, there can be underlying reasons why. Repeated sickness absence can be caused by a range of issues, from stress, harassment and bullying to family or emotional problems, or mental health issues other than stress.
Your Employer Handbook should set out your sickness and absence policy, and should also advise that a ‘Return to Work’ interview will be conducted on their return. From here you can build a pattern of short-term sickness and absence, and begin a process of support and/or disciplinary action.
ACAS offer further advise on handling short-term sickness here:
Managing staff absence: A step-by-step guide
PayrollAbility can help with simplifying your absence and sickness policy. Our Company Handbook and Employment Contract can set out the policy clearly for your employee, ensuring they are aware of their obligations as an employee. We can also provide you with ‘Return to Work’ forms which will allow you to structure your employees return interview, ensuring that they feel supported whilst formally recording their absence.
