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Managing employees’ attendance at work is one of the most complex challenges facing employers. Many employers feel there is little they can do to improve the attendance of their employees – they feel helpless in the face of the Disability Discrimination Act, Health and Safety legislation and such. In fact, there is much that an employer can do to improve employee attendance. |
Step one – understanding poor attendance
This may seem like an obvious point but many small to medium employers have no systems (or inadequate systems) for recording poor attendance.
At the absolute minimum, you must record:
- The dates of any absences;
- What day/s of the week the absence is;
- Whether the absence is next to a holiday, a bank holiday or a weekend; and
- The reason for the absence.
You should also keep doctor’s sick notes for a reasonable period, say, a couple of years.
Without this data, absences are almost impossible to manage.
It is important to capture the dates that someone is off, and the number of times that they are off in the year. It is also important to capture the reason – for example, back pain, vomiting etc.
This data can then be viewed collectively, for instance per department or geographical location, or per job, to see if there are any endemic problems in a particular department, place or role.
Where attendance levels are historically poor, it is common for them to become even worse over time. When you look at the data collectively, you are likely to see radical differences in the figures from place to place. If this is the case, you have a clear idea where to focus your efforts.
You can of course use online tools like www.myhrtoolkit.com to record the absence data.
The Bradford Score
One simple way of analyzing absence data is by using what is know as the Bradford score – all it requires of you is some basic maths – and it is a simple way of recognising that an employee who has had one incident of 5 days illness is a better attendee than an employee who has had 5 incidents of absence lasting one day each.
The calculation works as follows:
- Where
- X = the total number of days absence
Y = the number of incidents of sickness - The Bradford Score = Y x Y x X
- So in the example given above, the first employee scores 5
- 1 incident x 1 incident x 5 (total days off).
- The other employee scores 125
- 5 incidents x 5 incidents x 5 days off in total = 125
So, at the most simple level, employees with the higher score are the poorer attendees. Obviously, this is a rough guide and you should discuss individual circumstances with your HR or legal advisor.
Patterns of absence
Poor attendees sometimes “give themselves away” by allowing patterns to build up in their non-attendance. For instance, some employees might regularly take Mondays off, or they may take one extra day at the beginning or end of every holiday, or they may take a day before or after a bank holiday.
Step two – get the absence rules in order
You must make sure that the employees understand what is expected from them.
If you have an endemic absence problem you may need to “relaunch” your rules in relation to absence. You should have the following documents, up to date and properly considered:
1. Company handbook including:
Absence rules – i.e. when and who to inform in the event of a sickness absence;
Sick pay – SSP and contractual sick pay rules clearly identified;
Equal opportunities policy and statement; and
The rules as to when poor attendance becomes a disciplinary issue.
2. Contract of employment including:
Termination provisions for long term ill health;
A requirement on the employee to undertake a medical examination as and when required; and
Data protection authority to “process” sensitive personal data.
3. Medical questionnaire for new employees (please take advice on this).
Step Three – consider carrots!
We will look at the “stick” below, but it is a good idea to consider “carrots” to reward employees with good attendance. For instance, a small bonus, a raffle, or a small prize for 100% attendees can be a really good incentive.
Don’t forget to consider disability discrimination
Disability discrimination is a complex area of law. The definition of who has a “disability” is very wide. If an employee does have a disability it can be unlawful discrimination to count any disability related absences against them – for instance in the calculation of any bonus as suggested above. This is a complex area of law which requires expert advice.
Step Four – speak to those with poor attendance
If you have employees with poor attendance you need to meet with them to discuss this. You can find out the reasons for any absences, consider if their condition is made worse by work in any way, or if they need any help or support. At the same time, you must emphasise that there are rules relating to absence and continued poor absence cannot be tolerated.
Don’t forget to consider the implications of disability discrimination!
Step Four – when all else has failed use the stick!
When all else has failed you may need to consider using the disciplinary procedure.
If you need help with any of the above, or you face challenges with employee attendance, please call us and we can help you implement a program to improve attendance levels. Whether you have a company wide problem, or difficulty with just one employee, we can provide specialist guidance and support.
Please call Jon Curtis on 0114 272 1903, or email on jon.curtis@ironmongercurtis.com for further information.
