Payroll Nightmares - Dealing With The Problems Posed By Workplace Absence

Workplace absences can cause major problems for companies that handle their payroll in-house

, especially considering that absences are likely to cluster at certain times of the year. According to a warning from the Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP), the New Year is the most likely time for workers to pull 'sickies'. A survey in 2008 revealed that 13 of the 20 most popular days for sickness absence occurred in January. Of these 13, six of these were taken between 2 and 9 January.

With these absences so highly concentrated in such short periods of time, sick days can cause major headaches for payroll staff. It generates a large amount of extra work, with staff having to cover the salaries of absent employees, pay overtime and provide the wages for temporary cover. By law, if an employee is unable to work because of illness, they may be entitled to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), but some organisations offer their own Occupational Sick Pay scheme instead. The increased rate of absences often means that payroll departments are stretched having to work out each employee's eligibility for sick pay.

Situations such as these have profound implications for small businesses, never more so than when the absentee is in the payroll department. Worse still, the absentee may be the only member of the payroll department, leading to potential complete paralysis of your business's ability to pay its staff. In order to prevent this situation from occurring, it may be a good idea to outsource your payroll to an external provider. By making use of a professional payroll specialist with a large number of existing clients, you can feel confident that a concentration of absences won't overwhelm your entire company.

Good businesses also ensure that they have policies and procedures in place to manage sickness and absence issues. Unexpected absences affect productivity and profits and, if they become a regular occurrence, are likely to lower morale and motivation. However, you can improve absence rates and minimise the impact of absence by putting effective policies and procedures in place. Monitoring and investigating the causes of absence can also help you identify factors contributing to absence levels e.g. unsafe working practices.

Having a robust absence policy in place will enable you to accurately record and monitor absence levels amongst employees, train line managers in how to handle such matters and set clear goals to reduce levels of absenteeism. It is imperative that written guidelines are drawn up outlining procedures for absence and detailing leave entitlements. There are many online businesses offering a range of HR documents that could help you cover every aspect of workplace legislation. By making use of these resources, you can ensure that your company is doing all it can to minimise the impact of absence in the workplace.

by: Matt Crumble

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