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c ABSENTEEISM
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For any organisation to succeed, its employees play a vital role in translating business
philosophy and planed strategy into definable actions.
These actions, when executed within an acceptable quality frame work and in a timely manner,
will lead to successful results. Thus, having a well trained, motivated, skilled staff with correct
attitude will be the path to success provided that the expectations of the management have been
communicated clearly to them. Excellent attendance is an expectation of all employers. Daily
attendance is especially important for hourly employees whose customers and coworkers have
the expectation of on-time product/ service delivery.

However, absenteeism of employees has become one of the biggest hassles faced by most of the
managers. It is becoming a fast emerging issue around the world ccc
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Attendance is the fact of being present at work. Also, attendance is used to define the number of
persons present on a particular day at work. In other words, absenteeism is failing to show up for
work when you are scheduled to be there. The effects of absenteeism in the workplace are
directly related to decreased productivity. The company, eventually is at a loss trying to cover up
the indirect cost involved to hire temporary staff, and pay employees for overtime
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Labor Bureau Simla, defined the term µabsenteeism¶ as ³the failure of a worker to report
for work when he is scheduled to work´
Despite the significance of their presence, employees sometimes fail to report at the work
place during the scheduled time, which is known as absenteeism
The term absenteeism refers to the failure to attend to work. It is one of themajor problems faced
by companies across the globe today. Unscheduled absenteeism badly hurts the progress of an
organization resulting in loss of productivity, increased costs in hiring additional staff and low
morale among theworkers. It is high time that employers address this problem on a priority basis.

Employees can be absent for a variety of reasons including sickness, lethargic attitude, family
emergencies, too much workload and stress, monotonous work or a general dissatisfaction
with the job. A sales professional cites some other reasons like workplace politics, long
commute, strained relationship with the immediate supervisor and lack of belongingness
towards theorganization as reasons for being absent from work. Whatever be the reason
absenteeism is not at all a healthy practice and steps should be taken to manage it effectively.

Innocent absenteeism refers to being absent for those reasons that are beyond the control
of the employees like accidents or illnesses. Under such circumstances the employees should not
be blamed for not turning up at work. Culpable absenteeism on the other hand is when
employees absent themselves at a time when they are fully capable to attend office. This type of
no shows should always be discouraged for it can become a burden tothe organization in the long
run.

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Research studies have further reveled that:

1.c The days before and after a holiday are liable to higher rate of absenteeism.
2.c Women are absent more often than men.
3.c Heavy rain, cyclone of any other natural calamity can increase rate of absenteeism, especially
among who live at distant places.
-.c Employees under the age of 25 years and above the age of 55 years are absent more often than
those in age group of 26 to 55 years.
5.c Operative employees are absent more frequently than the supervisors and managers.

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Absenteeism are classified in to four types

ac   : If an employee absent himself from work by taking


permission from his superior and applying for leave

ac u  : If an employee absent himself from work without


informing or taking permission and without applying for leave.
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ac ½  : If an employee absents himself from duty willfully

ac        :If an employee absent


himself from duty owing to the circumstances beyond his control like accidents or
sickness.
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In addition to ensuring that work is appropriately covered during the employee¶s absence, there
are a number of other critical actions that supervisors need to take to manage absenteeism. They
should:
ac ensure that all employees are fully aware of the organization¶s policies and procedures for
dealing with absence,
ac be the first point of contact when an employee phones in sick,
ac maintain appropriately detailed, accurate, and up-to-date absence records for their staff, (e.g.,
date, nature of illness/reason for absence, expected return to work date, doctor¶s certification if
necessary),
ac identify any patterns or trends of absence which cause concern,
ac conduct return-to-work interviews, and
ac Implement disciplinary procedures where necessary.
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An HR Manager working in a multinational company suggests few steps of


keeping absenteeism to a minimum.

‡ Communicate your attendance policy across all levels in the organization clearly
‡ Measure and thereby monitor the rate of absenteeism in your company on a regular basis
‡ Initiate periodic health checkups to avoid absences resulting out of illnesses
‡ Implement reward schemes for those employees who are regular
‡ Create a favorable and peaceful work environment where relationship between workers and
supervisors are professional and devoid of conflict.
‡ Provide adequate training to managers particularly authoritative ones to curb absenteeism
‡ Engage supervisors to speak to employees who were absent and have returned to work
‡ Educate and engage your employees actively in the organization. Disciplinary action to correct
absentees should mostly be avoided. However counseling sessions can prove useful.
‡ Keep your employees motivated and try making the organization a fun place to work

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After turnover, absenteeism can be one of the most critical human resource issues for businesses.
Observing, evaluating, and attempting to improve absenteeism can be extremely difficult, but
with the proper understanding of what causes absenteeism and how to reduce it, businesses can
limit the negative side effects of employee attendance issues.

In addition to lowered workplace morale, less team cohesion, and decreased organizational
commitment, employee absenteeism is detrimental to businesses in respect to the increased costs
associated with high instances of absenteeism. When employees do not come to work, employers
are financially burdened due to the lost productivity and increased costs associated with finding
and paying for temporary replacements. Additionally, absenteeism is positively correlated with
turnover, which means that the more an employee misses work, the more likely he or she is to
eventually leave the company. This resulting turnover also financially impacts a business
because of the costs associated with finding and training a permanent replacement.

   
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Unscheduled absences disturb the smooth functioning of the organisation. Indeed, absenteeism
can create an impact on the profitability of a small business directly and slowly on multinational
companies, in several different respects. The most obvious cost is in the area of sick leave
benefits (if the business offers such benefits) but there are significant hidden costs as well.

oc Lost productivity of the absent employee


oc Overtime for other employees to fill in
oc Decreased overall productivity of those employees
oc Any temporary help costs incurred
oc Possible loss of business or dissatisfied customersc
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The costs associated with absenteeism can be controlled. While scheduled time off for vacations
and illnesses is an inevitable cost of doing business, managing things in such a way as to
discourage excessive absenteeism is well worth the effort.

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Many small business owners do not establish absenteeism policies for their companies. Some
owners have only a few employees, and do not feel that it is worth the trouble. Others operate
businesses in which "sick pay" is not provided to employees. Workers in such firms thus have a
significant incentive to show up for work; if they do not, their paycheck suffers. And others
simply feel that absenteeism is not a significant problem; they see no need to institute new
policies or make any changes to the few existing rules that might already be in place.

But many small business consultants counsel entrepreneurs and business owners to consider
establishing formal written policies that mesh with state and federal laws. Written policies can
give employers added legal protection from employees who have been fired or disciplined for
excessive absenteeism provided that those policies explicitly state the allowable number of
absences, the consequences of excessive absenteeism, and other relevant aspects of the policy.
Moreover, noted p    
, "a formal, detailed policy that addresses absences,
tardiness, failure to call in, and leaving early can serve to prevent misconceptions about
acceptable behavior, inconsistent discipline, complaints of favoritism, morale problems, and
charges of illegal discrimination. General statements that excessive absenteeism will be a cause
for discipline may be insufficient and may lead to problems."

Changes in company culture and policy have been cited as effective in reducing absenteeism.
The use of flexible schedules, whenever possible, is one way to offer employees a means of
managing their own personal time needs and thus reducing unscheduled absences. Many small
businesses that have introduced flextime, compressed work weeks, job sharing, and
telecommuting options to their workforce have seen absenteeism fall significantly; these policies
provide employees with much greater leeway to strike a balance between office and home that
works for them (and the employer).
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Most employees are conscientious workers with good attendance records (or even if they are
forced to miss significant amounts of work, the reasons are legitimate). However, it is estimated
that as many as three of hundred workers are likely to exploit the system by taking more than the
allotted sick time or more days than actually necessary.

To address absenteeism, then, many small businesses that employ workers have established one
of two absenteeism policies. The first is a traditional absenteeism policy that distinguishes
between excused and unexcused absences. Under such policies, employees are provided with a
set number of sick days (also sometimes called "personal" days in recognition that employees
occasionally need to take time off to attend to personal/family matters) and a set number of
vacation days. Workers who are absent from work after exhausting their sick days are required to
use vacation days under this system. Absences that take place after both sick and vacation days
have been exhausted are subject to disciplinary action. The second policy alternative, commonly
known as a "no-fault" system, permits each employee a specified number of absences annually
(either days or "occurrences," in which multiple days of continuous absence are counted as a
single occurrence); this policy does not consider the reason for the employee's absence. As with
traditional absence policies, once the employee's days have been used up, he or she is subject to
disciplinary action.

Ë Ë
Some companies do not allow employees to carry sick days over from year to year. The benefits
and disadvantages of this policy continue to be debated in businesses across the country. Some
analysts contend that most employees do not require large numbers of sick days and that systems
that allow carryovers are more likely to be abused by poor employees than appropriately utilized
by good employees, who, if struck down by a long-term illness, often have disability alternatives.

A friendly feature that can be added onto a "use it or lose it" sick day policy is the option of
donating unused earned days to a leave bank for colleagues suffering from catastrophic illnesses.
Although this may not be an incentive to all employees to conserve sick days, it does offer
dedicated employees a means of putting what they may consider legitimately earned hours to a
positive use.

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Absenteeism policies are useless if the business does not also implement and maintain an
effective system for tracking employee attendance. Some companies are able to track
absenteeism through existing payroll systems, but for those who do not have this option, they
need to make certain that they put together a system that can: 1) keep an accurate count of
individual employee absences; 2) tabulate company wide absenteeism totals; 3) calculate the
financial impact that these absences have on the business; -) detect periods when absences are
particularly high; and 5) differentiate between various types of absences.

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Many studies suggest that most of employee absenteeism, roughly between 60% and 70%, is due
to reasons other than employee illness. The following are the most common reasons employees
tend to miss work.

ac Employees are stressed or preoccupied by personal matters, such as parental concerns,


marital problems, community involvement, family well-being, care for elderly relatives,
care for severely ill immediate family members, and so on.
ac Employees are overwhelmed with their current working situation, or they are overworked
due to workforce reductions and voluntary turnover.
ac Employees are dissatisfied with their current working conditions, position, team
performance, supervisor, or overall organization.
ac Employees are not committed to their team, department, or organization.
ac Employees are not challenged by their position and have increased feelings of burnout.




º   
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Understanding the causes for absenteeism cannot be done through a superficial study of
the employees¶ behavioural pattern. Sudden sickness, stress, vehicle breakdown, lack of
daycare facility, parent falling sick, death of a relative, down-right laziness are some of
the well known excuses given by employees for sudden absence at work. If we do a
preliminary survey we will be able to identify a bunch of employees who belong to this
category in every organisation in Sri Lanka.

Any research on absenteeism needs to look at the real reasons for it. Sometimes
employees fall sick when they really do not want to go to work. They would not call you
up and say, ³I¶m not coming to work today because my supervisor abuses me.´ Or, ³I¶m
not coming because my chair is uncomfortable/the canteen is not clean or that the toilets
are unhygienic etc.´

It has been observed that people who hold managerial and professional positions have a
lower rate of absenteeism than the shop floor or non executive employees. Further the
managerial and professional employees generally have the most interesting jobs and the
greatest amount of responsibility. They feel valued and committed. Absent employees
feel little commitment to the organisation¶s success and have little interest in performing
their jobs. However, the causes or reasons that lead for absenteeism can be categorised in
to two; Personal factors and Work place factors.

    
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The attitude one carries to work says a lot about the person. Employees with strong
workplace ethics will respect their work and appreciate the contribution they make to
their companies. Such employees will not engage themselves in taking unscheduled
leave. On the other hand, employees with very low work ethics are in-disciplined and
have lot of integrity and behavioural issues. Since, they feel no obligation towards the
company, absenteeism comes easily to them.


The younger generation prefers to spend time with their friends and have fun, rather than
being tied down with work responsibility. These are characterics of the µY¶ generation.
Lack of ownership and sense of responsibility often leads them to take unauthorised
leave. With age, people gain experience and maturity, which makes them focused and
responsible. Their approach is rather professional and they prefer to stick to their chairs
to get the work done. If ever they are found absent, then it could be due to µgenuine¶
sickness.


Women generally do a balancing act by balancing their time between home and work.
Family, being their prime priority, they don¶t think twice before taking a step towards
absenteeism. Poor physical fitness can also be a reason for the absenteeism. Several
organisations take employees¶ families¶ health and hygiene into their Social
Responsibility process. This helps to ensure that the domestic family life is healthy and
the employee can come to work happy and in a positive frame of mind.


     
Issues in personal life like financial difficulties, marital issues, and child care issues can
also be a reason for absenteeism. Advice and timely professional interventions by the
company could help in this regard.

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Since most absenteeism is a result of non-illness related events, employers can control
approximately 60% of employee absenteeism. Obviously, an employer cannot improve
absenteeism due to personal reasons, but an employer can directly influence the other four main
causes of absenteeism through the following initiatives c

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This is easier said than done, but it can be accomplished by enhancing the intrinsic motivation
employees receive from their job by making production goals more realistic, increasing desirable
job responsibilities, and improving working conditions. An employer can also increase extrinsic
motivation by implementing a type of recognition or reward program.
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6ob satisfaction is influenced by many employment factors. However, the best way to
improve employee satisfaction is to reduce workplace stressors to make working conditions more
enjoyable and consistently provide honest and meaningful feedback and praise.

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One of the reasons employees are frequently absent is lack of challenging work due to repetition,
boredom, and burnout. A way that employers can improve an employee¶s perspective of his or
her position is to provide opportunities to rotate among jobs and to gain more skills and
knowledge in an area of personal and professional interest.

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Although this may seem elementary, the reward/punishment motive is still an effective way to
influence absenteeism rates in organizations. If a financial or recognition-based reward is
attached to instances of decreased absenteeism, employees that are motivated to receive the
reward will have fewer instances of absenteeism and strive to achieve attendance goals.
Furthermore, employees that are motivated to avoid consequences positively react to this type of
strategy.

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Since some absenteeism is a result of personal-related matters, providing employees the


opportunity to be flexible in their schedules, occasionally or permanently, helps employees feel
more able to balance their work and personal life. Flex time, or modified work schedules, can
range in degrees of formality and type, so the flexibility can be easily controlled by an employer

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ac Promote a high performance work culture and emphasize the importance of the employee
fitting into this culture
ac Provide flexible work practices that meet the needs of your business and your employees
ac Introduce a reward system for any improvement to sick leave rates
ac Try to eliminate or decrease "boring" or repetitive jobs
ac Widen job responsibilities
ac Increase promotional opportunities
ac Recognize and reward your employees' contribution
ac Improve the skills of supervisors
ac Provide training and development
ac Work with employees to develop strategies to reduce absenteeism
ac Implement preventative occupational health and safety strategies in order to minimize
worker's compensation absence
ac Monitor annual leave and long service leave data to ensure your employees are taking
adequate recreational breaks.
ac Recognize a problem developing and intervene early before it escalates.
ac Talk to employees who are abusing leave and see if their behavior stems from a personal
problem. Help them referrals if this is the case.
ac Learn to say "no." Don't let employees get away with abusing leave policies. If you hear a
ridiculous request to misuse leave, politely decline c


      
The absenteeism rate of employees was highest in the mining industry in the last year, followed
by medical and hospital industries and then local government.

This is according to a report released by software company CAM Solutions on Monday.

The statistics for the report were generated from information on the sick certificates of more than
180,000 employees in 60 local businesses, over a period of one year.
"The absenteeism rate of employees in the mining industry is 3.1 percent, in the medical industry
it is 2.8 percent and local government employees have an absenteeism rate of 2.7 percent," CEO
6ohnny 6ohnson said.

In the financial services sector, the absenteeism rate was 1.7 percent, "one of the lowest in the
report."

The absenteeism rate was calculated by dividing the number of days employees were absent by
the number of days they should have been at work.

6ohnson said absenteeism in the mining industry was most likely high due to the severe
conditions in mines, as well as strict health and safety regulations which applied to mining
employees.

"Miners have to take sick leave if they are too sick to work underground, as conditions below
ground can be gruelling."

Sectors such as financial services usually had lower levels of absenteeism because they
employed more skilled workers, who in turn earned more than their blue collar counterparts.

"The usual trend is the lower the salary, the higher the absenteeism rate," 6ohnson said.

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CONCLUSION c

Absenteeism is a vital issue that requires immediate attention by both employers and employees.
Employees should enjoy the work they are doing and employers on their part should
help them in whatever way they can to make their experience a pleasant one. After all satisfied
and happy employees look forward to report to work regularly and absent themselves only for
genuine reasons.

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