Most businesses do not consider employee absenteeism to be a problem. It is looked down upon and often frowned upon, but not considered a major problem that can derail your progress. It is estimated that unscheduled absenteeism and frequent days off from work can cause an organization over $2,500 for an employee on salary every year. These costs include the wages spent on them, management costs for HR and the replacement cost for employees.
Minimizing the absenteeism rate in your organization does make sense, but for that to happen, you need to go to the grass root level and first find out the causes of absenteeism in your workplace. Once you do that, you can work on improvement.
In this article we look at some of the causes of high absenteeism in the workplace. We also look at some of the factors behind these causes and explain them in detail.
Illnesses and Injuries
Sometimes, employee absenteeism is due to a valid reason in case of an illness or injury. However, even with employee absenteeism caused by illness and injury, you can implement a proper setup by improving the reporting process.
Employees should be able to immediately inform the HR department about the illness or injury they have and their possible date of return. You don’t want a situation where an employee tells you about their inability to come to work for the day, 3 hours after their shift has started.
Bullying
Your high absenteeism rates in the workplace could also be a sign of bullying or harassment. Employees tend to avoid work when they are unnecessarily being harassed or bullied by others around them. Encourage employees to come forward and report instances of bullying to the top management. Do not take harassment lightly and rule with an iron fist.
Also, try to be involved in processes around you at work. Do not lock yourself in your office all day long, and instead, make sure that you’re meeting up with employees and finding ways to talk to them.
Disengagement
Employees who don’t find their work engaging or are low in morale tend to find excuses to not show up at work. Disengagement can come in innumerable forms. It can be due to a lack of respect from the management or could just have to do with the overall work routine.
In any case, managers should look to identify low morale and disengagement in the workplace and do what they can to improve the situation.
We at JS Benefits Group have worked with organizations to monitor their absenteeism rates and come up with a definite plan to manage it. You can get in touch with JS Benefits Group to discuss and devise a strategy.
