Employee Absence has dropped – is this all good news?

On a related note to yesterday’s blog, the CIPD Absence Management Survey reports that average employee absence has fallen by approximately one day, but this is not all good news it seems. Employees who are fearful of redundancy or who can’t afford to receive just SSP (or nothing at all for the first 3 days of sickness absence) are turning into work when sick. Spreading illness, taking longer to get well and low productivity are just some of the concerns this raises for us. It’s a tricky conundrum for businesses who can’t afford to pay over the Statutory Sick Pay rates. What are you doing in your business to successfully manage both sickness absence and the reverse problem of presenteeism?