Putting a lid on absenteeism

An employee is responsible for notifying his supervisor of his absence each day of the absence and advising when he will report back to work. Unexcused absences and excessive excused absences are cause for progressive corrective action and may result in termination. The Company also reserves the right to terminate any employee who is absent for two (2) consecutive working days without notification.

This is an example of the typical attendance policy that many employees have thrust upon them when they accept a new job. The idea is that the policy provides guidance within an organisation about how to manage absenteeism.

Where an individual does not adhere to the policy, absenteeism is usually addressed through progressively stricter disciplinary measures that can result in the termination of the individual's employment.

Company policy on absenteeism is usually considered to be very important because in any week of the year around 4% of the workforce is absent from work for at least one day, costing

Australian industry $7 billion, or roughly $1,000 per employed person per year.

Obviously, this is a huge cost for industry, yet as huge as it is, the impact of absenteeism is often underestimated.  It involves a great deal more than the direct financial costs associated with the absent worker.

Beyond costs like replacement labour, overtime and decrease in productivity, absenteeism creates a flow-on effect to other workers, including increased workload and stress among staff forced to compensate for an absent colleague. These effects may increase the risk of workplace accidents and reduce output or quality.

Additionally, there is a time and financial cost for extra supervision and training of temporary staff. Organisations suffering from high levels of absenteeism often have associated staff morale problems and higher levels of industrial disputation and worker’s compensation.

On the factory floor or in the office, when employees call in ill, it does not mean they are truly too physically ill to work. One very common reason, outside of illness, that forces employees to be absent, is stress, and the number one reason employees are stressed has to do with their relationship with their manager/supervisor.

Management styles that are too authoritarian tend to promote high levels of absenteeism among employees. Authoritarian managers are managers who have poor listening skills, set unreachable goals, have poor communication skills, and are inflexible. In other words, they yell too much, blame others for problems, and make others feel that it must be their way or the "highway."

Clearly, a positive step towards reducing absenteeism is to identify managers who use an authoritarian style. By providing such managers with excellent management training, it is possible to reduce absences, while also reducing turnover, job burnout, and employee health problems such as backaches and headaches.

The list of tactics for management to consider in order to cut absences, is probably endless, but certainly includes the following mix of short term and long term options:

Promote a high performance work culture and emphasise the importance of the employee fitting into this culture

• Provide flexible work practices which meet the needs of the business and the employees
• Introduce a reward system for any improvement to sick leave rates
• Try to eliminate or decrease "boring" or repetitive jobs
• Widen job responsibilities
• Increase promotional opportunities
• Recognise and reward employee contributions
• Improve the skills of supervisors.

When wanting to discover the cause of absences for an individual, managers today have to be acutely aware that an employee has a prevailing right to privacy. Employers must be able to demonstrate that legitimate business interests necessitate an intrusion into an employee's personal affairs.

When such intrusion is justified it should be strictly limited to the degree of intrusion necessitated by the employer's interests. On the other hand, an employee has a duty to notify his employer of an intended absence, the cause of the absence and its expected duration. This information is required by the employer in order to schedule work and organise labour requirements.