Short-term sickness is a challenge that affects many organisations. Latest figures show that the ‘hidden cost’ of employee sickness to businesses has topped £100 billion.

The government’s latest statistics show that 148.9 million working days were lost due to sickness in the UK last year. And while this figure has fallen to pre-pandemic levels, a CIPD study reveals that short-term sickness is a growing issue.

The survey says it’s the biggest reason for unplanned workplace absences.

With such high levels of short-term sickness, managing it is essential for any organisation. Managing short-term sickness isn’t just about covering a shift. It’s about spotting patterns, supporting employees properly and ensuring your business doesn’t suffer from repeated absences.

If sickness policies aren’t clear and consistent, you risk poor attendance, disengagement and frustration from the rest of your team.

There are many ways to manage sickness. But some measures include:

• Clear absence management policies.
• Practical support in place to manage frequent absences without risking discrimination claims
• Expert assessments to understand whether there is an underlying health issue affecting attendance.
• Engaging mediation and workforce investigation professionals for difficult situations, such as fraudulent absences.

How to manage short-term sickness

Long-term sickness – which is anything over a month – can have a real impact on the running of any business. But short-term sickness is often more disruptive and can affect productivity of an organisation.

So, one of the first issues to look at are what creates your short-term sickness issue. According to the CIPD Health and Wellbeing annual report, causes of minor illnesses include mental health issues, stress and medical conditions. One of the biggest causes is in musculoskeletal injuries. 

Some of these issues are fairly simple to address. For example, what mental health support do you have in place? And do employees know about them? Could ergonomic office furniture or redesigning your workplace help?  

Outside the more physical solutions, there are cultural ways to help manage such sickness. One way is to ensure your business has the right culture through implementing clear policies and support.

Short-term sickness absence policies

Clear sickness absence policies should set out how short-term absence will be managed. This includes any expectations of employees by the employer. It usually includes the following:

• Notification requirements. This tells employees what to do when unable to attend work through ill health. Who do they inform? How do they do it? Is there a time you expect them to inform the appropriate person by? What details do they need to share?
• Certification conditions. You must clearly relate to employees what certification they must provide to cover their absence. Self-certification is expected up to seven days. From then, medical certificates are required, often known as ‘fit notes’. These are provided by GPs, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists or physiotherapists.
• Return to work meetings. Many businesses overlook this useful way of managing short-term sickness management. But it is worth understanding why employees are absent. And all it takes is a quick meeting. Finding out whether your team member is OK shows you care, and it makes them feel respected. You can also identify potential issues in the future during a chat. For example, whether there is an underlying health issue that they haven’t spoken about before.

Measuring sickness

Sickness absence policies should outline the trigger points that mean action will be taken for unacceptable levels of absence. These trigger points are usually calculated in different ways. Such tools include:

• Bradford Factor. This is based on the theory that lots of short-term absence has a more negative impact than longer ones. It weights absence when comparing duration and frequency. The BF is calculated by multiplying the number of instances of absence by the total number of days off work. Employers can then determine what is a good or bad BF score.
• Absence instances. Using this measure, the number of instances of absence over a period of time are set out by the employer. For example, a trigger point could be reached if you are absent 3 times in six months. The number of absences and the time that triggers escalation needs to be decided by the employer.

Sickness pay

Your sickness absence policy should also set out what sickness payments employers are entitled to. Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) must be paid in line with qualification periods. But there is no legal requirement to pay employees their usual pay if they are absent through sickness. Any policy should be clearly made along with instances when Company Sick Pay (CSP) might be withheld.

What should I do next?

If you have questions about managing short-term sickness, we can help. Our experienced team has decades of knowledge about dealing with sickness and putting the right policies in place. Just contact us today for details.