Handling sickness absence in a performance improvement procedure

By Darren Newman

Managing underperformance is a critical part of effective people management, and many employers rely on a structured performance improvement plan (PIP) to help employees get back on track. A well‑designed PIP provides clear objectives, ongoing support and measurable milestones, giving employees a fair opportunity to improve and demonstrate sustained performance.

However, the process becomes more challenging when an employee goes off sick—whether the absence happens to coincide with the PIP or is triggered by it.

Our guide gives HR teams practical, compliant steps for managing sickness absence during a performance improvement procedure, helping you balance fairness, employee wellbeing and organisational needs. It explains how to approach unrelated sickness absences, as well as cases where the absence may be linked to the PIP itself, ensuring that performance management remains consistent, reasonable and defensible.

In this guide, learn about:

• Short-term sickness absence
• Long-term sickness absence
  • Health-related performance issues
• Absence related to performance management
  • Adjusting the performance improvement procedure
  • Absence caused by the job requirements
• Redeployment
• Dismissal
• Reaching a settlement

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