Ongoing pressure on businesses to do more with less is contributing to a rising number of employees coming to work while affected by physical or psychological ill health, warns a psychologist.
Emotional issues arising outside of work can have a massive impact on mental health in the workplace, so employers should create an environment where workers feel comfortable seeking help for them, according to counselling and training specialist Anastasia Massouras.
A shift away from the "sick note" and towards the "fit note" will be a win for both employers and employees, says the head of Melbourne healthcare business UHG, but employers need to negotiate to have greater involvement in the employee-doctor relationship.
The Fair Work Commission has delivered an important decision on the rights of employers faced with uninformative medical certificates covering sick leave.
More than half of the population will experience a mental illness at some stage in their lives, and most will choose to conceal it, so employers need to beware of performance-managing workers who are unwell, says Swinburne University of Technology's Doctor Mirella Romanella.
A health initiative that won over workers with the slogan, "How to lose weight and drink beer", and brought management on board with stats that created "a sense of urgency", has helped a blue-collar workforce to reduce its absenteeism, presenteeism, and injury rates.
Confusion about how long an organisation should retain a sick or injured employee who's unable to work could be stopping many employers from lawfully terminating absent staff, according to lawyers from Hicksons' workplace relations group.
HR professionals should "spread the net far and wide" in building a case for absence management, identifying where risks lie and what their costs are before putting forward a plan, according to HR expert and author, Graham Smith.
HR professionals who encounter suspicious medical certificates are entitled to question them, but "you should be very sure of your facts before putting allegations to employees", according to Workplace Law managing director Athena Koelmeyer.
What are your options when an employee is sick after exhausting all leave entitlements? Have you ever been given a medical certificate that seems less than legit? Watch this webcast to understand how to manage personal leave in a legally sound way.
Workplace bullying complaints continue to pose significant challenges for employers, including where the behaviour doesn't meet the legal definition of bullying or the threshold to make a claim. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to understand key lessons from cases where bullying complaints interact with other claims and issues.
What constitutes "best practice" when managing neurodiversity at work is evolving all the time. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to learn how to embed neuroinclusive practices into HR programs and every stage of the employment lifecycle.
