Hi all,
We are currently reviewing our processes and I would like an advise on how to communicate to managers when a colleague is reaching the trigger point for absence. How do w let manager know a colleague is moving from Amber to Red?
It all depends on what your processes are. Don't know what amber to red means. If a manager does not know the status of their teams and requires HR to update them, then why not set up a quick email or automate the process.
Perhaps it is easier if the manager had access to the information so they could do everything?
I have no idea about amber or green but shouldn’t the managers have that information at hand so they don’t have to be told? I’d suggest it’s up to line managers to keep tabs on their staff.
First up, trigger points in absence management are trigger points for assessment and the consideration of action, not for action itself. I have posted on this subject quite a few times down the years, and it is good practice to have multiple triggers to trip the various permutations of problematic absence that deserve assessment, as follows:
1. Continuous days' absence, e.g. 14 calendar days' continuous absence.
2. Number of days in a given short period, e.g. more than 3 days in a 3-month period.
3. Number of days in a given long period, e.g. more than 5 days in a 12-month period.
4. BF Score.
5. Concerning pattern of absence.
4 can be controversial, because the BF score has historically been misused. But as long as it is a trigger for assessment I have found that it complements the others very well and it's rare that someone triggers a BF score point without triggering at least one other point. We'll come back to that in a moment.
5 is controversial because it requires line managers to pay attention to patterns of absence and to abduce conclusions on limited evidence. If Jim is off sick every time Southampton FC plays a weekday League match, that's definitely worth a conversation. But if the manager has reached this conclusion without any other corroborating evidence (such as Jim posting grandstand photos on Instagram every time he's off sick), it should be treated with suspicion.
The thing with multiple triggers, though, is that managers kind of don't have the brainspace to be thinking about that on top of everything else they're already being asked to do. This is why multiple triggers is best used in a context where you have a digital absence management system.
In those businesses I've been in where this was a thing, it was a godsend. Staff report their absence using an app which asks all the relevant questions. Their line manager gets a notification about their absence and it automatically gets recorded. The system can then do all of the maths and send the manager a notification about trigger breaches to prompt assessment.
When it comes to your question about a traffic light system, this is where the BF Score often comes into play in such systems, which will ask you to decide what the criteria are for a Green, Amber or Red alert for BF score on a line manager's dashboard for the system. And there is no definitive answer to that, because it will depend a lot on the nature of your business. When I worked in local government, the Red score kicked in at, iirc, 350. But when I worked in FMCG it was 250.
You need to do some modelling of absence - multiple theoretical patterns of absence - and run the numbers whilst looking at the models and, from there, and in partnership with managers, work out where you think the lines lie.
Part of our RTW meetings with staff involves notifying them if they have triggered and the next steps, thus, managers need to look at absence records prior to holding the meeting.
I am sure you have this covered but, its really important that managers understand what the trigger points are first and foremost. For example, if its 3 episodes of absence or 10 days sickness within a rolling 12 month period, I would expect them to be going through a robust return to work meeting with the employee for each absence and they should be able to forewarn them at that point how many episodes/days of absence they have had to date and any pay implications. The data for past absence should either be available on the HRIS or if manually kept, may be accessible via HR and/or Payroll.
As Robey says, where you have a HRIS that automatically collates, calculates and flags absences then this is really helpful and beneficial. Where there is no HRIS i.e in some start up organisations then these stats are often recorded manually and kept centrally e.g. on a spreadsheet. I have seen in organisations that managers are sent a weekly copy of a template and they will populate fields to advise those employees on a/l, those sick, other absences and then this gets sent back weekly to the HR team to populate in a central master spreadsheet. At this point if somehow absence has been missed previously by the manager then at the point of input on the central record, it would be picked up there.
if its 3 episodes of absence or 10 days sickness within a rolling 12 month period
Episodes of absence!
I knew I'd missed something off my list. Must be getting rusty. Yes, really good point. A key trigger measure can be episodes of absence not just days. BF score does this as well, in a way, but not as precisely.
