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 Select a checklist below to assess the level of progress within your organisation.
Your responses link to the Directory of Good Practice to enable you to develop your own action plan. You might wish to consider the approaches taken by other organisations that are illustrated in the sase dtudies.
1. The Board/Scrutiny Committee
2. The Chief Executive
3. Senior Managers
4. Human Resources
5. Occupational Health
6. Line Managers/Team Leaders/Supervisors
Actions should be taken in the context of those above at higher and lower levels.
1. The Board/Scrutiny Committee
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If your answer is 'no' to any of the following questions then refer to the relevant link below, and use the 'back button to return to this page. |
| a |
Can you be confident that the organisation has sustainable and robust processes in place to deliver ongoing management of sickness absence? |
Senior management |
| b |
Do you receive regular reports of data showing absence levels and trends, for the whole organisation and by occupational group, with comparisons against other organisations/groups?
Are targets for improvement defined for the Chief Executive? |
Absence management data |
| c |
Do you know the precise costs of sickness absence, in terms of:
- payment made for no contribution,
- cover through overtime, supply, locum etc,
- management time, and
- impact on core services?
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Costs |
| d |
Do you know the principal causes of sickness absence in the organisation/by occupational group? |
Motivation |
| e |
Are you confident that actions plans are in place to reduce/mitigate those causes? |
Line managers |
| f |
Are you aware of the main areas of risk in relation to absence and cover for absence of key senior staff?
Are there robust mitigation plans in place to address them? |
Risk |
2. The Chief Executive
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If your answer is 'no' to any of the following questions then refer to the relevant link below, and use the 'back button to return to this page. |
| a |
Do you routinely receive data on the levels of sickness absence for the whole organisation, occupational group and by department, identifying trends and with benchmark comparisons?
Are you certain that these figures are comprehensive and accurate? |
Absence Management data
Benchmarking |
| b |
Do you review these data routinely with the directors responsible, and are they included in their personal performance reviews and in the reviews they conduct with their managers, via SMART targets?
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Line managers |
| c |
Is the organisation committed to the Welsh Assembly Government Corporate Health Standard, with an Action Plan to deliver ‘Platinum’ level?
Is the organisation committed to the HSE Standard on workplace Stress? |
Corporate Health Standard |
| d |
Have you launched a Project Plan to ‘design-out’ the causes of sickness absence in the operational unit with the poorest performance? |
Project Plan |
‘Leadership is the key to a healthy workplace. Health promotion initiatives will only be effective under conducive managerial conditions, primarily those that stimulate employee job satisfaction.’
‘Creating a Healthy Workplace’ FPH January 2006 |
3. Senior Managers
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If your answer is 'no' to any of the following questions then refer to the relevant link below, and use the 'back button to return to this page. |
| a |
Do all managers and team leaders demonstrate competence in conducting return-to-work discussions?
Are return-to-work discussions carried out for all absences? |
Line managers |
| b |
Are you confident that all absences reported to the line managers are then recorded in a central system that enables the monitoring of general patterns and individual case histories? |
Absence management data |
| c |
Do you know what are the most common causes of absence amongst the occupations in your sphere of control?
Do you have action plans in place to remove or to mitigate those?
Are health risk factors identified within all role descriptions to enable minimising/mitigating actions to be taken? |
Risk assessment
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| d |
Are case conferences conducted for (i) everyone who has been absent for >10 months, and (ii) everyone with a Bradford Index score above the defined threshold levels?
Are some absent staff helped back to work through reduced intensity rehabilitation periods? |
case conferences
Bradford Index |
| e |
Are all long-term sick staff routinely contacted by their team leader while absent? |
Contact |
| f |
Are individuals with very good attendance records shown appreciation in routine team communication meetings?
Does the organisation run formal systems to involve employees in continuous improvement?
Are attendance/absence matters routinely discussed in regular staff consultation meetings? |
Motivation |
| g |
Are some staff issued with formal warnings associated with poor attendance?
Are some staff dismissed through capability proceedings? |
Disciplinary procedures
Capability |
4. Human Resources
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If your answer is 'no' to any of the following questions then refer to the relevant link below, and use the 'back button to return to this page. |
| a |
Do you work as the ‘business partner’, to inform, enable and support line managers in their management of sickness absence, (i) in relation to overall data trends, and (ii) in the management of casework?
Can you provide data on the levels of absence of
<eight days, >four weeks, >12months?
Do you provide routine information on individual cases expressed in terms of Bradford Index scores and on average Bradford Index scores for work groups/departments/categories? |
Line managers
Bradford Index
Return-to-work |
| b |
Are health risk factors identified within all role descriptions to enable meaningful action to be taken to minimise/mitigate risk?
Do they inform pre-employment health screening of job applicants? |
Risk assessment |
| c |
Are you aware of the most common causes of absence, by department, staff group, and so on and can you suggest actions to reduce them? |
Musclulo-skeletal strain
violence and agression |
| d |
Are you able to provide expert-level information on the most recent cases where public sector organisations have been prosecuted for failures in the duty of care?
Can you relate these to risks within your own organisation? |
Disability |
| e |
Is there a correlation between high absence levels and staff turnover (eg by department / occupational group)?
Can you identify actions that could be taken to improve the situation? |
staff turnover
Motivation |
| f |
Are you familiar with the Work Foundation research which suggests that factors such as individual autonomy, job satisfaction, mutual trust, etc have more influence on the levels of sickness absence than any others? |
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| g |
In relation to your organisation’s policies:
- Have you recently conducted a benchmark review of your provision of sick pay, against other employers in your catchment area in terms of service qualification and
duration of payment periods at full pay and at half pay?
Do you ensure that other ‘time-off’ policies, such as public duties, contain a ‘subject-to’ clause, to ensure minimum levels of attendance?
- Prior to a medical certificate being issued in relation to any absence, is the employee required to ring in on each day of absence?
Are there 100 per cent effective systems in place for the notification of such calls?
- Is there professional occupational health involvement in every absence that involves stress or which continues beyond 12 weeks?
- Does the organisation offer various training options for managers on issues associated with attendance and capability?
- Does the organisation have a formal policy on health-related retirement?
Do you know how many staff remain in your employment, but are ‘dormant’? |
Certification, Model policy, Case conference, Warning letters
ring in
Occupational Health, Stress
Line managers, Capability
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| h |
References:
Do you ask job applicants for their absence record over the last two years and where necessary for their permission to obtain confirmation from their previous employer? Do you then obtain that confirmation before any job offers are made?
Do you routinely include data on the individual’s attendance record in all of your own references, including those for internal promotion? |
References, Medical confidentiality, Integration |
‘Having high levels of job involvement, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and doing meaningful work tasks all show correlations with lower absenteeism. In addition, organisational aspects of work such as low absence culture with strict and salient attendance norms, working in a non-union environment (with less paid sick leave), working on the day shift or in an organisation with flexible scheduling are all associated with lower absenteeism. However, all of these relationships have many qualifiers and caveats. No single approach will work in every situation.’
‘Current Thinking on Managing Attendance’ National Audit Office
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5. Occupational Health
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If your answer is 'no' to any of the following questions then refer to the relevant link below, and use the 'back button to return to this page. |
| a |
Are your actions based on robust data-analysis of the incidence of particular causes of absence and the cost and impact of those on the organisation?
Are you able to prioritise your work in terms of cost benefit/value-for-money?
Is this prioritisation agreed with the organisation, routinely reported on and regularly reviewed? |
Occupational Health
Violence and aggression |
| b |
Do you have an action plan to minimise/mitigate the highest causes of absence in the organisation? |
Autonomy |
| c |
Do you review the health risk factors identified in role descriptions?
Are they taken into account in pre-employment screening of job applicants? |
Risk assessment |
| d |
Are you involved in case conferences to review any case where Stress is identified as a contributory cause and all cases where the absence continues beyond 12 weeks?
Do you advise on cases where the return-to-work can be brought forward through a reduced-intensity rehabilitation period? |
Case Conference |
| e |
Are you familiar with the HSE Standard on the avoidance of workplace stress? |
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/misc714.pdf |
| f |
Do you provide professional input to the development plans associated with the Welsh Assembly Government Corporate Health Standard? |
Corporate Health Standard |
6. Line Managers/Team Leaders/Supervisors
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If your answer is 'no' to any of the following questions then refer to the relevant link below, and use the 'back button to return to this page. |
| a |
Do you have comprehensive and accurate data on the overall levels of absence in your work teams and for each individual?
If this is not available from some central source, do you keep your own records?
Are you able to identify individuals who are persistently absent on Fridays, or during half-term holidays? (or any other similar patterns?) |
Absence data
Consistency
Fridays |
| b |
Do you ensure that you, personally, receive all telephone calls where employees ring-in reporting absence and that you conduct all return-to-work discussions, keeping careful notes of the conversations? |
Ring-in, Return to work |
| c |
Do you regularly visit any of your team members who are off sick longer than four weeks to maintain contact? |
Contact, Rehabilitation |
| d |
When one of your staff is absent, do you take steps to ensure that their work load does not ‘pile up’ awaiting their return, eg by redirecting their e-mail, reassigning case work and so on?
Do you initiate the holding of a case conference in relation to every absence of more than four weeks, and do you discuss possible rehabilitation plans? |
Risk, Case Conference |
| e |
Do you understand the importance of capability in the review of any attendance-management issue?
Are you confident that you could issue a formal warning via the capability procedure if that was appropriate? |
Review |
| f |
Do you routinely offer appreciation to those who have good attendance records? |
Appreciation, Performance Review |
| g |
Do you work with your team members to increase the levels of interest/autonomy in their work, implement the HSE Standard on Stress, and minimise the risk factors inherent in the jobs? Do you know what the most common causes of absence are amongst your work group? |
Motivation, Stress, Risk assessment |
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