Absence and Sickness Records: What HR Should Keep

Absence records serve three purposes: paying people correctly, spotting patterns that need a conversation, and showing that any action taken about attendance was fair and consistent. Most organisations collect far more than those purposes need, particularly about health, and store it in places far too many people can see. The aim is a record that is complete enough to be useful and lean enough to be safe.

What to record for every absence

• Employee and the dates and times of the absence, first day and return.
• Type of absence: sickness, annual leave, family leave, bereavement, unauthorised, and so on.
• How and when it was reported, and to whom.
• For sickness: a brief reason in general terms, as given by the employee.
• Any fit note, medical certificate or self-certification, where your jurisdiction or policy requires one.
• Return-to-work conversation, if your policy includes one: date, who held it, and agreed outcomes.
• Pay treatment: paid, unpaid, statutory or contractual sick pay.

Health details are special

Information about someone's health is treated as especially sensitive under data protection laws in most jurisdictions. That has practical consequences:

• Separate the attendance record from the health detail. A manager tracking attendance needs dates and totals. They rarely need a diagnosis.
• Limit access. Medical certificates, occupational health reports and details of conditions should be seen by HR and the people who genuinely need them, not by everyone with access to the personnel file.
• Record only what you need. "Back pain" is enough; a detailed medical history is not.
• Check your jurisdiction on what you may ask, what you must keep, and what extra rules apply to health data.

Long-term absence

A long absence builds a larger file: regular contact records, occupational health referrals and reports, discussions about adjustments, and decisions about phased returns. Keep a dated log of every contact, what was discussed and what was agreed. Where adjustments are considered, record what was proposed, what was decided and why. That record is essential if any decision is later challenged.

Managing attendance fairly

If your policy uses thresholds or triggers for attendance reviews, apply them consistently and record the calculation. Take care that absences related to disability, pregnancy or other protected reasons are handled as your law and policy require, rather than counted automatically. When an attendance matter becomes formal, the records needed at each stage are similar to those in disciplinary procedures: the records you need at each step, though the process itself should be supportive rather than disciplinary wherever possible.

Where to keep it

Keep each employee's absence record with their HR file, but with the health material in a restricted part of it. A shared spreadsheet of sick days with a "reason" column visible to every manager is the common failure. Per-record or per-section access, where only named roles can open the health details, is what makes the separation real.

How long to keep it

Pay-related absence records usually follow payroll retention periods. Detailed health information should usually go sooner, once its purpose is served, unless it relates to a workplace injury or a live claim. Give each type its own row in your retention schedule so they are not all kept for the longest period by default.