According to a new research by the Institute of Personnel & Development, the sick note is being replaced by the fit note at workplaces, which provides a much-needed push for managers to come up with discussions with their employees and talk of the best way to aid people back to work.
The survey from the CIPD/Simplyhealth found that over half the employers (52%) accept that the initiation of fit note empowers the line managers to start discussions about issues of their staff’s health and absence.
Of those surveyed by the CIPD/Simplyhealth, only 31% i.e. under a third agreed that the fit note enables the line managers to efficiently deal with absence. A large number of employers (87%) confirmed the usage of the fit note in their business but the smaller organisations with less than 50 employees (54%) used it rarely.
However, the employers remain reluctant over the fit note saying that it has not had much effect in decreasing the amount of sick leaves among employees according to the survey. Only 11% of the employers said that the fit note had seen a reduction in leaves in their business. The GPs were thought of being using the fit note efficiently by the exact same number of employers.
CIPD Adviser, Dr Jill Miller said that the research shows the worthiness of the fit notes in upholding of good discussions between employees and the managers, which aids a better management of leaves. Nonetheless, the fit note does not have an influential effect on levels of leave. This comes in as no shock thinking of the cultural change required by employers, employees and the GPs to make sure that a periodic comeback is considered positive and integrally a part of employees’ recovery and rehabilitation.
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