An HR manager’s guide to Absence management
Absences happen. However, when it’s unplanned or unauthorised, worker absenteeism can seriously impact your organisation’s productivity, hurt staff morale and damage your employee retention rate.
Published: 14 February 2025 | by Brightmine
Keeping a grip on employee absence while ensuring strict compliance to employment laws and guidelines is crucial to long-term business growth. Let’s take a closer look at absence management and the best ways to maintain it:
What is absence management?
Absence management aims to reduce employee absenteeism and its impact on organisational productivity. It involves implementing procedures to monitor, understand, and address the root causes of employee absence.
By identifying patterns and the reasons behind absenteeism—whether due to health, personal issues, or workplace dissatisfaction—employers can put into place strategies such as flexible working arrangements, wellness programmes, or improved support systems to support employees. Alternatively, disciplinary procedures can be initiated if it is found the absence isn’t genuine.
Effective absence management promotes accountability and clear communication, ensuring employees feel supported while minimising disruptions. This approach benefits the organisation by maintaining efficiency and supports employees by addressing their needs and fostering a healthier work environment. Overall, effective absence management should strike an even balance between managing attendance and supporting employee well-being.
“Effective absence management promotes accountability and clear communication, ensuring employees feel supported while minimising disruptions.”
Example of absence management
Absence management strategies and tactics will vary by business sector, by company and from role to role, but let’s imagine you have an employee who frequently calls in sick on Mondays. What is the best solution to this situation?
- Your HR team uses HR software to track the employee’s absence and after observing an irregular pattern, they hold a supportive meeting with the worker under the absence management procedure
- The meeting reveals work-related stress to be the underlying cause of the absenteeism
- In response, you review the employee’s workload, introduce flexible working hours and offer your workers access to an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- Regular check-ins are scheduled with the employee to monitor progress and ensure they are sufficiently supported
- The successful outcome is a reduction in absenteeism, improvements in the employee’s well-being and a normalisation of workplace productivity
What is the difference between absence management and leave management?
Absence management focuses on addressing unplanned or frequent absenteeism by identifying causes and implementing solutions to reduce its impact. It involves monitoring patterns, supporting employees, and fostering workplace productivity.
In contrast, leave management controls planned time off, such as holidays, maternity leave, parental leave, or sick leave, through a systematic process of requesting, approving, and tracking leave. It ensures compliance with policies and legal requirements and promotes fairness and smooth operations without disrupting workflows.
What types of absence are there?
Absenteeism can occur for a wide range of reasons, but they will typically fall into one of the following categories:
Planned absence
Planned absence is authorised time off requested by employees for reasons as varied as holidays, personal appointments, or family commitments — such as welcoming a new child into the family. Employers may also offer extra leave for purposes such as attending medical or legal appointments or simply taking time off to recharge and prevent burnout. If employees follow the proper procedures to schedule their leave in advance and through official channels, these instances are not considered absence management issues but are part of regular workplace policy.
Unplanned absence
Unplanned absences occur when employees unexpectedly miss work due to unforeseen circumstances. These may include sickness or injury — either short term or long term — where time off is necessary for recovery.
Bereavement, such as the loss of a loved one, also qualifies as an unplanned absence, with legal rights for specific situations such as parental loss. Travel disruptions, such as public transport strikes or dangerous weather conditions, may also prevent attendance.
Effective absence management should address such cases with empathy, offering support to employees while working to reduce the likelihood of repeated occurrences and maintaining workplace productivity.
What is short term sickness absence?
Short-term sickness absence refers to employees missing work for a brief period due to minor illnesses or injuries. This type of absence would typically be less than seven days, although businesses may have rules that reduce or extend this time span. Short term sickness absences are often managed with self-certification or minimal medical documentation.
What is medium term sickness absence
Medium term sickness absence is defined as a period of more than one week, but less than four weeks. Although some businesses may not recognise this relatively new definition, it can help employers to identify the potential for longer absences earlier and provide space to address the underlying issue(s) before they develop into a full-blown problem.
What is long term sickness absence?
Long-term sickness absence occurs when employees are unable to work due to serious health issues – typically for four weeks or more. To manage this type of situation, employers will usually request appropriate medical documentation and offer reasonable adjustments, such as a phased return to work or flexible working.
Unauthorised absence
Unauthorised absence refers to all other types of absence from work and it should be regarded as a serious business concern. Employers should take immediate steps to identify and remedy the cause of the absenteeism as soon as it is discovered.
What is the typical rate of employee absence?
The rate of employee absence in the UK varies by industry. High risk sectors, such as construction, shipping or mining will typically experience higher rates of absenteeism than many other industries. Brightmine research reveals that UK-wide, the median absence rate in 2023 was 5.10 days per full time employee.
What is the absence management process?
An absence management process provides a clear framework for controlling planned, unplanned and unauthorised employee absenteeism. It gives your employees guidance on what they need to do when they are absent and delivers a foundation for company management to work from when confronted by issues of absenteeism.
An effective absence management process should:
1. Provide clear absence policies
Your rules and procedures regarding staff absences should support workers and management to navigate problems caused by absenteeism. Your policies should set out the following:
- How employees report absences
- Who manages staff absences within the organisation
- The escalation process for recurrent or prolonged employee absence
- Disciplinary procedures and consequences for unauthorised absences up to termination of employment
2. Monitor and record absences
Tracking and recording employee absences is important to assess their long-term impact on performance and validate absence policies. Without proper data, it will be difficult to evaluate individual or departmental performance or improve your systems.
Top tip
Specialised HR software can simplify and speed up absence recording, which in turn can drive better analysis and absence policy refinements.
3. Meet with employees as they return to work
Non-holiday, multi-day absences can be a serious business problem that requires attention and formal communication. Companies should meet with returning employees on their first day back to discuss concerns and offer support, such as adjusted work arrangements for chronic illness. A direct and sympathetic approach can ensure understanding and provide necessary accommodations as well as strengthening employee well-being and maintaining productivity.
4. Train your managers
Line managers are key to absence management, as they are best situated to understand its immediate and long-term effects on production and the needs of employees. However, managers will typically need training to succeed. Guiding managers to build a culture of trust can foster open communication with employees regarding absence issues and help to minimise workplace disruption.
5. Provide occupational health services and employee assistance programmes (EAPs)
When employees are facing long-term sickness that affects their attendance or may even prevent their return to work at all, employers should explore suitable occupational health services and employee assistance programmes (EAPs). These services are designed to help the long-term sick to return to work without compromising their well-being. EAPs can also help employers implement necessary adjustments for disabled employees. Employers should train to differentiate between sickness absences and disability leave to ensure appropriate support and compliance with legal obligations.
6. Be flexible
It doesn’t have to be a case of ‘all work’ or ‘no work’. You can avoid binary decisions regarding employees with legitimate long-term absences by adopting flexible alternatives. For example, offer remote work options or allow employees to fulfil their contractual hours over longer days, creating more days off. You could also consider temporary reassignments or, if necessary, permanent redeployment.
Top tip
When reassigning or redeploying, ensure contracts and payments are reviewed and adjusted appropriately to support these changes effectively while maintaining fairness and compliance.
7. As a last resort, consider disciplinary actions
When all other measures fail, disciplinary action may be the only way you can address absence violations and prevent recurrence. However, be sure that offenders receive fair warnings about absenteeism consequences. Procedures should strictly follow guidelines, ensuring compliance with the Equality Act to avoid claims of discrimination or unfair dismissal, especially for disabled employees.
What is HR’s role in absence management?
HR can play a vital role in absence management by creating clear policies, tracking employee absences, and ensuring compliance with legal obligations. HR teams should also support your managers to address absences effectively and offer guidance on fostering communication and trust.
Ultimately, it is HR’s role to ensure the fair treatment of employees, assess the need for reasonable adjustments, and to maintain compliance with relevant employment laws while simultaneously minimising disruptions and enhancing your organisation’s productivity.
Tips to effectively managing absences
Tackling the issues of employee well-being can make a major dent in staff absenteeism. Here are some suggestions you could implement:
Increase holiday allowances
Addressing widespread absenteeism typically involves boosting staff morale and enhancing the company’s value as an employer. Increasing holiday allowances gives employees more legitimate time off and can reduce unauthorised absences. You could also consider tying holiday increases to staff attendance levels as an incentive to promote reliability.
Offer ‘Duvet Days’
Providing staff with ‘duvet days’—days off without prior notice—allows employees to take time off for any reason. These days encourage employees to use sick leave only when genuinely needed, fosters trust and can reduce unnecessary absences.
Improve your workplace culture
A positive workplace culture boosts morale, engagement, and unity. Strong management, clear goals, and a well-defined vision can help to reduce absenteeism by aligning employees with company values. Leadership should actively shape your workplace culture and reinforce its importance.
Reward employee attendance
Recognise and reward high attendance with incentives such as bonuses or additional time off. Celebrate employee contributions via email bulletins or team meetings to emphasise the importance of good attendance.
Absence management for a healthier, more productive work environment
Effective absence management is crucial for maintaining organisational productivity, employee well-being, and legal compliance. By implementing clear policies and procedures, offering flexibility, and fostering a supportive workplace culture, employers can minimise the disruptions caused by absenteeism. Ultimately, a balanced approach to managing absences can support both your organisation’s efficiency and your employees’ needs and help to create a healthier and more productive work environment.
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About the author
Brightmine
With more than 10,000 customers, Brightmine is a leading global provider of people data, analytics and insight – empowering HR leaders to deliver brighter business outcomes.
For more than two decades, Brightmine, formerly XpertHR, has continued to help HR leaders confidently navigate the evolving world of work through our unique combination of critical workforce data, AI-enabled technology, and trusted HR expertise.
Brightmine is a division of LexisNexis Data Services within RELX®, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools. RELX serves customers in 180+ countries with 35,000+ employees. Ticker: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX.
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