This article was originally published by Staff Absence Management, and can be found here.
Here are some helpful hints and tips to assist with navigating staff absence within your school.
Best practice
- Apply procedures fairly and consistently
- Communicate the school’s absence policy and procedures at induction and regularly throughout the course of employment
- Set a good example to staff
- Allow reasonable time off to attend medical appointments
- Show compassion
- Closely monitor absence to identify trends/patterns – SAM’s reporting suite provides comparisons by year, term, department and line manager.
- Tackle absence problems and act as soon as possible – SAM’s task list will help, it prompts you when actions are due
- Hold return to work interviews following every period of absence – There’s a new section in SAM that highlights who is returning to work and when
- Set absence monitoring rounds with timescales for improvement – Again SAM can help you manage monitoring rounds
- Record details of all absence-related discussions with employees and, where appropriate, confirm outcomes in writing to the individual
- Challenge current policies and procedures, working practices and working conditions as a means to improve absenteeism
Try to avoid
- Jumping to conclusions
- Making rash decisions
- Ignoring sickness absence or persistent lateness
- Putting off contacting an employee unless there is reason to do so
- Treating individuals differently
- Trying to trap the employee or make accusations
- Discriminating on the grounds of a protected characteristic (eg. race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity)
- Taking formal action without seeking HR advice