The sickness area allows you to log employee sickness and update the status depending on whether the sickness is complete or not. 

You can also attach documents to a sickness record like a sick note and see a Bradford Factor score based on employee's closed sickness record.

On your dashboard, as a Line Manager, you can review the employee's by clicking the review button (right facing arrow icon)

You can then either raise a query or close the record so it can be added to their Bradford Factor. 

Click on the record and it will display a summary of the sickness record.

Here you can raise a query and add sick note as well as add reasons for the query or you can mark the sickness as complete. To save changes select the update button, this will change the status of the record on the sickness tab of the employee's record.

Another way to view sickness is by selecting sickness tab from the employees profile  you can view all sickness records for your employee.

You will be able to view the sickness type, status, the start and end dates and how many days working time lost, you can choose the order you wish to view these fields by using the column filters by selecting the column title.

From here you can also add a sickness for your employee or if you need to view a record in more detail, click the arrow icon this will open a sickness summary.

Should you need to edit the record use the pencil edit icon or delete the record using the bin icon from within your employee's sickness record.

When you view a sickness record on an employee's profile, you will see a selection of status options.

OPEN: This means the employee has just logged a sickness and are currently off sick

RETURNED TO WORK: The employee has returned to work, however the sickness is still requiring some form of 'follow up'. 

QUERY RAISED: The employee has returned, but you require clarification from the employee as to why they have been off sick

CLOSED/COMPLETE: The employee has returned to work and does not require any further action to take place. If you close the sickness record, it will be calculated and added to the total number of absences, however you can still add documentation at a later date if needed.

To add backdated sickness:

When setting up your account, you may decide that you wish to add your employee's back dates sickness records.

   2. Click the blue + button

   3. Fill out the first day of sick leave, and the last day of sick leave (you only need to          enter an end date if the employee has returned to work). Choose the sickness            type from the drop down list. You are also able to enter an employee note. The            employee note can be seen by the employee. Click 'add sickness'

     4. This will then appear on their sickness summary page.
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   5. Additional Step: If you wish to add documentation to a sickness record, click the           arrow icon. This will take you through to the individual sickness summary where           you can attach documents. 

Usually this is because there is a conflicting absence elsewhere on the employee's profile.

The system will not allow you to record more than one reason for an absence, this could be another sickness or holiday/other leave.

Therefore, the conflicting absence will need to be cancelled out before the sickness can be closed off.
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Sickness metrics showing as 0 days

A common question we get asked is, my employee has sickness records entered into their profile but the total number of absences is '0'. Why is this? 

This is because the sickness record has not been marked as closed or complete. 

As you can see the status is currently open. Click arrow icon to go into the sickness record then the pencil icon to edit the record and update the status to complete.

Once this sickness has been closed, it will account to the total number of absences. 

The Bradford factor is a great way of measuring the level of absenteeism in your workplace.

The annual sickness report in Breathe provides a Bradford Factor score for each employee. This is calculated using the following formula:

E² x D = Bradford Factor

E represents the number of instances of absence

D represents the total number of days absent in a 52 week period
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For example, if an employee was absent from work on 3 separate occasions with a total of 4 days off the calculation would look like this:

3 x 3 x 4 = 36

The employee’s Bradford Factor would therefore be 36.

An employee who takes frequent short spells of sick days will have a higher Bradford Factor compared with an employee who takes infrequent but longer periods of time off sick.

For example, if an employee has a total of 6 days off sick in a year, their Bradford Factor score will be very different depending on the number of instances of absence:

The Bradford Factor calculation does not take account of the reason for the absence. Therefore, it is wise to use the Bradford factor as an initial trigger for any short and frequent absence but it should never be used in isolation. 

If you don't wish to use the Bradford Factor, this can be disabled by going to Configure > Settings > Change what HR users can see and do and unticking the 'Use Bradford Factor' box (shown below).

Please note, this is a blanket permission and will remove Bradford Factor calculations for everyone within the Breathe account.

This can be for a number of reasons:

If the line manager has been given the option to manage their employees sickness they will be able to update and make notes. The permissions are found under Configure > settings > permissions and approvals > change what employees can see and do make sure that there are ticks in the boxes for sickness and they will be able to action the sickness.

Breathe doesn't offer the capacity to set sickness triggers. We offer the option to use the Bradford Factor in calculating your employee sickness (please read above in this guide for further details), but not the function to input your own sickness triggers.