Tags – Reducing Staff Sickness Levels
Unfortunately, every organisation has occasion to struggle with staff sickness levels.
It can be a real disruption in terms of productivity and team morale, and the length of staff absences may also compound the problem.
So, how do you reduce the amount of time taken by staff as sick leave? Here are our five tips to help with this mission.
1. Return to Work Meetings
One way to keep fully informed and aware of the reasons for any staff absences is to arrange a Return to Work meeting after every occasion of sickness absence.
Equally, it will contribute to your staff feeling cared for too.
Although convening a meeting on every occasion can sometimes be difficult to manage logistically, even a ten minute chat over coffee will help keep your staff connected.
As such, it will allow you to pinpoint any issues your employees might have, over and above any medical condition.
2. Keep Records
Where staff absences are concerned, it’s important to keep a clear record of all dates taken.
Whether or not it’s company policy to pay for sick days, keeping track of all time missed due to sickness is crucial.
Therefore, if there are concerns about the number of days an employee has taken, the details will be undisputable. Furthermore, a clear company policy on sickness absence can also prove very helpful.
3. Behaviour Patterns
Keeping track of staff absence will additionally help flag any patterns of behaviour.
For example, there may be a pattern in the days or time of year absence is taken.
Similarly, the reasons given might form some sort of pattern too.
As a manager, it’s important to ensure any sickness issues aren’t arising from professional or personal issues. For instance, regular engagement with staff and review meetings will allow you to get to know your staff better.
Consequently, you might see any sign of concern more readily and equally your employees might feel more at ease confiding in you.
4. Assessments
As the old adage states, ‘prevention is better than cure’.
As such, implementing risk assessments can be a great way to prevent any absences due to stress suffered or back or neck problems, caused by poor posture at a workstation.
Moreover, undertaking the necessary assessments to check for issues which might give rise to sickness is not only savvy, it’s one of a caring employer too.
5. Seek Professional Support
In certain cases, it may be prudent to consider contacting a GP or refer a member of staff to an Occupational Health service.
Whilst it’s easy to feel irritation for those who appear to take too much sickness leave, there’s a significant moral responsibility to take time out to understand and support your employees and their medical conditions.
To learn more, get in touch with us today.
In the meantime, please check our HR Consultancy Birmingham service.
This blog is a lead on from our earlier blog: