Swine flu: A quarter of employers not fully prepared for changes to sickness self-certification
By David Woods Thursday, 06 August 2009
More than a quarter of payroll staff are ill-prepared to cope with government contingency plans to change the sickness self-certification period for staff during the swine flu pandemic.
Further Reading
- Flu costs the British economy £1.35 billion
- Employers warned to educate staff on the importance of hand-washing in minimising infection
- The CIPD has accused employers of relaxing their guard over swine flu
- Swine flu: Local councils are failing in their duty to help small firms prepare for an epidemic
- The 'well note' could result in sick employees returning to work too early
- Forcing swine flu vaccinations on staff could be a legal minefield for employers
- Swine flu: Employers prepared to close their premises to stop spread of virus
- Redundancies and payment changes increase the workload of payroll staff
- Swine flu: how to handle absences and protect the remaining workforce
- Doctors can be an exception to the Working Time rules
- Swine flu won't affect doctors' implementation of Working Time rules, says NHS Employers
- Working Time regulations implementation should be postponed because of swine flu implications
- Government must help SMEs cope with swine flu, says Federation of Small Businesses
- British Chambers of Commerce to host swine flu interactive web seminar
- Swine flu mass staff absence could relieve companies of their contractual obligations
- Swine flu call-centre to open in London offering 800 temporary jobs - including HR roles
- Swine flu absence set to cost business £8.6 billion
- Swine flu: Employers could face fines for not protecting staff from the virus
- CIPD backs plans to allow staff with swine flu to self-certificate for up to 14 days
- Health and wellbeing: Healthcare provision - Healthy competition
- One in 10 employers still not prepared for swine flu
- Don't panic over swine flu, TUC boss warns
- How should HR departments handle fears of a swine flu pandemic?
- Employee who may have been in contact with swine flu is asked to work from home
- EXCLUSIVE: Huge numbers of companies keen to get hold of swine-flu, anti-viral medication for staff
- Increase in numbers calling in sick with coughs, colds and flu following swine flu pandemic reports
Last month the Government announced plans to allow staff infected with swine flu to take 14 days off work, without a doctor's certificate. But according to the Institute of Payroll professionals (IPP), less than three quarters of organisations (73%) are prepared to cope with the changes.
The IPP finds more than a third (36%) of organisations are not covered by pandemics by their insurance policy.
Employers fear their staff will use the extended self-certification period to "pull sickies" and take extra time off work. But Lindsay Melvin, CEO of the IPP, said communication to employees will be crucial to manage the changes: "For those businesses unprepared it is vital they assess their current contingency plans and have a communication strategy in place for keeping their workforce updated on the rapidly changing pandemic situation."
She said: "It is also important they check with their payroll software provider to ensure the software will allow the processing of a greater self-certification period."
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