Can training for line managers reduce absence among those they manage?
There’s no doubt that absence remains one of the biggest priorities and most difficult problems to overcome for UK organisations. This I believe is not down to a lack of comprehensive workplace sickness policy but perhaps the application and implementation of the policy, by line managers.
CIPD research has consistently highlighted the importance of line managers taking responsibility for managing absence and argues that the formality of conducting a return to work interview will help to drive home the seriousness with which the company views short term absence.
In some sectors sick pay days are considered just another perk of the job that should be taken so they are not wasted. However in most retail businesses, mine included, rights to sick pay is not an entitlement but only made at the managers discretion. So it remains a mystery why a number of employees have to throw a ‘sickie’ as they know they will not get paid. Minor illnesses such as colds and headaches continue to be the biggest cause of short term absence within the business.
As a company that employs a high percentage of young workers such as students on a part-time basis, one can only assume it is a lack of commitment to the job.
Whatever the reason, the realisation has now dawned that all the absence management initiatives in the world won’t be effective until the root cause of the problem is identified and addressed.
One employee recently disciplined for their poor attendance commented “a good line manager makes people want to come to work in the morning�. Perhaps there lies the answer.
Maybe as well as investing in attendance management training for line managers, we also need to coach them on how to motivate, communicate with and engage with their staff. Perhaps then employees will be less likely to wake up and think “I don’t feel like going to work today�. However this is a tall order for an already stretched Human Resources team.
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5 responses so far (Leave your comment)
taylor // May 21, 2007 at 21:28 pm
Carrot or stick ?
Surely sick days are a benefit, and the management of sick days and time management are part of a Manager’s job? I feel a bit disillusioned that the company this person works for only pays sick pay at the manager’s discretion. Wow, that is a lot of power to the manager!. I have a feeling that the employee would feel very much at the manager’s mercy and grateful for being paid whilst off ill. Talk about being transported back to the victorian times.
Just wanted to share my experience from a uk manufacturing company, let’s call the msm. Msm had a problem (the directors’ believed) with attendance management. Staff, genereally were taking time off ill, or if they were working, were not working their contractual hours. This was a big problem. In fact, so big that they decided to spend £20K on a clocking in/clocking out machine (these were generally removed in the UK 20 years ago). More than 6 minutes late 3 days in a month, and a disclipinary letter was on its way.
The effect on staff was interesting in two ways. Firstly, staff worked to the hours they should, and were relectant to put in extra hours, which many had done as a matter of course by coming in early or working through their lunch.
Secondly, it was a lot of effort in trying to beat the system by getting your mates to clock in for you or dip out on personal business whilst the directors were off site.
This was not an environment condusive to productivity or good morale.
Now, I work for a very big foreign company, were the employees are given so much freedom to working hours, that you feel guilty if you have to be off ill. So for Msm, did this work. Of course, the reports show that everybody now works their contractual hours, sickness on the other hand, is still a problem that could not be resolved with the “clocking in machine”. So I agree with the statement in the article that a good line manager makes people come to work in the morning” Let’s not turn the clocks back, but encourage employees to work and allow them to be off ill when thay have to. Cheers
BexML // May 29, 2007 at 9:33 am
Sometime it causes stress for line managers!
Addressing attendance management issues was one of the key challenges for me as a middle manager in a large corporation. My personal experience covered two areas – the dreaded common cold and long term illness due to some sort of trauma (external to work).
At work there was a set procedure to follow for absenteeism and they’d started to introduce target monitoring methods as I was leaving. What’s interesting to me was the pressure then felt by us middle managers to adhere to procedures and ‘hit’ our targets.
I found the procedural stuff quite restrictive. Getting email prompts to conduct the ‘back to work interview’ for the guy who’s been off with a sore throat for two days is annoying! It can end up being a quick shout over the desk divider which makes a mockery of the whole thing! I’ve only ever managed small teams (recognise it will be different for big ones) so you get to know your team members quite well and then much is managed on trust. So my approach was to treat the individuals with discretion whilst maintaining a general feel of respect and fairness. Then unfortunately there comes along that one instance where trust is abused which ends up with me really feeling let down – luckily this doesn’t happen that often.
In terms of targets, in my view, tracking a team’s sick days should not be the only measure. Targets drive behaviours, and I’ve seen managers trying to get people to come back to work too soon. It would be interesting to monitor the impact of this when someone has a cold because it seems that germs spread quickly in these air conned offices causing more absence! Or it results in people being unable mentally to sit at a desk and do their job and so they lose their confidence and it becomes a viscous circle.
I think the key learnings for me over the years have been to treat people as individuals and believe that 99% of people come to work to do a good job – so always assume good intentions unless proved otherwise. And that work is only around 1/3rd of your waking week so encourage others and yourself to have lots of fun outside of it!
Can training for line managers reduce absence among those they manage? - HR Learning // Jun 29, 2007 at 16:42 pm
[...] came across an interesting article on the Attendance Management blog that reminded me about how serious a problem absence management is in the UK.They remind us [...]
Mike Cochrane // Nov 14, 2007 at 13:32 pm
I think some of the debate here misses the point. Absence really is`nt about sickness the proof of this in most organisations is too look at the attendance of the management team and compare it to those doing other jobs. In 20 years of managing attendance managers absence is always about 1-2% whilst elsewhere it can be 7% plus. Why are the others 3 or 4 times as sick? Of course not! These issues are about having robust policies and dealing with people in an appropriate way both before and after their absence.Rememeber it is a basic tennant of the contract to attend work and whilst I accept that some absence is geniune on average this should be less than 2%
Richard // Dec 10, 2007 at 17:22 pm
I am sorry Mike, I disagree with you. I do not believe this is about having robust policies, but being able to motivate and coach your staff. Of course the management team will have a lower absence, usually their jobs are more rewarding and higher paid. You are not comparing apples with apples here. You sound pretty old school, these are people we want to perform to their best and not numbers in an organisation. I thought the Max Weber school of management finally had got the kick out of management theory. Anyway, how is your sickness stats for the past 5 years in your own management consultancy?
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