How do you deal with absence?

More than one in four companies now offer incentives to encourage staff to take fewer sick-days, according to a European-wide survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

The issue of staff taking time off work for health-related reasons – whether bogus or genuine – is such an issue that 27% of bosses now offer rewards for those with good attendance records, the survey found.

These include health screening services (used by an average of 60% of firms), gym memberships, vouchers and bonuses, although there are also concerns that such schemes could discriminate against those who are genuinely ill and encourage those who are unwell to come into work anyway.

But employers appear to have no idea what proportion of time staff take off is genuine. Over a quarter of respondents felt 80% of sick leave was bogus, while another quarter felt the figure was under 20%. Companies would prefer staff to take sporadic bursts of short-term sick leave than a long, sustained break, the research added.

“The results reveal an interesting discrepancy in the proportion of absence attributed to medical conditions,” said Steve Clements, a principal at Mercer. “The problem is that many companies still do not have reliable data on the causes of employee absence, so there may be a gap between perception and reality.

“While there are clearly legitimate reasons for taking days off other than ill-health, the data suggests some employers are questioning how much employee absence is due to genuine causes,” he added.

The poll also showed that employers across Europe are confused about how anti-discrimination legislation from their own countries and the EU affects their ability to tackle the problem of staff absence.

“There have been inconsistent interpretations of what the various EU anti-discrimination directives mean, and this has caused a lot of confusion for employers,” claimed Clements.

“When evaluating absence cases, many employers feel they have to check and double-check where they stand from a legal perspective before they take any action to get employees back to work,” he added. “More guidance from government would go a long way to helping companies untangle the complex web of legislation.”