Absence, Sickness & Return to Work

Consistency matters more than strictness. The same process, every time, for everyone.

Reporting

• Direct to the manager, by phone, as early as possible — not a text to a colleague, not a message in a group chat. This is not bureaucracy: the manager needs to solve the ratio before 8am.
• Every day of a continuing absence unless otherwise agreed.
• Recorded the same day — date, reason given, expected return.

The ratio problem, and the honest version of it

An absence at 7am is a real operational problem. But the pressure that creates must never land on the person who is ill. A practitioner who comes in with a stomach bug because they felt they had to costs you a week of absence across the team and potentially an outbreak in the baby room — see Infection Control & Outbreak Response.

The manager's job is to solve the ratio: bank staff, moving people between rooms, the manager on the floor, and in the last resort limiting numbers. Not to negotiate with someone about whether they are ill enough.

Exclusion periods are not negotiable

For sickness and diarrhoea in particular, the exclusion period applies to staff exactly as it applies to children. A practitioner who returns too early in a baby room is a genuine risk.

• I know absence is reported by phone to the manager, not by text to a colleague
• I understand solving the ratio is my problem, not the ill person's
• I know exclusion periods apply to staff as they do to children

Most settings skip this. It is ten minutes and it does more than any absence policy.

Every absence, no exceptions

One day or three weeks. Held on the day they come back, privately, taking ten minutes. Doing it for everyone is what stops it feeling like an accusation.

What it is for

1. Welcome them back and check they are actually well. People often return before they should.
2. Update them. What changed while they were out — a new child, a change of routine, an incident.
3. Ask whether anything about work contributed. Sometimes the answer is yes, and it is the most useful thing you will hear all month.
4. Record it. Briefly. Date, length of absence, reason, anything agreed.

Tone

"Good to have you back — how are you feeling?" Not "that's three days this term." If a pattern needs raising, it gets its own conversation, not an ambush on someone's first morning back.

What it catches

Return-to-work conversations are where you find out that someone's absence is really about a bereavement, a caring responsibility, a physical problem the room is making worse, or a colleague they dread working with. None of that comes out of a self-certification form. See Staff Wellbeing & Burnout Prevention.

• I will hold a return-to-work conversation after every absence, including one-day ones
• I know the four things it is for
• I will not raise a pattern during a return-to-work conversation

Once absences are recorded consistently, patterns become visible. The response depends on what the pattern is.

Patterns worth noticing

• Clustering on the same weekday, or around days off.
• Frequent short absences rather than one long one.
• A change in someone previously reliable — usually the most important signal on this list.
• Absence that follows a particular room, shift or colleague.

Ask why before you act

A pattern is information, not a verdict. Before any formal step, one honest conversation: "I've noticed you've had a few Mondays off recently. I'm not accusing you of anything — I wanted to check whether something's going on."

What comes back is often a caring responsibility, a mental health difficulty, a chronic condition they have not disclosed, a transport problem, or a problem with a colleague. In most of those, the answer is an adjustment — not a process.

When it is a wellbeing issue

Frequent short absences in someone previously reliable is one of the clearest early signals of burnout. The response is workload, support and a proper conversation, not an attendance warning that guarantees you lose them.

When it is a safeguarding issue

Occasionally absence is a signal about the member of staff's own safety — domestic abuse, coercive control, a health crisis. If something feels wrong, that is a conversation with the DSL, handled with discretion, not an HR process.

And the fairness point

If absence is never addressed, the people who carry it are your most reliable staff. Handling it consistently is how you keep them. See Staff Retention as the Leading Indicator.

• I can name four absence patterns worth noticing
• I will ask why before taking any formal step
• I understand a change in someone previously reliable is a wellbeing signal, not a discipline one

The situation. Danielle has worked at JLK for four years and was never absent. Over the last two months she has had six single days off, mostly Mondays and Fridays, each reported properly by phone. Her work when present is unchanged.

The wrong first move. Absence triggers, a formal meeting, a warning. Technically defensible. Almost certain to lose you a four-year practitioner.

The right first move. A quiet conversation, not on a return-to-work day: "You've had a few days recently and that's not like you. I'm not here to tell you off — is something going on?"

What it might be. A parent she has started caring for. A course of treatment she has not wanted to mention. A room change that has put her with someone she finds difficult. In every one of those, the answer is an adjustment, and the adjustment costs less than recruiting.

If it turns out to be none of those and there is no explanation, a formal process may follow. But it follows the conversation. It never replaces it.

• I would have the conversation before starting any formal process, and I know why