Ever since the CIPD reported the highest ever rates of sickness absence 7.8 days per employee, up from under 6 days pre-pandemic, we have been debating the reasons behind this.
Is it simply that more people are more ill? Or are there other social and economic factors at play?
We were in conversation with Matthew Cole, Partner at Pretty’s Solicitors in Ipswich, and we packed a lot into our 60 minutes! It was also the busiest the webinar chat function has ever been, so it’s a topic that seemed to resonate with many HR professionals. We covered:
- Highlights from the CIPD Report – including the differences between organisational sizes, leadership priorities and reported challenges to successful management of sickness absence
- Line manager capabilities, fears and mismatch between process and relationships
- Employee expectation vs legal responsibility
- Labelling vs symptoms
- Self diagnosis
- Organisational responsibility and values
- Upward bullying of managers
We also explored recent DDA cases and gave viewers some tips for helping HR’s involvement in sickness absence work as effectively, especially if legal support is also involved.
A huge thank you to Matthew for his time and expertise and, should you need legal support for sickness absence management or any aspect of employment law, he would be very happy to hear from you at mcole@prettys.co.uk
Should you feel that additional HR consultancy, particularly for grievances, is required. Or you wish to explore a review of your policies, then the Waddington Brown team are here to help. Please email us on enquiries@waddingtonbrown.co.uk