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Absence management support
Absenteeism at work comes in many forms, from frequent short-term absences to long-term sickness and issues of medical capability. All can put a strain on your workforce and prevent your business from reaching its full potential.
With experienced and expert HR consultant guidance, your business can reduce employee absenteeism by addressing issues early and in full compliance with UK employment laws. Begin your process toward higher productivity from today.
Helping you with
Reduce employee absenteeism with unlimited, expert UK support
No business is immune to absences. From policy creation to pragmatic advice, take a proactive and confident approach to absence management with our full range of Employment Law and HR solutions.
Whether you’re bogged down in these low-level issues or facing a particularly tricky situation, our experts can help you deal with bogus absences, long-standing conditions that may be disability-related, and everything in between.
- Manage absences fairly and consistently with your own team of Employment Law experts
- Set out your management and reporting arrangements with a robust sickness absence policy
- Utilise our MI reporting to understand and proactively tackle absence trends
- Develop staff confidence with absence management training and expert guidance notes
- Get peace of mind with our optional, FCA-regulated Legal Expenses Insurance
Experienced absence management consultants maximise productivity
When it comes to sickness absence, it’s important to get a handle on it early. Our comprehensive support will enable you to tackle any scenario and ensure operational and service levels are maintained.
With ongoing advice and support from your small team of legally-qualified specialists, you can get guidance and clarity on all your employee hurdles, including your obligations in relation to disability discrimination, adjusting procedures and absence trigger points to maximise attendance, and any resulting disciplinary issues.
Plus, if you’re not confident going it alone or facing a particular complex issue, our seasoned HR Consultants can conduct welfare and medical capability meetings for you – or manage the full process – for complete peace of mind.
How to prevent absenteeism in the workplace
Preventing absenteeism in the workplace starts with understanding the reasons behind it. Absences can be as a result of many reasons from health issues and burn out, to poor morale, lack of engagement or problems within the team. Taking a proactive approach to managing absenteeism can make a big difference. This can include regular check-ins, promoting a healthy work-life balance, and offering support for mental health. Clear absence policies, return-to-work meetings, and early interventions also help to spot patterns and address any underlying concerns before they escalate.
Reducing absenteeism isn’t always about taking the hard line – it’s about having the right processes in place and knowing how to apply them fairly and consistently. That can sometimes be difficult, especially when the reasons for absence are complex or sensitive. Getting support from HR professionals can help you take the right approach, ensuring any concerns are handled confidently, compliantly, and with the right balance of care and structure.
Can you dismiss employees for absenteeism?
You can dismiss an employee for absenteeism, but only if it’s handled fairly and in line with employment law. Regardless of whether the absence is short-term, long-term, or unauthorised, employers must follow a proper process, including investigating the reasons for the absence, holding meetings, and giving the employee the chance to explain. If absence is due to illness, you’ll need to consider whether any adjustments are needed under the Equality Act 2010, particularly if it’s related to a disability. Dismissal should always be the last resort after other options have been explored.
The Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures sets out best practice for managing issues like absenteeism, and failure to follow it can lead to claims of unfair dismissal. Each case should be considered on its own merits, and documentation throughout is essential. Because of the legal and procedural risks involved, especially in more complex cases, many employers choose to seek professional advice to make sure they’re taking the right steps and protecting their business.
Explore our fixed-fee Employment Law support
Advice Line
Fast, pragmatic, commercial. Our Employment Law & HR advice line gives you and your managers access to truly unlimited advice on all of your people-related challenges, from the seemingly straightforward to the most complex.What sorts of things can you advise on?
HR matters come with the territory when you run a business or manage an organisation and we’re here to help you through it all. Whether you’re battling absenteeism, struggling to manage an underperforming employee or need help navigating a complicated exercise like redundancy, we can walk you through the steps required to handle the situation appropriately.
Is everything dealt with through one team?
Yes. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means a full range of employee issues can be dealt with within your dedicated three-person team. In the event that you’re presented with an Employment Tribunal claim, we will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team so that they are well equipped to defend you.
Find out moreContracts and Handbooks
Whether you have nothing in place or just need an expert review, our Employment Law specialists can carefully craft your employment contracts and employee handbooks to guarantee compliance and provide the flexibility you need as an employer.What are the risks of not having the right contracts in place?
Failing to provide an employee with a contract could lead to additional compensation being awarded to an employee who successfully makes another sort of claim against their employer. In addition, a number of practical problems could be caused by having incorrect contracts, such as paying too little (or too much) notice, getting holiday entitlement wrong and failing to protect legitimate business interests in the face of an employee leaving for a competitor.
How often do HR policies need to be reviewed?
Whenever there are changes to UK employment legislation, such as the recent changes to bereavement leave or the Good Work Plan, it’s important to make sure your contracts, handbooks and policies are updated accordingly. We can take the pressure off by alerting you to any such changes and helping you to implement them in your documentation and practices.
Find out moreDrafting Letters and Documents
From the most straightforward warning for poor attendance to complex grievance outcome letters and everything in between, our Employment Law solicitors can draft all your employment documents to save you valuable time and stress.What sorts of documents can you draft?
Just about anything and everything you might need during the employment relationship. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means we can support you with a full spectrum of advice and documentation, from first written warnings to new contractual clauses, to a policy you might not have in your handbook, plus more complex legal documents like settlement agreements and redundancy outcome letters.
I’ve got a HR team and just want templates we can use. Do you have a resources bank?
Yes, our fixed-fee Employment Law and HR support includes full access to our Knowledge Hub, available through MyEW, which contains most of the templates we work from. If you have an internal HR team, you may prefer to access these and tailor them yourselves. However, for more complex cases, we would always suggest engaging with our legal advisers as it can be all too easy to word something in a way that leaves you exposed.
Find out moreeLearning
Tired of classroom training, or unable to take time out? Raise awareness of best-practice around workplace issues and prevent HR headaches with our flexible, cost-effective eLearning courses.
What types of courses are available?
Our ever-growing library of eLearning courses currently covers over 100 topics, including HR courses such as Equality & Diversity, Sexual Harassment and Social Media Use; soft skills courses such as Communication, Leadership and Change Management; and compliance courses such GDPR, Anti-Money Laundering and the Bribery Act. We also offer an extensive range of Health & Safety courses, including Accident Reporting, Risk Assessment and First Aid. Download the full course catalogue.
How much do the courses cost?
All of our eLearning courses are free for the first year when you purchase our Employment Law & HR or Health & Safety managed service. This means you’re not paying per head or per course, which not only keeps down but gives you complete cost certainty over your training expenses. This is particularly handy if your workforce is growing, as you won’t need to purchase extra licenses, giving you exceptional value for money.
Legal Expenses Insurance
An optional component of our Employment Law and HR support, by underpinning our advice with Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI), you have maximum reassurance that your business is protected against unfair dismissal and other costly employee claims.
I’ve never had a claim before – why would I need to take LEI?
For the same reason you take out any insurance policy – to guard against the high cost of defending an Employment Tribunal claim. The premium cost is very low compared to the potential payout, especially as it covers the cost of representation as well as any potential compensation. You don’t have to have LEI, but it could significantly impact your bottom line if something goes wrong, given that the cost of even the most basic unfair dismissal claim could be £20-25,000 when legal costs are factored in. Unfortunately, the latest Tribunal statistics suggest that employers now are more vulnerable than ever.
Can you deal with Employment Tribunal claims, or is this triaged outside of EW?
Should you receive a claim, your dedicated Employment Law adviser, who will have dealt with the matter up until that point, will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team. They will explain the case history, share all the relevant documentation and offer their views on the prospects of the claim. Our Litigation Team will then take over all the prep work, including drafting a defence, producing bundles, dealing with Acas and the other side, and briefing counsel. Rest assured this is a smooth process, with everything kept inside EW, and you will be in safe hands throughout.
Management Information
Discipline, performance, absenteeism. We’ll show you exactly where your dedicated Employment Law advisers are spending their time so that you can target key problem areas for more productive, high-performing teams. Recommended for large organisations with high case volumes.What detail does the MI provide?
The report will highlight what sorts of issues we are advising on and who/where in your business those questions are coming from. That way, we can easily spot problem areas, bring them to your attention and recommend steps to address the issues.
What sorts of recommendations do you typically provide?
We will provide practical and pragmatic recommendations to address whatever common problems are arising. The exact nature will depend on the sort of issues but could include training of managers in certain areas or the production of additional guidance and documentation to guide them through tricky subjects.
Find out moreMyEW
From document templates to HR Software, MyEW gives you all the tools you need to manage even the trickiest employee issues, improve efficiencies and get the answers you need, fast.
What sorts of issues can I find guides and templates on?
We have hundreds of guidance notes and accompanying templates covering a full spectrum of employment-related issues, including Maternity, Pay, Flexible Working, Holidays, Performance and Redundancy. All of these resources are created by our experts, and if you require further support or have any questions, you can contact your dedicated team of advisers for practical advice and guidance.
What does the HR Software do?
There can be a great deal of administration involved in managing employees, and the burden only increases as your business grows. If filing cabinets of employee information is no longer cutting it, our HR Software will help to automate your processes, save valuable time and manage HR tasks at the touch of a button. Use it to store and organise employee data and essential documents; manage and report on holidays, absence, timesheets and rostering; stay on top of employee reviews; maintain a comprehensive employee directory, and keep a record of training and development.
Why choose us?
Take back control by managing absenteeism in the workplace
At WorkNest, we’re renowned across the UK for tailored support for SMEs and larger organisations with staff absence solutions. Not only is our expertise unmatched, we take the time to know you so we function as a true extension of your team.
- Your own small team of dedicated experts
- Commercial, pragmatic advice tailored to you
- Bespoke contracts, policies and handbooks
- Trusted by over 35,000 organisations
- Recognised as a leading firm by the Legal 500
Who you’ll be working with
Angela Carter
Director of Legal Services
Toyah Marshall
Head of Team
Toyah Marshall
Principal Employment Law Adviser
Latest news and insights
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The dangers of treating maternity-related sickness absence like other illness
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FAQs
What is employee absence?
It’s when a member of staff doesn’t attend work during their agreed hours. If this is unplanned, such as the employee isn’t on scheduled holiday, the reason may be due to sickness, family emergencies, or truancy. If the staff member doesn’t have permission to be off from work, your business will need a policy and process to document absences and identify any repeat patterns.
What helps in reducing absenteeism?
There are several steps you can take to address this issue, including supporting employee well-being and work-life balance. You may wish to consider:
- Flexible working policies (remote work, work from home etc.) to support employees’ personal life needs
- Running an Employee Assistance Programme for support
- Recording absences to identify any problem areas
- Foster a positive company culture
- Establish a clear attendance policy
- Offer staff mental health days off for emergencies
Is monitoring sickness absence possible?
Yes. Documenting sick days with a detailed process and company policies is the first step. You can also conduct return to work interviews to ask why the individual was off, consider any adjustments to prevent future absence, and spot patterns in behaviour. It may help to use HR software to log and monitor absences and run MI reports.
Can you provide MI?
Yes. For organisations with larger case volumes that want to get to the bottom of their sickness absence issues, we can produce MI reports to uncover absence hotspots, then work with you consider root causes and agree a plan of action.
Can you help us to produce the documentation we need?
Yes. If you’re time-poor, or perhaps feel out of your depth producing more complicated documentation, our fixed-fee Employment Law and HR support includes bespoke document drafting from your employment documents, from correspondence with employees to letters to medical practitioners.
Is sickness an unauthorised absence?
Unauthorised absences are absences that employees do not have a contractual right or the employer’s permission to take. While staff should stay at home if they are sick, it is reasonable to expect employees to notify their employer at their earliest convenience if they will not be able to attend work. This will typically be laid out within the employer’s sickness absence policy.
In this way, while an employee is within their rights not to work when they are ill, if they fail to inform their employer in the way outlined in the policy, this may qualify as an unauthorised absence and may lead to disciplinary action.
Can employers ask about sickness absence?
As a general principle, it is not permissible for an employer to ask a job applicant any questions about their health or disability until they have been offered a job. It is also not advisable to ask someone how many sick days they took in their last role. In very specific circumstances, you can ask before offer stage.
However, it is permissible and advisable to hold return to work meetings with employees after they return from sickness absence for the reasons highlighted above. Whilst there is nothing to force an employee to give detailed reasons as to why they were off, it is in the best interests of both parties that there is a degree of honesty. If the employee has an underlying condition affecting absence, it is advisable to tell their employer about it. That will allow them to make any reasonable adjustments to accommodate it.
How should I address absenteeism with an employee?
You should always hold a return to work meeting after every instance of absence. This is best practice as it will enable you to understand the reason for the absence, address any health concerns and look at ways to accommodate any underlying illness. Holding a return to work meeting can also discourage future absences. You should ensure that you follow any absence procedure as set out in your Employee Handbook. That will usually explain what steps to take once a certain number of absences are reached.
What should I include in a letter inviting an employee to a meeting to discuss absenteeism?
The letter should contain all the information you wish to rely on during the hearing, so perhaps a copy of the employee’s attendance record, copy of doctors’ notes and/or other medical evidence, and copies of the minutes from return to work meetings. The letter should also state the possible outcome of the meeting, for example a first written warning for poor attendance.
What is the process of a disciplinary for sickness?
Technically, employees with poor attendance records would not be disciplined. They would be subject to a formal absence management process with meetings convened as and when trigger points are hit. Please note that it will never be fair to dismiss someone with over two years’ service for persistent poor attendance without going through the full range of warnings first.
Any warning should be issued following a fair procedure and should be accompanied by a timescale and suggestions for improvement, together with details of the action the employer will take if there is no improvement within the specified timescale.
