New eBook coming in November!
From the desk of Honeydew Director of Product, Inka Howorth:
I began my work in the absence management sector in 2008. That’s a lot of years of HR discourse and I’ve met a lot of practitioners of all kinds in that time. I’ve also encountered many approaches to writing an absence policy. This puts me in a privileged position to evaluate these approaches and provide a best practice guidance on what actually works, in the form of a new eBook.
Promoting early intervention
The main recommendation I would make to anyone interested in absence management is to focus on early intervention. Have those difficult conversations as early as possible and keep a positive communication going with the absent employee. To formalise that approach, write your policy so it supports the philosophy of early intervention, rather than focusing on disciplinary processes.
Personal but consistent approach to managing absence
Problem absenteeism is a challenge for managers and the organisation, but it is difficult to apply a one-size-fits-all rule to the myriad of absence reasons and health conditions that can befall an employee. Instead, the focus should be on finding the right-size solution for each person as soon as possible. A personal return-to-work plan that both the manager and employee agree to and that can be revisited regularly.
Decisive, proactive, firm and supportive
This doesn’t mean that the policy should be soft. Quite the opposite. When the right solution for both employee and employer is to part ways, the policy should accommodate that, too. Making sure the management process starts early, means you will know much earlier if you’re likely to find a successful route to a return to work. Don’t waste time and money when you can be decisive and proactive instead. Your policy should be firm, yet supportive.
Book of maxims
The book is a collection of Do’s and Don’ts that should make it easy to avoid the common pitfalls in policy writing. Read this book before you set out writing a new policy. The chapters may also help you understand why your policy is not delivering the results you had hoped or to validate if your policy is still fit for purpose.
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