Proactive absence management solutions: Drive employee engagement

The UK is facing a crisis in workforce health. According to the 2025 CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work report, employees are now averaging 9.4 sick days per year, a 15-year high and a 62% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The urgency to act now is intensified by the Employment Rights Bill, which proposes introducing a day-one entitlement to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and removing the lower earnings threshold, thereby increasing the cost of absence for employers.

Yet, managers and people leaders are ill-equipped to compassionately manage employee wellbeing and sickness absence, according to a recent Government review undertaken by the former Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership and a UK Treasury board member. So, there is still a long way to go to address the hidden cost of unmanaged sickness absence that is eroding productivity.

For organisations already grappling with economic uncertainty, talent shortages and operational strain, the surge in absence requires more than reactive policies. It calls for strategic absence management strategies to build resilience, improve employee experiences and protect performance.

Tackling occupational burnout

Sickness absence has long been treated as a transactional HR function: track the days, follow the policy, close the case. But today’s workplace environment demands a cultural shift, which includes empowering to self-serve absence cases.

Rising absence rates often reflect deeper organisational challenges:

• Occupational burnout and job stress;
• Disengagement and presenteeism;
• Capability gaps in line management.

With many organisations operating with leaner teams, the impact is lost productivity and mounting pressure on remaining staff.

Mental ill health is now the leading cause of long-term absence, and CIPD shared that 64% of organisations are taking steps to reduce stress in the workplace, but only 50% think their efforts are effective, so the stakes have never been higher.

To address these challenges, organisations must reimagine how absence is managed, moving away from reactive tracking to proactive enablement.

Digital absence case management

Progressive organisations are reframing absence management strategies not just as a cost centre, but as a lever to build manager confidence, enhance employee experience and drive organisational engagement. This involves:

• Empowering managers with the tools and confidence to handle absence cases proactively, including training in sensitive conversations and early intervention.
• Using HR data intelligently to identify root causes, spot absence case trends and refine policies that support wellbeing and performance.
• Streamlining processes with software designed to support absence management cases using guided workflows and automated manager alerts, freeing up HR teams to focus on strategic priorities like workforce planning and enhancing employee engagement.

This shift requires more than good intentions; it requires a combination of fit-for-purpose tools, training and cultural transformation.

Absence management solutions that deliver results

Organisations that have transformed employee relations processes are already seeing measurable results:

• Reducing absence rates by up to 10% through early intervention and manager enablement;
• Improving employee experience by embedding employee engagement and wellbeing into everyday management practices;
• Reclaiming thousands of productive hours across frontline services, relieving pressure, improving service delivery and boosting morale.

Read Starbucks UK’s case study to find out how they achieved these results.

“Empowering our managers with guided journeys has been a huge win for us. It’s really boosted managers’ leadership, helped us cut absence rates by an incredible 10% in just one year, and freed up our HRBPs to focus on strategic priorities. What’s been especially impressive is the seamless integration and cultural alignment of the external advisers. For a company like ours, where our values are everything, that cultural fit is invaluable.” – Irine Katsiashvili, Senior HR Business Partner, Starbucks UK

Manager training to support mental health

The CIPD report also highlights a critical manager training gap. Only 29% of organisations train managers to support mental health, despite clear evidence that training significantly improves manager confidence and outcomes.

Supporting managers is essential. Regular refresher training tailored to your industry, coaching, advisory support and access to occupational health services can help managers handle absence cases consistently and with care, reducing escalations and building compliance, trust and compassion across teams.

Digital learning is also a vital tool in the fight to improve awareness of mental health for managers in the workplace.

Strong return-to-work processes are also essential. Coaching plays a key role in helping individuals transition back into the workplace with confidence and clarity. It benefits both the employee and the organisation by:

• Building confidence and reducing anxiety about returning to work;
• Improving communication between employees, managers and teams;
• Creating structured, realistic plans for sustainable productivity;
• Providing tools for resilience and long-term wellbeing;
• Minimising the risk of relapse and future absence.

Find out how unlocking potential with specialist coaching can help with support from our group coaching specialists.

Absence management strategies for HR

When absence management strategies are embedded into the broader people strategy, they become more than operational fixes – they become a catalyst for cultural and organisational change.

HR leaders are uniquely placed to champion this change. With access to real-time dashboards and absence case data, they can integrate absence trends into wider organisational health metrics and reveal deeper issues like:

• Workload pressure and burnout risk;
• Mental health awareness training gaps;
• Team engagement challenges, including drops in performance;
• Rising grievances or other claims impacting workers.

As SSP reforms will expand employee rights, HR must prepare for a more inclusive and regulated approach. Working closely with legal, finance and operations helps ensure policies and processes are both compliant and compassionate.

And when HR leads with data-driven insights, the results speak for themselves.

Looking ahead: Strengthening organisational engagement

Proactive absence management solutions aren’t just a response to rising sick leave, they’re a commitment to improve employee experience, reduce corporate burnout and build healthier, more resilient organisations.

The organisations that thrive will be those that don’t treat absence as an admin burden, but as a strategic opportunity to strengthen their workforce.

Get in touch to find out how our empower® employee relations case management system, complemented by an outsourced expert HR advice line can help accelerate this cultural transformation.