Absences and Performance Advice For Employers
Productivity in your workplace can be significantly impacted by absences and poor performance and so ensuring you have the necessary tools in place to manage these issues in the interests of your business is of considerable value.
How can absences and poor performance at work best be managed?
Whilst there may be some specific issues within your industry and your business which will need to be considered, more generally, the below are helpful things to consider when looking at how absences and poor performance can be reduced and dealt with promptly and effectively:
Having clear, accessible, comprehensive and up-to-date contracts of employment, sickness absence policy, disciplinary policy and performance management procedures to ensure that both the employee and the business are clear on what is expected and what to do if there is an employee absence or underperformance at work.
Applying the sickness absence policy effectively. If you have the right to hold employee absence records, make sure that monitoring takes place and is accurately recorded and that managers and HR personnel are trained appropriately.
Conduct thorough back to work interviews to ensure that you understand, for example, the nature of the employee’s absence, what treatment or medication they have had or are continuing to receive, and whether they are recovered or when they are likely to be fully recovered. If there are adjustments that need to be made, discuss these with the absent employee and if necessary, take medical advice too.
Request that an employee visit occupational health or a doctor funded by your business in order that a more thorough investigation into an employee’s health can be carried out and suggestions made as to how an employee can return to work if the employee’s absences are frequent or long-term.
Ensure that employees are aware of how to raise a grievance or raise concerns informally at work. It may be that absences and poor performance are being caused by underlying workplace issues. An open dialogue and good communication with employees can nip issues in the bud earlier and cause less disruption to your business.
Initiatives to encourage better engagement at work, such as discretionary bonuses or commissions based on team and individual performance, might be helpful to incentivise employees.
How can we help you with employee absences and poor performance?
First and foremost, having clear and comprehensive employment contracts and policy documents is key to setting out expectations in this area of the employment relationship. Our employment contract solicitors can draft, review and update these documents for you to ensure that they are robust and fully compliant with employment law.
We can guide you through the process where employees have frequent short-term or long-term absences of
concern. Involving a solicitor at an early stage will minimise your risks of claims by employees in the Employment Tribunal, particularly relating to disability discrimination or pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Performance Improvement Plan
If an employee is not reaching their expected level of performance, a full and fair process should be followed to allow the employee time to improve with support such as training and one to one meeting, and a performance improvement plan may be appropriate. We can support by drafting and guiding you through process.
Depending on the circumstances, poor performance might be a disciplinary issue. If you are considering taking disciplinary action relating to poor performance, it is prudent to take specialist employment advice first to minimise the risk of costly Employment Tribunal claims.
If an employee’s absence or performance is not something which can be quickly and easily resolved, and a performance improvement plan has not worked, it might be that you offer a settlement agreement. In some circumstances this might be financially advisable to avoid the risk of future claims and to resolve matters efficiently and with minimal disruption to your business.
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