Managing sickness absence within a business
Managing sickness absence within a business has always posed a large obstacle for employers. FIS Associate Member Citation has received a surge in sickness absence concerns from employers over the last few weeks, ranging from employees testing positive with COVID-19 and employees being reluctant to return to work due to health concerns surrounding the pandemic, to more typical start-of-the-year sickness absence issues.
With more and more employees experiencing long COVID-19 symptoms, employers are losing increasing amounts due to work long-term sickness and, without the appropriate policies and procedures, this could be a huge loss for employers.
To help FIS members, FIS Associate Member Citation has created two guides on how to manage both long and short-term sickness absences.
Managing long-term sickness absence
From creating a policy and return-to-work processes, to avoiding a discrimination claim, this includes important advice from our experts on how to best manage long-term sickness absence, in a world which is consistently evolving due to COVID-19. Guidance available at https://tinyurl.com/fislongtermsickness2022
Managing short-term sickness absence
The government reports that two-thirds of small businesses (62%) do not have formal sickness absence policies in place. In order to manage this in the best possible way it is important that you, as the employer, consider implementing a fair and clear process to help identify repeat offenders, deter other employees from not turning up to work, and ultimately retain as many employees as possible in the workplace. This guidance covers what processes you should put in place, managing recurring absences and more. Guidance available at https://tinyurl.com/fissickness2022
