A new survey from Softworks found that over half the respondents (55%) believe it’s too easy for employees to get a doctor’s sick/fit note and just under three quarters (73%) believe doctors are providing sick/fit notes for longer than necessary.
The survey “Pulling a sickie – have rates and reasons for employee absences changed since the pandemic” was conducted by Softworks in February/March 2023 and completed by 482 professionals in the areas of HR, Finance, IT, Operations, and General Management.
The purpose of the survey was to find out if non-genuine absence rates have increased or decreased since the pandemic, and if more flexible working is having a positive effect on absence rates. The research also looked at the top reasons for absences, if presenteeism is an issue and ways to encourage positive attendance behaviour.
Key findings
• 75% believe non-genuine absences are causing a problem
• 59% believe unscheduled absences have increased
• 34% believe presenteeism has increased
• 92% record employee absences
Commenting, Mairead Walsh, Softworks CMO, said:
We were quite surprised with the response in relation to doctors’ sick notes. This is obviously a challenge for both workplaces and medical practitioners and perhaps there is a need to work more closely together to resolve it.
Businesses may need to focus more on early intervention, well-being programmes, and ongoing two-way communication with employees. In our experience working with clients, early recognition, effective assessment, and rapid intervention is key to managing absences and can prevent them from becoming longer-term and more sustained problems.
Mairead Walsh, Softworks CMO
The full survey findings and analysis paper (pdf) may be downloaded via this link via this link