At the heart of the Absence Line service, is a call centre with a local rate telephone number, staffed by trained operators, into which employees report their absence.

As each absence report is received, an email is sent to the individual's manager and any other relevant parties, informing them of the reason for absence, the expected duration of the absence and details of any work in progress which may need attention before their return.

If required, a nurse is available to call absentees at pre-defined times. This is proven to be a valuable part of the return to work process, and can be scheduled to suit specific requirements within your organisation.

When the employee returns to work, they call or email Absence Line again and a further email is sent to the manager with partially completed return to work documentation attached. The manager then replies to this email confirming that a return to work interview has been carried out and informing the call centre of any changes to the absence record.

Customised statistical reports are produced at predefined intervals, detailing the absence situation for both the organisation as a whole, and for individual departments.

If an individual has breached any of the agreed thresholds, then both the Line Manager and Occupational Health are informed. This system works extremely effectively, either when IMASS provides the Occupational Health service or when the organisation has it’s own Occupational Health provider. The system can also automatically inform an organisations Health and Safety team when an absence is likely to become RIDDOR reportable.