Record rainfall brought with it flooding misery and transport disruption. Some employees were forced to miss time at work as they struggled to protect their homes from the deluge. But while those directly affected stared catastrophe in the face, others may have spotted an opportunity sent from the heavens. With the chilly rain hammering down relentlessly and the wind howling in horrendous gusts, how much more appealing to stay snuggled under the duvet and pull a sickie, pretending that flooding made it impossible to get to work?

Needless to say, such dishonest behaviour is very much a minority pursuit. Most employees have greater integrity and are considerably more reliable. But in an industry in which deadlines are paramount and teams often small and stretched, unreasonable absence can be damaging in business terms and may have an adverse effect on the morale of colleagues forced to pick up the slack.

According to PWC research released last summer, the cost of sickness absence to UK organisations is a whopping £29bn. Of course, much of this is genuine. But taking a closer look at the PWC figures, it’s interesting to note that while UK workers took an average of 9.1 days’ sickness absence a year, in the US it was a little over half as much at 4.9 days while Asia Pacific’s 2.2 days was less than a quarter of our total. As a nation, are we truly that much sicker than employees elsewhere in the world?

CIPD research released in October was marginally less damning, putting average UK sickness absence at 7.6 days per annum, a slight increase on the previous year. Of course, all of this refers to the period before the terrible weather struck. When the comparable statistics emerge later this year it will be a fascinating glimpse into whether or not workers adopted the Dunkirk spirit.

“I don’t think absenteeism is as big an issue for the print industry as it is for government, local authorities or large private sector corporations,” says BAPC chairman Sidney Bobb. “People in this industry are aware that they are in the deadline business and as a body the BAPC doesn’t get many enquiries about the issue of absence. But of course, if someone is employing 10 people, they need 10 people – not nine or seven. They need to have an absence policy.”

“My experience of managing large workforces has illustrated that unauthorised absences are typically for a small proportion of the workforce and associated with either ‘the morning after’, social activities outside of work, or a family member being unwell, i.e. child care, or an external influence or pressure,” says Stephen Egerton, director at Cannock printer KJB UK.

Procedures and penalties 

Absence procedures vary from business to business, depending on the maturity of the company and its corporate culture. It’s vital these procedures are set out clearly and simply within a policy document, so individuals know what’s expected of them. Ideally, all ‘lateness’ and absence notifications should be clearly documented and staff made fully aware of the fact. Penalties for breaches of policy should be transparent and fair.

“Texting in sick is becoming increasingly popular and while this is becoming an accepted norm among many companies, I still believe that a line manager should speak to the employee,” says Alastair Swindlehurst, director of human resources at APS Group. “That quick call allows the manager to gain the necessary details as well as letting the person who’s off sick know what is expected from them. The general rule of thumb is that the individual should call in no later than half an hour after their start time to let managers know the reason for absence and their expected return.”

At Cornwall-based KCS Print, which fortunately escaped the worst of the recent atrocious weather, the expectation is that staff should call in if they are sick. And the company asks for daily updates if they will be off for more than a day. The belief is that it is easier to get an accurate picture by speaking to someone rather than from a text message or email.

Ed Adorno, chief executive of Printsome, has a more relaxed stance. In his opinion it’s “no problem” for staff to text in if they are sick. The real issue, as Adorno sees it, is making sure the business only recruits people who fit in with company culture and share the same goals. If you hire the right people, he maintains, there won’t be an absenteeism problem.

KCS Print account manager Zoe Deadman would add that once you’ve got the right people, there is plenty the company can do to create a culture positive and motivating enough to discourage staff calling in sick when just a bit under the weather.

“Like many SMEs, we try to build an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust,” she says. “When an employee genuinely needs help or the day off at short notice for a legitimate reason, we try to help as best we can. Building a positive, happy working environment is one of the most important things you can do. You can’t build a successful business if you are struggling against defeated, lethargic staff purely there for the money.” 

Deadman says that fostering staff pride in the quality of the company’s products and the growth of the business, prevents unauthorised absence. “Our production manager has his ear to the floor in the factory and is very attuned to any changes on the jungle drums,” she adds. “Upstairs in admin we all work in an open office, which I think lends itself to a more honest and open environment so that any problems can be anticipated and dealt with before they grow.”

Get it covered

Nevertheless, illness can strike unexpectedly. Last minute absences can be a major issue for the manufacturing process. Clearly, without someone to work the machines nothing can be produced. In order to best manage these issues, KCS aims to cross-train its staff on more than one press so that they can cover for colleagues as and when necessary.

Even so, workforces need to be scalable and flexible. Overtime should not be the sole solution to a sudden manpower shortage. Agency staff, partners and part-time staff should all be available to deal with unexpected absence and large production or delivery contracts.

Once the sick staff member is back at work, printers may want to conduct return to work interviews or have a more informal chat about any health issues – such as stress – that the company could help alleviate. “Generally, staff respond to ‘direct’ return to work interview questions or general feedback,” says Egerton. “Co-workers are typically the first to identify ‘patterns’ and raise awareness. This works well, in a relatively flat structured organisation where HR responsibilities are managed by team leaders, with support from Level One managers.”

But what attitude should a print boss have when it comes to working from home? Or indeed, allowing employees to attend events? 

“We tend to have a pretty flexible approach,” says Kingfisher Print & Design managing director Ross Bellotti. “I try and encourage a good work/life balance for staff; whether it’s working from home so someone can make a child’s school assembly or time away from the business to widen knowledge or experience at events such as Ipex. It can be trickier to arrange on the factory floor, but we try to accommodate flexibility. It helps having a close-knit team who are happy to cover hours for each other so we don’t lose press time.”

Matters become trickier for long-term or persistent absence. Employers have a duty of care regarding the health and wellbeing of staff so must proceed with caution.

“What’s key in all employment law is that you must allow the person time to explain themselves,” says BPIF head of legal and HR Anne Copley. “You must consider what they say and you must act accordingly.”

The BPIF sickness absence policy says that if employees are off sick for more than seven days they should obtain a GP’s certificate and present it to their employer at the earliest possible opportunity. Copley accepts that a GP’s report “can be the bane of employers’ lives as they can often be woolly and unhelpful” and suggests occupational health or paying for a consultant’s report as alternative options if necessary. But as the latter costs around £1,000 it’s not something to be rushed into. 

But one of the worst things employers can do, says Copley, is ignore a brewing issue. Disability must always be considered – a bad back or stress or depression can constitute disability – and if an employee has a disability there is more of an obligation to consider “all reasonable adjustments”. 

For longer-term absence, employers have a right to ascertain how long an employee will be away from work. It is absolutely essential to make contemporaneous notes, even if this is just a scribbled note of a telephone conversation. Should things degenerate “an employment tribunal will want to see that you as an employer have considered what was said and have a good reason”.

And so back to the weather. In February the TUC published guidance calling on employers to be sympathetic to flood-affected employees. But sympathy need not equate to a soft touch. Copley says employers can use their imagination, for example organising a 4WD vehicle to collect people who might otherwise be unable to get in – so long as the journey is safe.

So there’s no need to roll over, even when the clouds do.  

SETTING UP AN ABSENTEEISM POLICY

Avoiding absence

• Be flexible, within reason, to allow staff to take time away from work to deal with personal and family concerns. Home life can be difficult, especially during a tough economic climate where there may be additional pressures. And being sympathetic in regards to stressful personal circumstances, such as family deaths and medical appointments, should pay dividends in terms of staff loyalty.

• Create a happy and positive working environment. The importance of looking forward to turning up to work everyday shouldn’t be underestimated in preventing staff opting for a ‘duvet day’.

• Ensure employees feel bonded as a team and clued up about the bigger picture of what the company is trying to achieve as a whole. An employee is much less likely to see a slight cold as grounds for a whole day off if they’re aware of how much hassle this will cause for their hardworking and personable colleagues and for the business generally.

• Encourage healthy habits among employees through steps such as office fruit boxes, gym membership discounts and workplace physical and sports challenges such as The Global Corporate Challenge. Remember that shift workers particularly will need sound advice about eating and organising their routine sensibly, to ensure sufficient sleep.

• Avoid stress-related absences by setting clear goals and ensuring workloads and deadlines are realistic and achievable. Involve staff and managers to put in place steps to minimise or eliminate stress. The HSE’s Stress Management Standards provide a useful starting point to help employers understand the issues around stress and minimise the effects to their business.

Absence reporting

• Consider banning text messages as a method of calling in sick in most circumstances. Instead insist employees make a phone call, preferably before their shift is due to start. This will make employees think twice about whether they’re really sick enough to merit a day off, by providing an extra hurdle for employees wanting the ease of just not turning up. It will also give managers a clearer idea of how serious the sickness is and when they can expect that employee back in.

• Make clear who employees must report to when calling in sick. Make managers responsible for managing their teams’ absences. They will be the best people to keep records on this and spot any potential patterns. This will also again disincentivise days off just because the employee doesn’t feel like it as they won’t be calling in to someone they won’t see for days afterwards.

• Keep records of what’s said when someone calls in sick. If you have to dismiss someone for repeated unauthorised absences, this will act as evidence in an employment tribunal, that you’ve carefully considered the employees’ claimed reasons each time. It will also help identify patterns of absence that will point to stress or ill-health triggers at work.

• The firm should consider a policy whereby employees have to provide a GP certificate if off for a certain number of, say seven, days.

Return to work interviews

• Many believe these should be conducted in the event of any absence, but a business may well want to exercise discretion where the workforce is quite small or the structure of the business quite flat, as such a routine might seem overbearing.

• If conducted, they should be conducted immediately on the employee’s return to work.

• They should be brief, informal and private with no interruptions.

• Be prepared by taking up-to-date attendance records to the interview, although it is important to remember that this is not a formal review or disciplinary meeting. If you already know the reason for the absence and think there may be something the company can do to help, investigate any options prior to the meeting. 

• Explain that the interview is part of the company’s normal arrangements for managing attendance and that its purpose is to find out whether the company can help in any way and to explain what has been happening at work during that time.

• Conduct interviews sensitively and don’t interrogate or harangue the employee. Poorly conducted interviews can turn motivated employees who have been genuinely sick into disgruntled staff members.

• If you have reason to suspect that the employee’s sickness absence was not legitimate, you should trigger the disciplinary procedure after the return-to-work interview. But be careful not to let the interview become an unscheduled disciplinary meeting.

What the law says

• There is no law that requires employers to rehabilitate their employees who are off work sick. However you should be aware of the Disability Discrimination Act, which requires you to make reasonable adjustments to disabled employees’ working arrangements or conditions to make sure they are not treated less favourably than other employees. You also have responsibilities under the Health & Safety at Work Act to protect staff, after they return to work, if they have become more vulnerable to risk because of illness, injury or disability.

• If you’re considering taking action to discipline or dismiss employees for ill-health reasons, remember that you have responsibilities under the Employment Rights Act 1996, to adopt fair procedures before dismissing employees on grounds of sickness absence, and the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Regulations) 2004, to adopt statutory minimum dismissal, disciplinary and grievance procedures.

• The sickness absence data you keep and process has to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. If an absence record contains specific medical information relating to an employee this is deemed sensitive data and you will have to satisfy the statutory conditions for processing such data.

Managing annual leave

• Almost all employees have the right to 5.6 weeks’ paid leave a year, which works out at 28 days (including bank holidays at the employer’s discretion) for someone working a five-day week. 

• The key to effective leave management is to treat all requests fairly and consistently, and this is best achieved by having a clear policy on requesting leave. 

• It is a good idea to insist that employees give a minimum period of notice when requesting time off, to enable suitable cover to be arranged. 

• Having a holiday planner in a public space in the office can help keep the process transparent and enable staff to plan around each other where possible. 

• Remember that staff have no statutory right to extra annual leave, either paid or unpaid, and that granting requests for unpaid leave are at an employer’s discretion.