Employee absenteeism is a problem for any manager. When you have a big project deadline coming up, the last thing you want is a sick call from key employees. In extreme cases, this can lead to missed deadlines and a bad reputation. Even if things don’t go that far, you may find that you have to stay late to make up for the work they miss. If you try to pass their tasks onto someone else, you could even end up with an unhappy workforce and more potential sickness later.
It’s enough to give a headache, and it’s not the way you want things to be. That’s why many managers force employees to come into work no matter how bad they feel. But, this is a flawed plan. For one, it lets sickness into your workplace which could lose you even more team members. It also means that the employee won’t have time to recover. As such, they may end up taking more time off as a result.
So, we’re agreed that staff need time off when they aren’t feeling their best. But, that doesn’t solve the issue of the work they leave incomplete by doing so. Instead of forcing sick employees to work, then, you may face the question of how you can stop sickness altogether.
Of course, you’re no divine being. Irrelevant of how much you wish it, there’s no way to stop employees from ever getting sick. But, you might be surprised to hear that there are steps you can take to reduce the frequency and length of absences. We’re going to take a look at them here.
Offer paid annual leave
There are no laws which state that you have to offer payment for annual employee leave. A little research, though, will reveal that more employers are now deciding to do so. And, you could benefit from doing the same. It may seem backward to offer leave when you’re trying to reduce absenteeism, but this may be worth your while. Bear in mind that burnout can often be behind illness. If employees have no choice but to work through the year without breaks, they’ll soon start to suffer. And, the more pressure that they put their bodies under, the more risk there is that they’ll fall foul to passing illnesses. In extreme cases, they could find themselves catching one thing after another because they’ve pushed their body so far to its limits. By offering paid annual leave, you ensure that they take necessary breaks to recharge their batteries. This, in turn, could see you cutting back on sick calls in a significant way. Remember, too, that annual leave is nothing like absenteeism due to illness. When you know an employee will be off, you can reallocate their work ahead of time and account for their not being around. When they call in sick, though, that won’t be an option. If you don’t already, then, it’s well worth your while to set aside some of your budgets for this cause each year.
Don’t expect unrealistic working hours
Along the same vein, you should also be reasonable with the number of hours you expect employees to work. Even if they have weeks off through the year, burnout and sickness could still come hand in hand if you work employees to the bone. There’s no reasonable way that you can expect them to sit in the office from dawn until dusk. Many managers would argue that anything over nine hours is too much. You may even find that expecting more than this leads to a dip in quality of work. Inevitably, it could also lead to an increased rate of absence due to sickness. Bear in mind that, even if you let employees leave the office at five, it won’t do any good to email them through the night. Instead, they need their evenings and weekends to relax and unwind. This opportunity is invaluable for both mental and physical health, and the results will be plain to see. To ensure no employees slip into working through the evening, set up out of hours email responses. Be strict with those who enter your work system from home. It may seem backward to encourage people against extra work, but it’s a sure way to keep them with you when you need them the most.
Provide sick pay
You’re trying to reduce absenteeism, so why would you offer paid sick leave? It’s a good question, with an equally good answer. As we mentioned at the start of this post, forcing sick colleagues to work can result in a more prolonged absence. That’s because something as small as a cold can escalate into severe issues like pneumonia without rest. In that regard, then, the last thing you want is for employees to keep coming to work when they’re not well. Providing a monetary incentive to take time off when needed could actually reduce your absenteeism. If you’ve always taken a hard line with sickness pay, then, it may be time you loosened that stance. This is especially worth doing if you notice that employees take a week or more off for illness at a time. By offering sick pay, you’ll notice they take no more than two or three days to recover from passing bugs. That, in turn, can work wonders for keeping everything afloat in your office.
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Make sure employees get the care they need
It’s also worth ensuring that your employees get the care that they need when they need it. We’re all guilty of ignoring small health issues when they aren’t causing us problems. But, things like this rarely go away. The more time which passes before an employee seeks treatment, the more time they’re likely to need off work. This applies to both mental and physical issues. Depression and anxiety, for instance, can soon start to spiral if left unchecked. For your part, then, it’s well worth ensuring that every employee seeks care straight away. How you do this is down to you. The first thing to note is that avoidance here is often because doctors are open between 9-5. Which, funnily enough, is typical office hours. As such, staff may not feel like they’re able to book appointments. If that’s the case, make sure that they know you’re flexible about things like this. By being accepting of appointments, you may only need to put up with losing a team member for an hour on occasion. Given that you stand to lose them for weeks if things go unchecked, that’s a sacrifice worth making. You may even find that it’s worth turning to options like the employee assistance programme offered by Dialogue. This is an in-house care service for employees. With this in place, you ensure team members get the care they need without even having to leave the building. The easy access of a system like this also ensures no one puts off making that appointment. That, in turn, could see them hardly ever needing to phone in sick.
Keep your eyes open
As a manager, it’s also essential that you realize your responsibilities for employee safety. Often when we speak about this, we think of things like safety in the workplace. But, it’s also your responsibility to recognize when your employees aren’t well. If a member of your team is suffering from a mental standpoint, for example, you should spot that and offer working solutions which can help them without harming you. Switching them to half days or letting them work remotely could be the thing to prevent them going absent altogether. You should also recognize health issues, and address them as they occur. You could even encourage employees to seek help, or make it clear that they can fit their work around their health needs. As easy as that, you reduce their chances of needing to take time off. Bear in mind, too, that even if they do need a few days, it’s worth giving them that much. Remember that forcing themselves to work through their health wobbles can lead to longer time off later. If an employee asks for two or three days, then, you could benefit from agreeing. Making an effort like this can also reduce sickness in the future. That’s because employees will begin to see you as a reasonable and fair employer. They’ll know that you’re willing to work with them about issues, and will thus come to you instead of suffering in silence. All because you kept your eyes open.
Despite your best efforts, there will be times when you get those dreaded sick calls. There’s no getting past that as a manager. But, if you put the above methods in place, you can at least reduce the risk of that happening. Get this right, and you could even half your absenteeism rate within as little as a year. With a bit of luck, you may also find that your employees are much happier as a result of your efforts here.
