Dismissing an employee for sickness: a legal perspective

It's great to hear from Activ Absence customers that they notice an almost instant reduction in short term sickness absence of 20-30%, which more than covers the cost of the product - but how can HR Managers tackle the remaining absences, and crucially, how and when should they consider dismissing a staff member for persistent sickness?

The return to work interview process is crucial for identifying and managing patterns of short term sickness. It helps you identify those employees who may be suffering from a hidden disability or stress and gives you a chance to see if you can assist them by making reasonable changes, such as letting them work from home, reducing their hours or changing their environment or tasks until or if they recover.

Activ Absence users are armed with a built in return to work process and a whole series of absence reports, such as which days of the week employees take off (typically Mondays and Fridays).  These will help in terms of providing the information you need to have an informal discussion, and for most employees that is enough.  It also conveniently gives HR Managers vital evidence if the matter escalates.

However, no matter what systems HR put in place, there are still employees who will continue to take frequent sick days with no real excuse.

Employers will at some point inevitably also have to deal with staff who are off sick for substantial periods and are unfortunately never likely to be well enough to ever return to work.  This is sad for both employer and employee, but nonetheless a situation that requires delicate handling.

Some cases will unfortunately reach a point when a decision has to be made to let an employee go.

It is obviously vital in these cases that employers handle dismissals for sickness absence sensitively and follow the correct procedure every step of the way.

In this article, HR News offers excellent general guidance from Employment Partner Kathryn Casey-Evans, Employment Partner at Trethowans solicitors.  It is a must-read for any HR Manager deciding how to handle persistent sickness absence challenges:

http://hrnews.co.uk/managing-employee-sickness-a-legal-perspective/

Blue Monday-itis and the sad truth about depression at work

Blue Monday this year falls on 18 January.  The third Monday in January was identified by university tutor Cliff Arnall as the most miserable day of the year.  Whilst other academics are sceptical of Arnall's research, the day nonetheless has one of the highest rates of absenteeism of the year.  Coincidence?  Not so, says absence management expert Adrian Lewis of Activ Absence.

"Our customers always report a spike in sickness absence on this day - I jokingly told my colleagues that I'd be keeping an eye out for Blue Monday-itis!" he said.

On days where absence is higher than the norm, there is the perception that everyone is just taking sickies.  However, depression and stress are very real illnesses, and 'Blue Monday' could simply be the straw that broke the camel's back.

It's vital to remember that employees are not always honest in their reasons for taking sick leave, and Adrian says that employers should look at a pattern of sickies and consider whether depression may be a factor.  Indeed, new research from the UK’s largest job site CV-Library, revealed that  63.5% of sufferers wouldn’t give their depression as the reason for calling in sick and would use a different excuse.   Click here to continue reading...

Why a certain old lady should retire early....

As everyone focuses on pensions and retirement in 2016, Lisa Baker (age 49) asks why much of HR is still running on technology that is overdue for retirement!

In 1961, Professor Richard Mattessich pioneered the development of spreadsheets – leading to the first commercial spreadsheet, Visicalc.  Visicalc  is credited with changing microcomputers from a hobby into a ‘serious business tool’.   Spreadsheets are therefore 55 years of age…almost as old as the 57 year old pop superstar, and overdue for retirement in a fast moving technological world!

Madonna had an early hit with ‘Borderline’ back in 1984.  She isn’t however, the only thing still rocking since then.. click here to read the rest of this article

Tracking staff absence - not everyone came back to work this week...

Very few workers were enthusiastic returning to work this week, after a longer than average Christmas break, extremely wet and windy weather and a forecast of more to come.  It's not surprising that a few of them will have not come in at all, the first week back usually has a high rate of attrition.  

The problem is that HR people who are expected to get their people motivated probably don't feel very enthusiastic themselves, not least because they face additional challenges over Christmas and New Year.

Firstly, there’s all the reporting from last year, coupled with planning for the new one, and those soaring rates of sickness absence in the first week back at work won't help.  Tracking staff absence is probably the last thing on an HR Manager's mind - but it shouldn't be.

Meanwhile, the press is reporting that record numbers of staff have resolved to find a new job this year, so HR are struggling with talent retention – all in week one.  With this increasing workload, managers nonetheless expect HR to wave a magic wand and inspire their workforce into feeling happy and motivated. It’s a big ask.

Here’s Adrian’s suggestions for keeping your team motivated and on board, even when you may not feel terribly motivated yourself:

Lead by example

No matter how fed up and snappy you feel, people will expect you to set the tone and work ethic for the rest of the company.  If you stay optimistic and positive, and maintain a professional facade of calm, the rest of the team will feel obliged to follow your lead.

Focus on Retaining your Talent

With so many people seeing the New Year as a chance to look for a new job, make sure you identify who the people you need to retain are and let them know you have plans for them to advance in 2016, even if you can’t offer them anything now.  Rewards don’t have to be financial, identify learning and development needs and let them know you want to invest in them.  To quote entrepreneur Richard Branson, who has one of the best staff retention rates in the UK: “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

Treat People as Individuals

Teamwork may be vital for company success, and will pay dividends, but when people are unhappy, it is likely to be an individual approach that picks them up, especially in larger organisations where individuals can be forgotten. HR are people-people, and often a big smile and a kind word can pay dividends, don’t wait until an appraisal to say thank you and/or offer praise for a job well done.  Not only will that employee feel valued, but it also reinforces to your team that you notice good performance.  Similarly, if someone is underperforming, take them aside for one-on-one time, make an effort to understand where they are mentally and offer assistance or job coaching if needed.

Solve your own Challenges

As an HR Manager, many of the stresses at the start and end of a new leave year can be assisted or eliminated with cloud based technology.  Whether it’s installing technology to allow self service for annual leave requests, or absence management software, there really isn’t any excuse for HR to still be struggling with spreadsheet nightmares in 2016.  You deserve an easier life, and usually these systems pay for themselves within 12 months or less.  If you’d like to know more, I’m running a free webinar on the many ways new Technology can help HR Managers – without the ‘Geekspeak’ at the end of January.

Inject a bit of Fun

Team spirit is great for lifting the gloom.  There’s nothing like a good old team night out, or dress-down day to get people looking forward to coming into work.  After a whole season of partying and a month where everyone is broke, it only takes a small budget to have a ‘gloomiest costume Friday’ – or if all your team are on New year Diets, maybe start a dieting club!  Be creative – you may need to be the positive one at first but soon you’ll have everyone on board.

Adrian concludes: “Being back at work is inevitable and the ‘New Year, New Me’ approach will have your people thinking and re-thinking what they want to achieve in 2016.  However, with a little tweaking, (and a smile you may have to fake at first), HR really can make a difference and turn those New Year blues into planning for a fruitful Spring.  Happy New Year everyone!”

• Motivational Enhancement Therapy
• Sickness Absence Management
• Human Resources