How can managers deal with staff sickness?
It is hard for managers to juggle the rota at the best of times and with staff absence on top this becomes a nightmare. Some settings have no other choice but to hire agency staff and this can be costly to the business.
Following Polices and Procedures
When dealing with staff sickness it is important to stay professional and not make judgements. Settings should have a strict staff sickness policy and procedure and all team members should be made aware of this. It should include how and who staff should report their sickness to and the time frame in which they should notify management of their sickness. If staff members fail to follow this then they should be spoken to and reminded of the procedure.
Dealing with staff absences can sometimes take up some of the manager’s valuable time. For employees that are off sick frequently this can be the most type of absence that can impact a business. It leaves managers not knowing when they’ll be off and if they need to find cover or not, whereas long-term sick can be covered more easily.
To help deal with staff sickness, managers need to work closely with those that are frequently off sick and find out whether there is a trigger. Understanding why people are off sick can sometimes help reduce the amount of staff calling in sick.
Completing return to work forms
It is important that once staff return to work a back to work interview is carried out with the employee and manager. This is to determine whether the employee is fit to return to work and a time for the employee to talk further about their absence. These meetings will also identify if there are any further issues that the employee may require further support with.
It is manager’s responsibility to keep on top of sickness. It is best practice to document any information relating to an employee’s sickness and keep this in the employee’s personal file. If there is the case for a formal disciplinary all information will need to be gathered and possibly used as evidence.
However, you manage your staff sickness make sure it is carried out effectively and that all information is documented.