Reducing sickness absence crucial to UK businesses

Employment Law & HR update 24/10/2011

According to MP Esther McVey, the 'unsung heroes' of the UK workplace are line managers, as they help to manage staff absence.

Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State for Employment Ms McVey told a Legal & General round table event that line managers played a crucial role in reducing the absence of other staff.

The event, which was held to discuss how best to manage absence and sickness within the workplace, was scheduled just prior to the upcoming Sickness and Absence Review.

The review, which was commissioned back in February of this year, called for a detailed review of the UK's sickness absence system. Currently, around 150 million days of work are lost each year due to sickness absence.

Ms McVey said, “For the sickness and absence review’s conclusions to be implemented effectively, line managers will be the crucial front line force, they are the unsung heroes of the British workplace.”

According to a recent absence management survey carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 'Line managers take primary responsibility for managing short-term absence in two thirds of organisations overall and more than three-quarters in the public sector.'

The report also revealed that line managers 'took responsibility for managing long-term absence in 55 per cent of organisations overall and for 73 per cent of the public sector.'

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