Fit for work - managing sickness absence and rehabilitation

A six element strategy to help companies manage sickness absence, maximise attendance and improve rehabilitation - published in April 2005.

fit for work: managing sickness absence, encouraging rehabilitation

There are two aspects to a company's strategy to maximise attendance and improve rehabilitation - the management of both short-term and long-term sickness absence - although there is often a great deal of overlap between the two.

The steps we suggest have a real impact on managing these and they can be adapted to cover all types of company. They are:

Clearly define roles within the company
Identify priorities for action
Inform and involve the workforce
Establish ready access to occupational health support
Focus on rehabilitation, and
Tackle frequent short-term sickness absence

Fit for Work - the complete guide to managing sickness absence and rehabilitation deals with each of these steps in detail. To provide practice-based evidence, it also contains a case study of the experience of one of our member companies that has reduced its sickness absence levels significantly by following these steps.

Fit for Work: the complete guide to managing sickness absence and rehabilitation was originally published by EEF in 2004, and has been reissued as part of EEF's latest series of guides for employers.