Law firms need to improve their management of employee absence and 'sickies', it was claimed this week.

Speaking in the wake of moves by Tesco to crack down on staff absenteeism, and a survey by Norwich Union that found that around 22 million sick notes are requested from GPs every year, Sara Morgan, an employment partner at Leeds firm Brooke North, said there was a tendency among professional firms 'not to manage your own employee affairs and let absence management go'.

She said: 'A minority of employees are quite blatant and assume a certain amount of sick leave is their entitlement, almost a form of extra holiday.

We all know the scenario with the "Monday morning malingerer".' But law firms tend to let such behaviour go for such a long time that by the time they want to address it, it is too late, she added.

Ms Morgan advised firms to put in place a management system for dealing with persistent abuse of the system, offering a four-point plan: monitor absences accurately, measure absences, conduct interviews when employees return to work, and introduce a system of rewards for those who are rarely absent, and penalties - such as disciplinary action - for those who are often away without a legitimate reason.

She said firms should use a method such as the Bradford Points System to assess the frequency of absences, which reflects the greater disruption caused by employees who are away on isolated days, rather than a longer stretches.

She explained: 'The Bradford system highlights repeated short absences by giving extra weight to the number of occasions of absence.

For example, the employee who is absent for five separate days will score 125 points, whereas the person away for a week just five points.'

Firms would then set a point benchmark above which employees who could not provide a good reason would face disciplinary action.

Ms Morgan emphasised: 'Only by putting in place systems that allow employers to monitor and manage the process can companies ensure that they are equipped to deal with staff absences and the long-term consequences.'

Neil Rose