Employment Law

Is Andy always off sick on a Monday?

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Often a tricky problem for employers to deal with. Is the employee genuinely sick, or are they taking a three day weekend after a heavy Saturday night? There are a couple of general measures an employer can take in this type of scenario, one of which is to carry out return to work interviews on all occasions for absence. Statistics show that the proper implementation of return to work interviews bring down the frequency of sickness absence; why? Because no-one wants to sit across the table from their line manager, look them in their eyes and lie about the reason they were off. Another measure you can take is to introduce a scoring system like the ‘Bradford Factor’. This attributes a score for periods of absence which, over a period of time, is added up and benchmarked against appropriate levels. The system is designed so that those who are having Friday’s and Monday’s off will end up with a high score, bringing their absence levels to management’s attention. Proper monitoring and benchmarking is key.
For more guidance, tips and advice on sickness absence management, including how to safely dismiss employees who are abusing your sickness absence procedures, use our Live Chat and we’ll be back in touch to see how we can support you.

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