The older people are, the lower the likelihood of avoidable absence. This decreases their frequency of absence. However, with age the risk of chronic conditions increases leading to longer periods of absence. Based on the research we discussed earlier, there are several common reasons for absenteeism.
Interventions or HR policies that counteract these effects can be good at reducing absenteeism in the workplace. The goal of many of these interventions is often to increase the opportunity cost of not working. In general, the higher the cost of not working i. This means that many of these can be highly effective in case of excessive absenteeism. In this case, you are already doing a great job at minimizing absence and most of these interventions will not make a difference. Washing hands significantly reduces absence during the influenza season.
Although results are mixed during the normal season, during the flu season, washing hands significantly reduces the rate of infections. Putting up signs for people to wash their hands when they come into the office, after going to the restroom, or before having lunch are easy but effective interventions. Exercise frequency. A study showed that exercise frequency is negatively related to absenteeism.
The details are displayed in the table below. Corporate wellness programs that are effective at getting people to exercise can, therefore, be effective. Workplace health promotion WPH. WHP is aimed at preventing illnesses. When effective, they reduce absence. These programs are especially effective among workers who have similar conditions e. Employee wellness programs are a good example of this. EAPs are aimed at the rehabilitation of workers.
These intervention programs are aimed at reducing absence and improving health. Health screening. Timely screenings for conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and colorectal cancer can help to detect problems before they become dangerous for employees. These screenings help employees to stay healthy and reduce absenteeism.
While these can be effective to reduce high-risk drinking, they need to be more comprehensive to impact drug use. Notably, alcohol and drug testing in isolation do not appear to be related to reduced employee substance use or absenteeism.
Drug testing. Mandatory drug testing is a commonly practiced policy in some areas of the world. These offer a proven way to reduce absence abuse. Although often unpopular, drug testing programs are in most cases cost-effective and reduce absenteeism — often at the cost of employee morale.
Depression treatment. Enhanced care for chronic diseases, like depression, can be highly effective. A study showed that patients in enhanced care reported 8. Creating commitment. Commitment to the organization and alignment with the organizational goals leads to lower absenteeism. Building organizational commitment and creating a shared vision that everybody is committed to, reduces absence. Rescheduling responsibilities.
Asking employees to reschedule their shifts themselves is another way to decrease absence behavior. This means that employees need to ask their colleagues to jump in and take over their shift, resulting in social pressure to show up. Absence verification. Implementing a system where any kind of absence needs to be verified through medical documentation decreases absence. In the literature, this is called absence culture. If 1 or 2 days of illegitimate absence are tacitly accepted as if they were legitimate and unavoidable, they will become contagious Gaziel, Flexibility and autonomy.
The degree of flexibility and autonomy that individual employees have also impacts their absence behavior. In addition, restrictive behavior from the leader or supervisor leads to more absence Gaziel, Absence insurance. Absence insurances are another way to reduce the cost of absenteeism.
Depending on the geography and local regulations, these can be effective ways to reduce the cost of employee absenteeism in case it might go up significantly due to disease, workplace accidents, or other causes.
This wraps up our guide on absenteeism in the workplace. There are many causes and an equally large number of consequences of absence behavior. The key here is that high absenteeism almost never happens in isolation. Oftentimes, there are other contributing factors, like a perception among workers of being ignored by management, an unpleasant organizational culture, mismanagement, or other factors.
It can be easily done in an excel spreadsheet where each date of work is listed across the top and each employee has a row down the left. Each time someone is away, you note the reason in the appropriate cell. Categories I use for classifying absences are: Vacation V , Leave L which could include bereavement, medical, wcb, maternity, etc.
Sort employees from highest to lowest. There is usually a deeper issue contributing to excess time off. Take a human-centered approach to treat these employees as individuals. Show care and concern for the extenuating circumstances that may be affecting attendance. Provide company-sponsored resources i. Treating employees this way reinforces the relationship the company has with its workforce. Intentionally implementing voice-of-employee strategies is one of the best ways to engage with your workforce and give them the opportunity to have their voice heard.
Weekly "Do Drop In" sessions, ERGs and other voice levers help you understand what your organization's employee experience really is and helps your employees feel that their voice matters. Utilize a complete absence management outsourcing solution.
Categorize absences, and identify which are "unacceptable. Seek input around what should and shouldn't be a "permitted absence.
Hire people who don't like to be told what to do and have a history of being A-players. Excessive absences that are not related to health can indicate low job satisfaction or an imbalance in an employee's home and work lives. Either way, business owners can avoid excessive absences by setting up regular check-ins to gauge employee satisfaction and stress levels, as well as by providing flexible work-from-home policies to accommodate for family issues when needed.
Culture lives in the way things get done e. Success as a team is a commitment to the right disciplines. Understand what is preventing them from being to work on time. Remind them of the agreements set in their offer letter and stick to those agreements they made. What has changed?
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