Absenteeism In The Workplace And How To Tackle It

We've all done it, not felt particularly well and coughed and spluttered our way down the phone saying we can't come in today. Although usually genuine, absenteeism is an increasing problem in the workplace, causing many days lost of work where staff aren't actually physically ill or really unable to come into work, but they're judging themselves as being not fit enough to come in. Where do you draw the line?

1. Make sure everyone knows the policy

If you make sure that your company's sickness and absence policy is known and adhered to, this reduces the chance that someone calls in sick, then says they "didn't know" the procedure. Usually people can self-diagnose up to a point, but after a certain amount of days, they need a doctor's note or dispensation from another professional saying that they are unfit to work. If someone is not really ill, they cannot get away with this without leaving them open to disciplinary practises. If you have evidence that they not only know the policy but have agreed to adhere to it, you are on safe ground to assert yourself appropriately and give a due warning.

2. What happens if someone is ill and contagious?

Let's say someone has been off with the flu - a genuine concern - and now they feel all right and want to come back in, but they are still coughing and sneezing. It's a fine balance to make the decision between allowing them to return and potentially give the flu to the rest of the healthy staff in the office, or take the risk that they are no longer contagious and to come back in and mingle with their workmates. If you're ever not sure of whether you should allow someone to return to work after an illness, consult your HR department who should have a deeper database of knowledge on such issues.

3. How to deal with someone you know isn't sick

There are a very small number of employees who will, unfortunately, abuse the system. You can usually tell if this is happening - if England are in the World cup final at 3pm on a weekday you're apt to find a lot of people suddenly developing a mystery illness in that time. It depends if you know about it and consider it being "passed over" (after all, you may want the day off, too). Hangovers are a frequent illness culprit and if your staff member almost always calls in sick on a Monday rather than any other day, you should keep an eye on their absence record.

Even worse, if someone has called in sick and you see them out shopping on the high street, what do you do - confront them or go straight to HR? Depending on your relationship with that member of staff, it's your call on how to treat them.

Conclusively, treat most absence as real and genuine but be on the lookout for those how abuse the system, and you won't be the first manager to initiate disciplinary hearings because of those much-maligned occurrences of absenteeism.