The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) has reported that UK workers are taking more sick days than at any time in the last decade. Staff have been taking an average of 7.8 days of sick leave in the past year, an increase from the average of 5.8 days per year before the coronavirus pandemic. The CIPD reports that reasons for the rise in sickness absence include COVID-19 illness, stress and anxiety about the cost of living crisis, and changes in working practices since the pandemic.
This blog discusses how to manage and prevent sickness absence, including what to do if a member of staff is taking sick leave frequently, and how to foster a healthy workplace to minimise sickness absences.
What can I do if a member of staff is taking sick leave frequently?
Frequent short-term sickness absence can be a problem, especially if you have a small workforce. Even if the sickness is genuine, there can come a point at which you can say that enough is enough and take steps to dismiss the member of staff, if the absences have become commercially damaging for your business.
However, there are often things you can do to improve the situation and, in any event, it is important that you can show that you did what you could to resolve the issue before taking drastic action. This is particularly important if you are dealing with an employee who has been continuously employed for two years or more, as failure to follow a fair process before dismissing them could result in a claim for unfair dismissal.
Note that you need to have a separate and careful process for dealing with staff who are pregnant (see Pregnant staff) or have a disability (see our Q&A and List of common disabilities for a list of common disabilities).
Appropriate steps to take are as follows:
1. Monitor the absences
You should monitor and keep a record of the amount and timing of sick leave taken by each staff member to keep track of how much is being taken and when.
It can help to have a sickness absence policy that specifies that a meeting will take place after a certain number or level of absences, in order to ensure consistency and to avoid a member of staff feeling that they have been singled out; see HR policies for further information about setting such a policy and Staff handbook and policies for a template you can use.
Note that all records you keep must be stored in accordance with your data protection obligations. Records relating to a staff member’s health are sensitive personal data and have special requirements. For further information about this, see Records and staff data.
2. Discuss the issue with the staff member and consider solutions
If you notice that a staff member is taking frequent sick leave, you should arrange a private meeting with them to discuss the matter.
3. Consider disciplinary action
You are entitled to take into account the impact of a staff member’s frequent absences on the rest of your staff and on your business as a whole. Even where the absences are a result of genuine ill health, if (despite taking the steps set out above) the absences continue and are disruptive you are likely to be justified in treating them as a disciplinary matter and potentially as a sufficient reason to dismiss the staff member.
In this case you should notify the staff member in writing and arrange a formal disciplinary meeting (see Invitation to attend meeting to discuss sickness absence for a template letter you can use). For a template disciplinary procedure, see Staff handbook and policies.
How should I conduct a meeting with a staff member about their frequent sickness absence?
At the meeting you should explain your concerns, using the staff member’s attendance record as evidence in support.
You should seek to establish whether there are any underlying issues that might explain the absences, including long-term health issues or a disability, difficulties at home or problems at work. If there is a potential underlying medical condition, consider asking your staff member to see their doctor or an occupational health service.
You should explore with the staff member whether there are any steps that can be taken to improve the situation, such as allowing them flexibility in their working hours to attend medical appointments. If there is a problem at work (eg stress, difficult working environment, poor management) consider making appropriate adjustments to remedy the issue, such as a change of team or line manager. See Sickness absence meeting – outcome letter for a letter you can send after the meeting to confirm any points discussed.
Note that if the staff member’s absence is as a result of an underlying disability, you must consider making adjustments to enable them to continue working.
What can I do to foster a healthy workplace and prevent sickness absence?
To prevent sickness absences happening in the first place, consider the following:
- Actively manage the workplace to ensure it is safe, secure and healthy. For further information about health and safety requirements, see Providing a safe and healthy workplace.
- Where feasible and financially viable, consider offering health-related benefits to your staff such as private medical insurance, on-site exercise facilities or subsidised gym membership.
- Where possible, take a flexible approach to staff working arrangements, including formal requests for flexible working (which all eligible employees have a right to request), as well as ad-hoc requests such as requests to work from home, provided that your business can accommodate this. For further information regarding flexible working, see Flexible working requests.
- Monitor sickness absence by keeping absence records for staff members. This will allow you to see how many working days are being lost, whether there are any absence patterns, and whether there is an underlying cause for any absences. See Records and staff data for information about your data protection obligations when keeping staff records.
The content in this article is up to date at the date of publishing. The information provided is intended only for information purposes, and is not for the purpose of providing legal advice. Sparqa Legal’s Terms of Use apply.
Marion joined Sparqa Legal as a Senior Legal Editor in 2018. She previously worked as a corporate/commercial lawyer for five years at one of New Zealand’s leading law firms, Kensington Swan (now Dentons Kensington Swan), and as an in-house legal consultant for a UK tech company. Marion regularly writes for Sparqa’s blog, contributing across its commercial, IP and health and safety law content.