Case Study:
Healing the sick!

Measures to crack down on sickness absence will only succeed if line managers are given extra training, commentators have warned.

Following the Government announcement that it intends to cut public sector absence figures from an average of 10 days per person to 7.5 days a year, and a recent report by the National Audit Office, leading HR practitioners agree that the key to successful management of absence lies in providing managers with appropriate training. 

Ben Willmott, employee relations adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, says that organisations need to make sure absence is managed in a co-ordinated and consistent way to ensure the targets are met.

"Managers and employees need to be clear about the procedures to go through, and managers need to make sure these policies are well communicated," he says. "This will require appropriate training for managers to meet their obligations and to take responsibility for managing absence."

The absence of support for line managers was highlighted as a key reason for poor attendance at the Department for Work and Pensions in a report released by the National Audit Office in December.

It also said managers needed more training in how to deal with personal issues and raising staff morale, and about what to expect from occupational health.

With this in mind Law At Work are running a series of training workshop sessions devoted to the Management of Sickness Absence and Stress, aimed at both HR practitioners and line managers.

See the training page on this website for details of these courses and others in our forthcoming programme, or call Ian Watson our Training Services Manager on 0141 271 5555.