EEF will help employers transition from the sick note to the ‘fit note’ system, after the Government introduced the new measure to encourage work attendance.
Using its expertise in Occupational Health, Employment Law and HR, the manufacturers’ organisation will offer seminars and guidance to businesses — also providing them with an award-winning toolkit — in an attempt to help them improve their sickness absence management and gain benefits from the new system.
EEF’s chief medical adviser, Professor Sayeed Khan, who took part in the development of the ‘fit note’ system, said: “It is the right tool for modern medicine and a modern society. To improve sickness absence management we have to change the culture away from what people can’t do to what they can do. The new system is a welcome change and, for those companies that embrace it, it will bring significant business benefits.”
According to an EEF/Unum survey, levels of sickness absence continued to fall in recent years, now at 6.2 days a year per employee. Businesses have a keen interest in improve their sickness absence management, with 91% of companies having a written absence policy and one in two training its managers to address short-term absence (43% do the same for long-term absence).
EEF seminars, aimed at HR managers, line managers, health & safety and occupational health professionals, will run nationwide for two months, through May.
