The fit note, which has substituted the sick note, has given the mangers the much needed push to bring in imperative conversations with their own employees and find the best way to help them to get back to work as per the recent Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) research.
The survey by the CIPD/Simplyhealth about management of absence discloses new findings that more than half the employers (52%) accept that the initiation of the fit note has facilitated line managers to open up conversations regarding their staff’s health and absence problems.
The CIPD/Simplyhealth survey shows that just under one-thirds of concerned organisations of the respondents said that the fit note does help line managers with better absence management. A large number of employers around (87%) have employed fit note in their own companies although its use in smaller organisations with fewer than 50 employees or (54%) was not widespread.
Suggestions of the survey tell that managers stay sceptical that the fit note had any effect in assisting to lessen employee absence levels due to sickness. Only about 11% of the employers said that the fit note has helped reduce absence in their companies. While another 11% were convinced that the GPs are using the fit note to good effect.
The CIPD Adviser, Dr Jill Miller said that according to the research, the fit notes could play a role in encouraging quality dialogues amid the employees and their bosses, which has a constructive effect on management absence. The survey however suggests the fit note is yet to have actual influence on decreased levels of absence. The employees, GPs and employers need a change in culture, considering which it is not a revelation to make certain that a timed return to work is always considered an important and positive part of recovery and rehabilitation of workers.
