Job Retention and Rehabilitation Pilot: Employers' management of long-term sickness absence

The study explored how employers view and deal with sickness absence. It was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions to inform work undertaken through the Government’s Job Retention and Rehabilitation Pilot (JRRP), which is trialling ways of helping people on sick leave to return to work. In-depth interviews were carried out with 53 representatives with differing roles in 22 public, private and voluntary sector organisations in four of the six pilot areas. The main aims were to understand how sickness absence policies translate into practice and to investigate any needs for extra help or information to manage sickness absence.