Hi everyone,
I am reviewing our absence policy and I'm keen to understand how colleagues call in sick in other organisations.
Currently, our colleagues phone into HR although this means we are a messenging service which will be unsustainable as we continue to grow. Historically, we've found that managers don't always pass the message on to HR so that we can record it for payroll purposes so there's a bit of nervousness around whether absence will be recorded accurately if its taken away from HR. However, we are trying to make manager's accountable for their team and this is one of the ways of doing so. Who do colleagues contact in other organisations?
Also, do you ask your colleagues to phone in or is it acceptable to send a text message? Within the HR team, we text so its unfair not to follow our own policy and I think it would be fine to text as long as the manager is informed of the reason for the absence and the likely timescale for return. Managers obviously need to agree with their team that this is acceptable so that they know to keep their personal phone on them in the event that they don't have a company mobile.
Thank you
Leeanne
Replies
Hi Leeanne,
Within my organisation it is the employees responsibility to inform their line manager and update their sickness within the self service portal which is used for booking annual leave, registering sickness absence, change to details and so forth.
On return the line manager will conduct a return to work meeting and send the completed documentation to HR along with any sick notes. We then upload this within our system and inform payroll.
When it comes to reporting sickness our business managers seem to keep us well informed so I do agree with Christine when it comes to having to educate the business on the importance of reporting on sickness.
Hope this helps with your policy review...
Saara
I guess it depends on how big the organisation is to determine the best approach.
We employ approx 1500 on our site (multiple sites across the country).
We have a dedicated absence line. Employees call the automated answer phone leaving their name, employee number, the reason for absence and expected return date. They are to ring everyday for the first 7 days of absence. Anything more requires a dr's note.
The messaging service is managed by our planning department who then updates our hr app to monitor absences.
The TM completes the return to work at the start of their shift time.
That way all depts are aware.
Hope this helps. My first response.
Many thanks
Hi Leeanne,
We also have employees contact their line manager if they're going to be off sick and we find that this works quite well, we very rarely have instances where the information isn't passed on. I think it probably helps to impress on your line managers the importance of managing and recording absence- why you do it, what effect it can have on the rest of their team/the company etc. so they understand the importance of passing on the information.
We have a very low level of absence through sickness so we are happy for employees to notify us by text or email. We do a lot of communicating with remote workers through text, so this is also consistent with our general methods of communication. If someone is off for more than a couple of days their manager will usually touch base with them to check-in- again, usually by text or email.
Best wishes,
Chrissy
Afternoon Leeanne
Yes there can be a number of approaches and I am firmly in the camp of devolving this to the line managers so they can own the absence but I appreciate what you are saying about managers not passing on the absences.
All of the organisations I have worked in the employee calls their line manager, although we did run a pilot scheme in one of the businsses I worked in where they called a dedicated OH team which we outsourced the service too.
The method of communication is typically down to the culture of the organisation, if it is commonplace to text, messgaes some companies are happy about this, others I write into the contracts that text and email is not appropriate and they must call in person. It really depends on the level of absence. As a side note if managers don't have company mobiles I think they should call a landline.
I hope this helps
Sarah
Hi Leeanne
Have you considered the use of a dedicated absence line with where employees can leave a message rather than a person to answer the telephone? The messages can then all be accessed in one go saving disruption to the working day. We have always avoided using texts as I feel you get a much better understanding of an employee's condition and the likely length of an absence via a phone call but this is only personal preference. It is usually the managers who don't pass on such information who will be the first to expect HR to do something about a person's poor attendance when records are so poor that action is impossible.
One aspect of concern is why you would expect managers to use their personal mobiles for work purposes, the very definition of being a manager means that they will not always see eye to eye with employees and may well not want them to have their personal mobile numbers (and you cannot make them give it out nor pass it on yourselves).
Pete