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How to manage sickness absence fairly and with confidence
When should you intervene in repeated sickness absence? How can you support an employee with a long-term health condition while managing the impact on your business? And when might further action be appropriate?
Sickness absence can put pressure on your team, disrupt operations and take up significant management time. Knowing how to respond helps you support employees, address concerns early and make fair, informed decisions.
Join our practical webinar to understand your responsibilities, recognise common pitfalls and take a more consistent approach to short-term and long-term absence.
What we’ll cover
We'll take you through the key considerations for managing sickness absence effectively, from the first day of absence through to more complex long-term cases.
The impact of sickness absence: Where employers commonly struggle and how delays or inconsistent decisions can increase costs, disruption and legal risk.
Your legal responsibilities: The essentials of Statutory Sick Pay, fit notes and absence records, alongside relevant Employment Rights Act changes and what they mean for employers.
Managing repeated short-term absence: Using return-to-work interviews and absence triggers to identify patterns, start constructive conversations and decide when action is needed.
Long-term absence and individual circumstances: Maintaining contact, seeking occupational health input and understanding how disability, reasonable adjustments and pregnancy-related absence affect your approach.
Making fair decisions: Practical scenarios exploring how to balance employee support with business needs, including when capability dismissal may be appropriate.
Who should attend?
This webinar is ideal for:
Business owners looking to reduce employment law risks.
Directors and senior managers responsible for people management.
HR and People professionals.
Payroll professionals involved in SSP administration.
Anyone responsible for employment law compliance or workplace policies.
Why does managing sickness absence properly matter?
Poorly managed absence can lead to increased costs, operational disruption, pressure on colleagues and potential legal claims.
Employers need to balance business needs with their responsibilities towards employees, particularly where absence is frequent, prolonged or linked to disability or pregnancy.
A clear, consistent approach helps employers identify patterns early, support employees, meet legal obligations and make fair, informed decisions.
Effective absence management protects both the business and its people.
What you'll take away
You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of:
When to intervene and how to approach absence conversations.
How to apply your procedures consistently while considering individual circumstances.
When medical evidence, reasonable adjustments or specialist advice may be needed.
What to consider before progressing to formal action or dismissal.
Join us to discover what good sickness absence management looks like, where employers commonly get caught out and how to manage absence with confidence.
New employment rules mean new decisions for your business. WorkNest brings together expert Employment Law advice, practical HR support and manager training to help you prepare for change and keep day-to-day people issues under control.
We can help you:
Know where you stand with expert advice on how the reforms affect your business and what to prioritise.
Get your policies and contracts ready with practical support to review and update your employment documents.
Strengthen probation and performance management with clear processes that help managers address concerns early.
Build managers’ confidence through training that helps them make fair, consistent employment decisions.
Handle complex situations with commercially focused advice tailored to your organisation and the outcome you need.
Having attended a few WorkNest webinars, I am always impressed with the no-nonsense, well-balanced guidance they provide. Their advice gives me confidence to deal with situations that may arise in an appropriate way and the fact that they follow up with answers to all the questions posed during the webinar is an added bonus.
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Having attended a few WorkNest webinars, I am always impressed with the no-nonsense, well-balanced guidance they provide. Their advice gives me confidence to deal with situations that may arise in an appropriate way and the fact that they follow up with answers to all the questions posed during the webinar is an added bonus.
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