Rethink how you manage absence

A factsheet for leaders on building resilience, trust, and productivity.

Workforce absence was once seen as just another HR metric. Now, senior leaders recognise it as a measure of how resilient—or fragile—an organisation really is. Rising stress, financial pressures, and an ageing workforce mean absence is hitting harder, and in ways that simple compliance processes can’t contain.

This free factsheet is designed to help you move from a reactive approach to absence management, to a proactive, human-centred one.

The challenges your employees face every day, from burnout to delayed healthcare access, are the real drivers behind absence. While traditional employee assistance programs (EAPs) can help, their low uptake, inaccessibility and lack of range means they often step in too late.

Leaders need a better way forward. You need real-time insight into workforce risks, early intervention before issues spiral, and care options that your people feel comfortable using.

This factsheet will help you:

• Understand the strategic risk that absence and presenteeism pose to your organisation.

• Recognise the key drivers of absence, including mental health, burnout, and caring duties.

• Build a culture of care that supports your employees and empowers your managers.

This resource provides practical tools and insights to help you transform your organisation’s approach to absence.

• The latest data: Key statistics on work-related ill health, including the £21.6 billion in direct employer costs.

• Legal essentials: A clear breakdown of statutory leave entitlements, from sick pay to the new Carer’s Leave and Neonatal Care Leave.

• Actionable steps: Seven clear actions you can take to move from a focus on compliance to a culture of care.

• A proactive model: Insight into how a human-centred platform can help you reduce absence and improve engagement with your teams.

Absence management is a strategic lever. When done well, it builds resilience, trust, and productivity. When done poorly, it can drain resources, fuel turnover, and damage your culture.

This factsheet is for you if you’re ready to treat absence as part of your duty of care and as an investment in sustainable performance. It is designed for:

• HR, P&C, and wellbeing teams

• Managers and team leaders

• WHS and safety professionals

• Executives and directors