Between Policy and Practice: Line Manager Discretion in Public Sector Sickness Absence Management

Sickness absence remains a persistent and under theorised challenge within Human Resource Management (HRM), causing organisational disruption, economic losses, and significant concerns for managers and policymakers. This thesis examines how absence management is enacted, interpreted and negotiated through line manager-employee relationships in a large UK public sector organisation. Drawing on interviews with current and former line managers, this qualitative study investigates how line managers approach sickness absence, the underlying rationales for their approaches, and the organisational, procedural and interpersonal factors that shape or constrain their practice.
The study identifies a persistent disconnection between formal absence policies and everyday enactment. A central finding concerns the transformation of managerial discretion. Earlier organisational norms afforded line managers autonomy to exercise judgement, adapt procedures and respond to individual circumstances. Over time discretion has been increasingly restricted by formalised HRM systems, intensified oversight and heightened expectations of procedural compliance. The temporally comparative design revealed former line managers described a relational, trust based approach, contrasting with risk oriented, compliance driven environments reported by current managers.
Discretion remains essential to absence management because sickness absence is inherently relational and context‑dependent. Line managers’ lack of scope to exercise judgement can weaken trust, communication and the psychological contract, with implications for attendance and engagement. These relational dynamics, evident in absence management are especially pronounced in mental health related cases, where ambiguity, fluctuating symptoms and the need for psychological safety elevate the importance of interpersonal judgement. Enhancing line managers’ capacity to exercise discretion could potentially reduce absence levels, particularly in mental‑health cases.
The thesis contributes to managerial discretion theory by drawing on moral agency, paradox theory and the psychological contract to show that discretion is not merely a procedural mechanism, but a form of moral and relational judgement. It highlights organisational barriers that restrict this capacity and helps explain the gap between academic recommendations and organisational practice.