Ask Abi...

Blue Stream Academy team member, Abi, is here to answer your questions and give advice to our readers.

Q

Dear Abi,

One of my members of staff has a track record of regular sicknesses and leave due to personal circumstances. The individual is fantastic when at work, however the number of sick leave days are everincreasing, with regular absences taking place on a Monday (following what her colleagues often believe is a heavy weekend of partying and socialising), or a Friday prior to preannounced social plans.

When I sit down with the individual to try and assess what we can do as an organisation to help, she simply dismisses the absences and puts them down to having a low immune system and bad luck with viruses, however I’m concerned that there could be more to it.

How do I approach this situation in an appropriate manner to try and assist the individual, and hopefully get her back into the workplace more consistently?

Thank you for you help!

Anon

A

Dear Reader,

Thank you for getting in touch with your problem!

I’m sorry to hear that you are struggling with this member of staff, this is an ever-increasing occurrence that many managers come across, particularly with the interest of increasing the employee’s wellbeing.

You’ve done the right thing by sitting down with the person to talk about what you can do to help. I’d suggest inviting the employee for another quiet one-to-one conversation. Openly discuss the frequency of their absences and explain that this is causing concern. At this point, you may want to ask them if everything is ok out of work, if they are coping well with their workload, colleagues and daily environment, and ask if there is anything that can be done by management to increase their wellbeing whilst employed by the organisation.

It is important that consideration is given to any personal problems your colleague may have and do offer ways to help if you can, but if appropriate, draw the employees attention to your company policies and agree a set time period to monitor future absences

Hopefully at this point, your employees absences will begin to improve, and you are doing the right thing by continuing to check in on their wellbeing. If they don’t improve for any reason, you should consider further action in line with company policy.

I hope this advice can be of assistance.

Abi

Abi Bowler

Events & Media Manager

If you have a question or problem and would like some advice, please feel free to contact Abi via email at: bsatoday@bluestreamacademy.com