All sick leave needs to be monitored, not just long term sick leave.
Employees who take several Fridays and/or Mondays off may be doing so due to stress or other related problems. Long term sick leave can also become involved with the Disability Discrimination Act in certain instances – if, for example, an employee cannot make it to work due to a disabling condition covered by the DDA, you may be obliged to consider (although not necessarily adopt) alternative working arrangements for them.
Needless to say, one of the most important elements of a business’ success is its people: fit and happy employees are more productive. And aside from the commercial benefits, employers have a duty of care to promote the health and wellbeing of their employees. So a good starting point is to consider what you can do to reduce the amount of people becoming ill in the workplace, looking at areas including:
Duty of care
It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that the level of workload is acceptable and that overtime is kept to a minimum - regardless of whether the employee is willing to do excessive overtime
Working environment – is it ‘healthy’? Are adequate lunch and rest breaks encouraged? Are subsidised gym memberships offered? Is private healthcare offered, or medical checks or an employee assistance programme? All of these measures will help to promote a healthy workforce
Policy
Write a comprehensive absence policy for insertion in the staff handbook and communicate it to staff from the start of their employment
Monitor absences
Do you have a clear indication of who is absent, when and for what reason? With this you can take steps to address the frequent absentees
Return to work interviews
These are an excellent way of helping employees who are genuinely ill and deterring those who are not
Discipline
If an employee’s sickness absence levels are so high that it is affecting their own and their colleagues’ work, then you may be able to begin the disciplinary procedure as they are unable or failing to fulfil the proper requirements of their role. Those whose illness is covered under the DDA may be protected.
However, if you can prove that you have made reasonable adjustments and done all you can to allow them to work to an agreed standard, then you may still begin the disciplinary procedure. In such instances, it is suggested that advice is sought on individual cases.