Managing Absence

1
Explanatory notes. Absence causes lost work,
extra overtime, increased rejects, customer
annoyance and missed deadlines. In addition staff
with low absenteeism are demoralised by those who
take excessive time off. Well, you can make a
real impact using a zero tolerance policy backed
by good procedures, including accurate record
keeping. Central to the process is an effective
Back to Work Interview. Applied to everyone
returning to work after absence, this is a
sensitive, non-threatening and reflective meeting
with the manager. It always assumes absence is
genuine, seeking instead to identify the causes
and agree solutions to ensure that it is not
repeated. The aim is to find underlying causes
of absenteeism that are not always revealed by
traditional methods. These include low morale,
stress, bullying, poor leadership, personal
problems, alcohol abuse and, especially relevant
these days, personal value systems. Thus all
absentees expect to face a probing yet
reasonable, face-to face interview immediately
upon their first morning back. They will be
expected to justify their absence, identify
causes and formulate an action plan to avoid a
recurrence. The impact is significant with
examples of company-wide reductions in
absenteeism in excess of 50 being reported.
This presentation should help you to encourage
your managers to deliver such a process. The
workshop includes only one role play, but a
second has been provided so that extra practice
can be allowed for. The role play scenarios are
designed to be cut in half so that each person
only sees one part in preparation.
2
Absence Management
3
Introduction

• Housekeeping
• Introductions
• Timings
• Objectives
• Questions

4
Objectives

• Review reasons for absenteeism
• Look at existing policy / procedures
• Absence Management Interviews

5
Why manage absence?

• Cost (11 billion per annum in UK)
• Customer Service
• Fairness to all
• Best practice

6
Case study

• Major UK employer
• 2000 people
• Mixed workforce
• Many part-timers
• Absence halved (8 reduced to 4)

7
Reasons for absence

• I thought it was SundayI had to sort my
  socksThe wind was blowing against meThe cat
  was having kittens
• Exercise 2 lists
• Causes of absenteeism
• Work and non-work related

8
Possible causes - work

• Low morale / job dissatisfaction / boredom
• Stress
• Poor working environment
• Ratio of staff to workload
• Lack of team cohesion
• Poor leadership
• Lack of training

9
Possible causes non work

• Sickness
• Inadequate nutrition
• Poor physical fitness
• Personal value systems / self-motivation
• Monday / Friday syndrome
• Personal problems
• Substance / alcohol abuse

10
Best practice policy

• Clear approach
• Trained managers / supervisors
• Trained staff at Induction
• Sympathetic Absence Management Interviews (AMIs)
• Shared responsibility Personnel line managers

11
Sound process

• Good systems of recording
• Absence always taken as genuine
• Zero Tolerance for abusers
• True costs of absenteeism known

12
Sound process

• Return to work interview in every case
• Sensitive, face to face AMI
• Appraisals?
• Eternal vigilance!

13
What happens here now?

• Who should people ring?
• Who records, keeps statistics?
• When does disciplinary start?
• Is there a policy
• Is it fully applied?
• Consistently?

14
Policy and responsibilities

• What is / should be included
• To reduce impact of sickness
• Organisational responsibilities - time off for
  sickness- pay when sick- consistent, fair,
  reasonable, sensitive- supporting managers

15
Managers responsibilities

• Recording
• Monitoring
• Managing
• Implementing guidance effectively
• Ensure your team are properly trained in absence
  procedure
• Induction is the place for this reinforce at
  team meetings

16
Staff responsibilities

• Regular attendance
• Reporting sick as per procedure
• Ensuring a speedy return to work
• Not attending when certified sick
• Informing manager of any health issue impacting
  upon performance

17
Why use the AMI process?

• Counselling approach most effective
• Sensitive, non-threatening
• Preventative
• No negative impact
• Works only if manager is involved

18
WRRAF

• W welcoming
• R reflective listening / body language
• R - reframing
• A action planning
• F follow-up

19
Welcoming

• Establish trust
• Express positive regard
• Show compassion / empathy
• Non-threatening, non-critical
• All absence is genuine

20
Reflective listening

• Listen well
• Reflect on each statement made
• Think what you have heard
• Power of silence
• Probe / clarify / reflect back
• No solutions at this stage
• Mirror body language

21
Reframing

• Separate symptoms / causes / solutions
• Put into another context
• Their proposals NOT yours
• Their ownership AND yours
• Only subtle suggestions from interviewer
• Proposals should be specific actions

22
Action planning

• Agree action(s)
• Specific
• Measurable
• Realistic

23
Follow-up

• Summarise Actions to be taken
• Clarity re consequences
• Put agreed actions in writing
• Ensures taken seriously
• Agree a date to meet again

24
AMI agenda

• Know their history
• Welcome them
• State purpose
• Ask if fit to return
• Interview using WRRAF model

25
AMI agenda

• Explain how they were missed
• Explain how their work was covered
• Discuss reasons for absence
• Identify problems assistance required
• Explain how they stand on procedures
• Complete relevant questionnaire
• If sensitive issues arise refer to Personnel

26
Practice session

• Working in pairs
• Interviewer (manager) and Interviewee
• Read scenario 1
• 20 minutes interview / 10 minute debrief
• Feedback

27
AMI meeting environment

• Private
• Free from interruption
• Allow adequate time
• Non aggressive
• Face to face

28
Next steps?

• What will you take away?
• 5 minutes reflection
• 5 minutes in pairs
• 2 to 3 actions for each
• Feedback discussion

29
Summing up / Questions

• What are key things learned?
• Further needs?
• Any questions?
• Objective achieved?
• Evaluation sheets!
• Close