Absenteeism
... Since absenteeism is a major barometer of employee morale, absenteeism above 5% is very serious. Left unchecked, high absenteeism usually develops into very serious business problems including morale issues and high turnover. The cost of absenteeism has been estimated at over $40bn for U. ... Absence defined Absenteeism is ‘the failure of employees to report for work when they are scheduled to work. ... Innocent absenteeism refers to employees who are absent for reasons beyond their control e. ... Culpable absenteeism refers to employees who are absent without authorisation for reasons which are within their control. ... The causes of absenteeism The influencing factors for absenteeism can be broken down into internal and external factors. ... The most common reasons for employee absences are: (1) Illness or injury (2) Personal or attitude problems (3) Reasons relating to the employment situation – low morale, poor working conditions, boredom on the job, lack of job satisfaction (4) Reasons related to general community requirements or social problems (5) Weather and transportation (6) No pressure to show up for work The costs of absenteeism Absenteeism can have many detrimental effects on any organisation. The cost of absenteeism is greater than the direct payment of wages and benefits paid during the absence (www. ... There are three organisational ‘cost’ implications resulting from absenteeism (Engleman): Decrease in productivity. ... Also, staff time is required to maintain and control absenteeism. The benefits of monitoring absenteeism The key benefits to be gained from monitoring absenteeism include: (1) Reduced overtime to cover absent staff (2) Reduction in over-manning where managers ‘hoard’ excess staff members to avoid the worst impact of absence on production/service levels (3) Increased productivity (4) Higher quality (5) Conflict reduction (6) Increased morale as staff are not inconvenienced by absences (7) Positive impact on customer service whether internal or external Approaches to reducing absenteeism (1) Ensure effective and accurate absence tracking.