Making the return to work process simple

Online return to work forms allows managers to document sickness instances, improving the efficiency of the return to work process.

sickness tracking

Ensuring an effective & efficient return to work process

Return to work forms

Create your own return to work forms to automatically be sent to an employee following an absence – or use one of our templates.

Fit notes & medical certificates

Securely store fit notes, medical certificates and other HR documents within edays, and control who has access to them.

Employee wellbeing

Send NHS guidance to absent employees (UK only), link to your EAP directly from edays, and log reasons for every unplanned absence.

Absence alerts & triggers

Set up absence triggers and receive alerts when these are met. Optional Bradford Factor scoring is also included.

RETURN TO WORK

Streamlining the return to work process

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Custom-built back to work forms

The return to work process is an important aspect of absence management, helping to prioritise wellbeing and ensure employees are able to return to work smoothly. Our customisable return to work forms give you the flexibility to manage them however you require.

Here’s what it looks like:

  • Customise your own return to work forms
  • Alternatively, use one of our templates
  • Send a return to work form to an employee who can then complete it, all within edays
  • Safely secure fit notes and other documents in an employee’s records within the system
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Identify staff support needs

A consistent return to work process helps managers identify any areas of concern within their team. edays is designed to make the absence journey as streamlined as possible.

Here’s how:

  • Log every instance of absence, along with a reason for it
  • Set up absence triggers to alert managers when several absences have occurred
  • Check absence reasons to see if there are any recurring issues within teams
  • Use return to work forms to capture why an employee was absent
  • If enabled, use Bradford Factor scoring to monitor absence rates

TESTIMONIALS

Customers benefitting from an easy solution

“edays has made the job of managing absence easier. It has cut down on time spent looking to see if holidays are allowed and reduced the number of emails having to be sent to advise employees as to whether a holiday has been approved or not. The initial set-up was easy to understand & work with.”

Neil Partridge

HR Director

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“The rollout of edays was really straight forward and we felt supported. Having the team help us with implementation and being on hand with technical advice was really appreciated. And in terms of being able to easily handle the different working terms and conditions of different sites, it’s been great to have the support on managing this with the various templates and settings.”

Aaron Elliott

Senior HR Manager

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“As an introduction to a company that hasn’t used this kind of software before, our experience has been a really good one. The flexibility is great – we’ve set up various custom absence types in the system, which has really helped us to reduce admin time spent on requests. For example, we’ve got a medical appointment one and that is limited to four hours. So if someone tries to put that in for a day, it won’t allow them to do it. It’s such a time-saver.

To get everyone on board with a new system is often hard, but everyone I’ve spoken to seems to really enjoy using it. It’s straightforward, it’s not complicated, it’s really clear; you can see your leave, entitlement, working pattern. And I think that’s the key thing when you’re introducing this kind of system to people.”

Vanessa Garrod

HR Manager

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“edays is a great system that is easy to use and understand when it comes to logging sickness and booking holiday. It provides us with all the absence information we need through one screen and the system can offer expert medical advice to ill employees at the click of a button.”

Mathias Grosse

HR Officer

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Find out more about return to work forms

Like short-term sickness absence, long-term sickness absence differs from organisation to organisation. If an employee has been absent from work for a lengthy amount of time, or they have a recurring illness that requires them to be off sick regularly, these situations will be discussed with the individual. Reasonable working adjustments may be necessary, and the employer can seek medical guidance and certification from the appropriate healthcare providers to determine what is best for the employee and their role.

There is no set length of time that is considered to constitute short-term sickness absence. In the UK for example, ACAS considers short-term sickness absence to be less than a week, whereas the CIPD considers it to be less than four weeks. For HR, it is largely up to the preference of an organisation as set out in its absence management policy, as to what is deemed to be short- or long-term sickness absence. In the UK, statutory sick pay is a legal entitlement that employees have, paid for by their employer, for up to 28 weeks. Some organisations elect to provide full pay to an employee for a certain amount of time (for example for the first few days of sickness leave), before starting statutory sick pay.

Sickness tracking is important because it provides HR teams with an overall picture of how often absence is occurring in the workplace. Sickness leave can affect productivity and output, add extra strain on individuals or teams that are having to cover, and be an expensive cost to an organisation. Therefore knowing exactly how sickness absence is impacting an organisation can help to empower HR and people managers to address any issues and provide additional employee support and ensure better resource planning.

Sick leave software such as edays is a system designed to quickly record and view all absences in an organisation as they occur, providing clarity on who is off work and when. With edays, managers can use the Bradford Factor scoring system to calculate an absence rate on a individual, team or company-wide level. Triggers can also be set up to alert managers when that trigger is met. For example, if an employee is absent on three occasions over a set period of time.

Sickness management refers to the process of managing sickness absences as they occur in the workplace. Sickness absences should always be logged, along with a reason for the absence. By doing so, recurring absences can be quickly identified and proactive steps can be taken to offer additional support to the employee. A clear absence management policy should also be in place as part of managing sickness. This will detail who an employee should inform if they are sick, the statutory sick pay they are entitled to, and what happens if they are sick for a longer period of time. Sickness management also means people managers regularly checking in with an absent employee. It may be that reasonable adjustments can be made by the employer to facilitate the employee’s return to work, or their working environment or schedule going forward if they have a recurring health issue.

edays absence management software is different to other absence monitoring software providers because our system is purpose built to be as customisable as possible, allowing HR and people managers to use it in ways that suit their organisation’s unique requirements. Our absence system supports part-time and full-time employees, and leave and absence can be recorded in either days or hours. We can handle leave carryover, overtime tracking, clocking in and out, and we enable organisations adhere to the EU Working Time Directive, among many other features. We also cater to large and global organisations with several locations – be it in one country or multiple. edays absence management software users can be separated into groups, with different leave entitlements and rules set for each one, meaning you can manage employees in one country differently to another. This way, you can ensure you remain globally compliant according to varying regulations around the world. This flexibility and configurability makes edays absence management software the leading choice for absence, leave and time management software.

Yes. With edays absence management software you can track sickness absence – both long and short-term – as well as any other type of unplanned absence, such as lateness or emergency time off.

Our system lets people managers provide a reason for each absence occurrence, and you can create as many different types of absence as you like.

Absence triggers can be set to alert managers when certain criteria has been met, so you can intervene early before absenteeism becomes more of a significant issue.

Our absence reporting tools let you analyse all of this absence data, including the reasons, helping you to identify any patterns or trends amongst individuals, teams or locations across your organisation.

Yes, edays offer clocking in functionality. Employees can clock in and clock out of work via desktop or mobile app in just a few taps. Our refreshable, printable QR codes can be placed in different locations so that employees can ‘clock in’ to a certain area, task or activity. Visit our time tracking software page to learn more.

Yes, with edays time tracking software, employees are able to create online timesheets on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

These can then be sent for approval to managers, who can also run reports on working hours in their teams.

Overtime can also be tracked, and mandatory breaks can be enforced.

edays timesheet software also provides the ability to assign working hours to different projects and activities, for a clear picture on how time is spent in your organisation.

edays time tracking software is a module that enables organisations to record employee working hours. The software consists of various elements – including the ability to clock in and out, either via desktop or mobile app. Refreshable, printable QR codes can also be placed in different locations and by scanning them, employees can clock in to a certain area or task.

Our time tracking software also includes the ability to create and submit online timesheets on a weekly or monthly basis. Timesheets can be submitted to line managers for approval, and reported on on a weekly or monthly basis. Projects, activities or tasks can be assigned to timesheets, so managers can see how much time has been spent on different work throughout a day, week or month.

The software also allows managers to enforce mandatory breaks, and overtime can be logged within the system too.

Find out more about our time tracking software here.

Yes. If enabled, edays automatically calculates an ongoing Bradford Factor score for every employee, and if turned on, can display live scores on individual profiles. If you do not use the Bradford Factor, this feature can be turned off at the click of a button. Try our Bradford Factor Calculator here.

Yes. edays allows you to track any type of planned (e.g. holidays, maternity leave, medical appointments, business trips, time off in lieu (TOIL), etc.) or unplanned absence (e.g. sickness, compassionate leave, unpaid leave, etc.) in a single system. You can also create custom absence types specific to your organisation, such as wellbeing leave, and define rules for how these are to be used and recorded. Learn more about our holiday booking system and sickness tracker.

The return to work process is made faster and more efficient with edays. A reason can be logged alongside an individual’s sickness absence, and for UK employees, relevant NHS guidance can be forwarded on to them to aid in their recovery (see more on our NHS Portal here). You can automatically send a return to work form to an employee who is returning from sickness absence. This is then stored in the employee’s details in edays, alongside any doctor’s fit notes or medical certificates that may be required. Before conducting return to work interviews, managers and HR can review the employee’s records and view any previous absences to be fully equipped ahead of the individual’s return.

edays supports all custom absence types, allowing you to add as many types as you like. You also have the ability to define rules for how these are to be used and managed. For a full list of leave management features, click here.

Yes. You can configure system alerts to trigger if specific absence conditions are exceeded and automatically notify specified individuals via email immediately. Find out more about the edays sickness tracker.

Yes. As a cloud-based system, edays can be accessed 24/7 meaning employees always have access to their absence records and can check their entitlement through our annual leave tracker. And, authorised users can export specific absence data from the system at any time.

Yes. edays allows you to configure all absence types to be recorded in hours, days or half-days, with customisable settings for different working patterns (i.e. shift work, part-time employees, etc.) Find out more about our staff holiday management features.

Yes. edays has the unique ability to manage and track employee long service awards.

We have many optional features which are frequently being added to, for example: Employee Directory Document Portal Time Tracking Mobile App People Insights Workflow Builder Explore our features pages or chat to our sales team to see which may be right for you.

Yes! Our absence management mobile app lets you access edays from your phone or tablet anywhere, any time. Employees can request leave on the go with our app. Managers will receive a notification and they can log in and approve the request in just a few taps. Sickness absences can also be logged quickly, without the need to log in to your desktop.

The security of our customer’s data is our top priority. We are ISO 27001 certified and data is stored on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. All data is encrypted at all times, both at rest and in transit using the most modern encryption standard and algorithms. For more information, click here to head over to our Security Section.

edays absence management software is different to other absence monitoring software providers because our system is purpose built to be as customisable as possible, allowing HR and people managers to use it in ways that suit their organisation’s unique requirements. Our absence system supports part-time and full-time employees, and leave and absence can be recorded in either days or hours. We can handle leave carryover, overtime tracking, clocking in and out, and we enable organisations adhere to the EU Working Time Directive, among many other features. We also cater to large and global organisations with several locations – be it in one country or multiple. edays absence management software users can be separated into groups, with different leave entitlements and rules set for each one, meaning you can manage employees in one country differently to another. This way, you can ensure you remain globally compliant according to varying regulations around the world. This flexibility and configurability makes edays absence management software the leading choice for absence, leave and time management software.

Yes. With edays absence management software you can track sickness absence – both long and short-term – as well as any other type of unplanned absence, such as lateness or emergency time off.

Our system lets people managers provide a reason for each absence occurrence, and you can create as many different types of absence as you like.

Absence triggers can be set to alert managers when certain criteria has been met, so you can intervene early before absenteeism becomes more of a significant issue.

Our absence reporting tools let you analyse all of this absence data, including the reasons, helping you to identify any patterns or trends amongst individuals, teams or locations across your organisation.

As well as absence management software, edays also offers leave management software – giving organisations a reliable, accurate way of allocating, booking, approving, and tracking all different types of employee leave.

We also offer time tracking software, which includes clock in and clock out functionality and online timesheets.

Our modules are packed with innovative, customisable and useful features – many of which you won’t find elsewhere. Thanks to our configurability, we’re able to help thousands of organisations around the world track employee holiday, leave, sickness absence, and working hours in ways that best suit their operational needs.

There are many benefits to using edays absence management software, which vary depending on the size and type of organisation you are, and which industry you’re operating in.

edays is a great option if you’re looking to reduce your admin burden and eliminate the need for spreadsheets and paper forms when dealing with timesheets, and absence and leave requests. This is helpful to most organisations, that are either SMEs and therefore short on resources, or large and global organisations looking for a consistent, reliable and centralised system for handling employee holidays, leave, time tracking and sickness absence in one place.

We can also offer many industry-specific benefits, too. edays provides a streamlined platform for handling leave, absence and time tracking for organisations that have a mix of employees, including office and non-office based staff, part-time and full-time members of staff, and multiple locations in one country and/or around the world.

From employee wellbeing and compliance perspectives, edays provides organisations with the tools they need to be globally compliant according to the rules and regulations in different countries, and to take proactive steps to monitor and address their employees’ absence rates with a view to reducing absenteeism in the workplace.

To explore how we can help your organisation’s specific needs, please visit our solutions and industries pages to find out more.

Yes, edays absence management software is UK-based, but operates globally. Hundreds of organisations use our absence management software in the UK, as well as many in Europe and elsewhere in the world.

edays absence management software can be used by all types of organisation, wherever you are located in the world. We specialise in companies with 50+ employees, and if your business has a mix of office and non-office based workers, part-time and full-time employees, or operates from multiple locations, we can help. Our absence, leave and time management software provides one centralised system for tracking all types of employee attendance and time off.

edays absence management software is a purpose-built system to manage all your absence, sickness and leave types. edays makes managing sickness absence easier and gives you the ability to be proactive in the support you give to your people. Our staff holiday booking system makes requesting and approving annual leave, and other types of leave, simple and easy. Our time tracking software also makes clocking in and out, and completing timesheets, quick and accurate. With edays, you can not only plan your resources better, you can use data to drive decisions that make for a better and a more productive workforce.

We focus on providing the best absence management, leave management and time tracking solutions for your organisation. We’ll listen to your requirements and offer a best-in-class solution with more functionality compared to any other HR system providers. Our system is packed with features you won’t find anywhere else – helping you to manage absence, leave and time in more detailed, customisable ways that suit your organisation.