Managing Short Term absence
Return to Work discussions are informal meetings, but are a key tool in the management of sickness related absence.
Managers may not proceed to a formal meeting unless meaningful Return to Work discussions have taken place and the member of staff is informed when they are
likely to trigger the formal procedure with any further absence as part of the Return to Work discussion.
The formal procedure for managing short term attendance is outlined in the Managing Short Term Sickness Absence Toolkit. The following ‘trigger point’ exists
for managing attendance concerns:
- Four periods of sickness in a rolling 12 month period
- Trust’s Probationary Policy employees in their probation period will reach a sickness trigger if they have two occasions of absence during their probationary period.
If a manager identifies other concerns about overall attendance and/or potential patterns or trends to sickness e.g. absence always occurs on a specific day of the
week, which has been discussed at the Return to Work meeting, a formal meeting may be held, even if the trigger point has not been reached.
- Where trigger points are breached, the manager will consider individual circumstances and determine what action, if any, to take.
- Ultimately, the consequences of repeated absence may be: no further action, informal action or formal action (which may include a first written warning, final warning or dismissal).
- Managing Long Term Absence
It is recognised that there may be many reasons for long term absence and, although most staff will be able to return to their substantive role and sustain regular,
meaningful and reasonable attendance in the workplace, this may not be possible in all instances.
The formal procedure for managing long term absence is outlined in the Managing Long Term Sickness Absence Toolkit. Other options exist in managing long term
absence including consideration of redeployment and ill health retirement.
Sickness absence where it is clear that the member of staff will be absent for four weeks or more, will be managed as long term sickness absence (for further
information please refer to the Long term Sickness Absence Toolkit). Registered document 3121 Page 8 of 12
Absence Policy v2.0 - ESNEFT Implementation date 29 September 2020
In long term sickness absence cases, the manager will consider individual circumstances and determine what action, if any, to take.
Following consideration of the individual circumstances and overall attendance formal action may, ultimately, lead to dismissal on the grounds of capability due to ill
health