Sickness Absence 101 | a practical guide for employers
Learn how to manage sickness absence confidently and lawfully
Sickness absence is one of the most common – and often most frustrating – issues small businesses face.
When it isn’t handled well, it can quickly become time-consuming, disruptive, and costly. On top of that, poor management of absence can expose your business to legal and financial risk, especially where disability or long-term health conditions are involved.
Join WorkNest’s Employment Law and HR experts for this free, 60-minute webinar as they explain why effective sickness absence management matters, what the law requires, and the practical steps you can take to manage absence in a fair, structured way.
13 January, 2.00 pm - 3.00 pm
What we'll cover
Unexpected absence can slow down work, stretch your team, and create real operational challenges. When it isn’t addressed consistently, it can lead to rising costs, low morale, and uncertainty about the best next steps.
Many employers are unsure how to approach conversations, what they can ask for, or where the legal boundaries sit. However, poor handling of sickness absence can lead to grievances, discrimination allegations, and even unfair dismissal claims.
This session will help you understand your responsibilities, manage absences in a structured and supportive way, and avoid the pitfalls that catch many employers out.
You'll get clear guidance on:
- Why managing sickness absence properly matters
- Your legal duties, including statutory sick pay, fit notes and record-keeping
- How to manage short-term absence
- What good management of long-term absence looks like
- Practical steps you can take to reduce absence across your business
- Common scenarios and what a fair, lawful process looks like in practice
Don’t miss out – your people challenges won’t fix themselves.
Let WorkNest show you the faster, safer, smarter way to manage people.
Who should attend?
- SME owners and directors
- Operations leaders
- Anyone tired of HR distracting them from running their business
Why this matters to your business
Because every hour spent dealing with HR issues is an hour not spent on sales, service, innovation, or strategy.
WorkNest helps SMEs:
- Stay compliant without worry
- Build confident, capable managers
- Improve retention and reduce hiring costs
- Create a motivated, productive workforce
- Replace admin chaos with simple, efficient systems
We take the HR strain so you can focus on scaling your business, not firefighting people problems.
Have a question?
If you have a specific query in mind, please submit it when you register – our experts will aim to address as many as possible at the end of the session.
Register for our free session
Online course: Managing Sickness Absence
11 February - 9.30 am - 1.00 pm
Join our open course for more in-depth guidance on this essential HR topic.
Employee absence is the biggest non-recoverable cost to your organisation, making absence management an essential skill for managers. Whether dealing with short intermittent absence or long-term incapacity, this course will help you to address issues effectively and strike the right balance between the needs of the organisation and your duty of care to employees.
Webinar review
“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.”
Mary Greig, Scaled Solutions
Better with WorkNest
Protecting organisations and achieving results
Owing to our unrivalled support and expertise, we’re consistently high achievers when it comes to protecting organisations and achieving results.
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More employment lawyers
Across our non-SRA and SRA entities, we have over three times as many qualified employment lawyers than any of our larger competitors, guaranteeing the best possible advice.
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Reduced claims risk
Our Employment Law clients are nearly four times less likely to face a Tribunal claim compared to the national average, and almost twice as likely to successfully defend one.
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Qualified consultants
All of our Health & Safety specialists are IOSH qualified (or equivalent), mainly Chartered or Graduate, ensuring they possess the skills and expertise to support you effectively.
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Years of experience
Together, our experts have over 1,500 years’ collective experience of supporting organisations with their compliance, so you can be sure you’re in safe hands.
Who we work with
Proud to support over 40,000 UK employers
Our clients range from small businesses with fewer than 50 staff at a single location, through to large household names employing thousands of people at multiple sites across the UK. Whatever your size or sector, we have solutions to suit your needs.
