Absenteeism
Absenteeism in the Workplace: Causes & Solutions
Absenteeism is a stressful situation for everyone involved. Whether an employee misses work for a day or a week, their absence impacts their workload, their team and management.
By identifying the true cause of an employee’s absence, you can get to the root of the problem, provide the employee with the support they need, and develop a plan to help both them and the team succeed.
What is absence at work?
Absenteeism occurs when an employee regularly fails to come to work over a certain period of time without giving reasons. The term does not refer to planned absence (or PTO), various types of illness, or family emergencies.
What is the difference between absenteeism and absence from work?
Absence from work occurs either with good reason or with prior notice. Absence, on the other hand, is often unexplained or unexcused.
What types of absence are there?
Not all employee absences can be placed in the same category. Knowing what type of absence you are dealing with will help you put a plan in place to deal with it quickly and correct it without any problems.
Overall, there are three main types of absence from work:
1.Approved and planned absence
This includes any leave agreed between the employee and his or her manager, such as holidays, appointments, personal leave, paternity or maternity leave, compassionate leave, etc. Once an employee has submitted and approved their request for leave, their absence should not be a problem represent. With proper preparation on the part of the employee and his team, all work and tasks can be planned according to the approved absence.
2.Unplanned but real absence
However, sometimes a half-day, full-day or multi-day absence from work cannot be planned. Unplanned, real absences are disruptive to the workplace, but they are simply a part of life. This includes illness, family emergencies or accidents.
3.Unauthorized absence
This is where staying away from work becomes a problem. Unauthorized and insincere absences are often the most frustrating scenario for those who have to pick up the work of the absent employee and manage the absence overall. Examples of this include participating in a labor strike or absenting yourself from work without a recognized or genuine reason.
The eight main causes of absenteeism
Absenteeism results from a mix of avoidable and unavoidable causes. While some causes can be improved with the help of the employee’s HR department or team support, others are simply beyond the individual’s control.
The main causes of absenteeism include:
1.Mild illness
In the UK, the average sickness absence rate is 4.4 days per year per worker. While you can’t necessarily control when you get sick, letting your manager know as early as possible will make it easier to manage your absence.
2.Bullying or harassment in the workplace
Bullying and harassment in the workplace is an important issue in the UK. In a 2020 survey, 23% of British workers said they had been bullied at work and 25% said they felt excluded.
In the workplace, bullying and harassment can include, in particular, being denied training or promotion opportunities, being treated unfairly, spreading rumors or being undermined.
3.Mental health
More than 11 million workdays are lost due to stress, be it employee burnout or overwork, or family, financial or personal problems. In addition to stress, mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety or other illnesses can make an employee feel so unwell that they miss work.
4.Serious illnesses and long-term illnesses
When an employee has a serious illness, they typically need extended time off to recover and a clear return to work program.
In the event of a long-term illness, an employee may need a tailored work environment or more flexibility in their schedule to attend routine medical appointments.
5.Family matters
Although some employers encourage their employees to leave their personal problems at the door, in reality it’s not that easy. Difficult situations and circumstances such as a divorce, an urgent matter with the child’s school, an illness in the family, or lack of childcare support can result in emergencies that require the employee to leave work and attend to.
6.Approved vacation
Approved leave falls under the category of approved and planned absences and is often much easier to manage. This includes bereavement leave, paternity leave, maternity leave, paid leave, etc.
7.Commuting problems
If you’re a commuter, you already know that there are countless ways that your daily commute to the office can go wrong. Employees can often miss hours of work due to bad weather, public transport delays, construction, car problems or accidents.
8.Team and management problems
If an employee does not respect or disagree with their leadership team, is bitter after a negative interaction with leadership, or disagrees with their company’s decisions, they may become disengaged and skip work to deal with the situation or to avoid the stress associated with it.
How is the absence rate calculated?
To calculate an employee’s absence rate, take the number of their unexcused absences in a given period and divide it by the total period, then multiply by one hundred to get a percentage.
For example, let’s say John has three unexcused absences over the course of a month (25 work days). How to calculate his absence rate :
| Calculating the absenteeism rate |
|---|
| 3 absences over 25 working days |
| 3 / 25 = 0.12 |
| 0.12 x 100 = 12% Absentee Rate |
What is an employee’s “failure rate”?
Lost time rate is the total working time lost due to an employee’s absence. This gives you greater insight into how an employee’s absences impact their work and overall company performance.
How do you calculate the downtime rate?
To calculate an employee’s absence rate, divide the total number of absences (days/hours) by the total possible working hours (hours/days) in a given period and multiply the result by one hundred.
Take Sarah for example. Sarah works five days a week, every week, for a total of 25 days per month. Last month she missed four days of work. How to calculate your absenteeism rate:
| Calculating the absenteeism rate |
|---|
| 4 days of absence over 25 days |
| 4 / 25 = 0.16 |
| 0.16×100 |
| 16% downtime rate |
This shows that 16% of Sarah’s potential working time in a month was lost due to absenteeism, which equates to 32 hours of work based on eight hours of work per day.
What can you do with this information? If your HR team has more time for strategic thinking, they can help with calculations like this with data that is always reliable and secure.
How does absence affect companies?
The impact of absenteeism on the workplace is far-reaching and can severely impact productivity, finances and overall morale. But it also largely depends on the employees, their role and the size of the company.
For example, a smaller marketing agency with a single website developer will feel the impact of his absence more than a medium to large agency that employs multiple website developers, as they can more easily absorb the absent employee’s workload.
However, no matter the size of a company, the effects of absence are inevitably felt, e.g. B:
Lower productivity
The absence of an employee affects the productivity of the entire team. The team members not only have to take over the work of the absent employee, but also make up their own work later. Meetings may need to be rescheduled, schedules need to be adjusted, and the employees managing absence lose time monitoring everything.
Poor quality of work
If you’ve ever been missing a team member during a busy shift or had to take over the duties of an absent colleague, you know the stress and pressure this puts on your own work. Employees can easily feel overwhelmed when there is an unexpected increase in workload, leading to poor results and potentially loss of customers.
Financial losses
The average cost of employee absence is £522 per year per employee, with employee absence estimated to cost the UK economy £21 billion in 2020.
If an employee is absent, the company must cover the costs of replacing that employee, associated administrative costs and overtime (if necessary).
Of course, the cost of missing work hits the individual employee the most, especially if they don’t receive a salary and rely on commissions or tips.
Toxic corporate culture
Over time, an individual employee’s frequent absences can cause great tension in the workplace. The colleagues who have taken over the work may begin to resent the absent employee or feel taken advantage of, and management may come under pressure because of the frequent absences. Absenteeism can have a massive impact on company culture.
Demotivated workforce
Depending on the reason for the absence, the employee’s stress also increases – due to the cause, the missed work and the missed salary payments. One employee’s stress can easily spread to another, causing a collapse in motivation and morale across the team.
How can you reduce the absenteeism rate?
Although you can’t control many of the causes of absenteeism, there are some steps you can take to reduce absenteeism rates in your company and improve the overall employee experience:
1.Increase workplace flexibility
Around half of single parents in the UK work full-time, and many of them struggle to balance work and home life. Those who regularly miss work due to childcare issues may benefit from greater flexibility in the workplace, whether through the ability to work from home, flexible work hours, or schedules that are adjusted to meet family needs can.
2.Keep morale and motivation high
While a better company culture doesn’t happen overnight, implementing health and wellness programs, personal development opportunities, workplace culture events, and initiatives focused on employee well-being have yielded positive results for nine out of 10 companies.
These outcomes include better employee morale and engagement, a healthier workplace culture, and reduced sick leave.
3.Recognize and reward attendance
Employees who don’t feel recognized for good work are twice as likely to quit. Although the negative effects of an absent employee are more obvious than the positive effects of a punctual employee, recognizing and rewarding employees with good attendance (aside from real and authorized absences) can be an incentive for others to improve their own track records.
4.Lead by example
If your company’s leaders frequently leave the office at the last minute and without a valid excuse, it can seem like an unspoken permission for employees to do the same. Hold each employee accountable for their attendance and ensure that all absences are recorded, managed and handled in the same way.
5.Train your supervisors
Are your managers and supervisors prepared to deal with absenteeism? Training should include the processes and systems needed to record and manage employee absences, as well as relationship training to enable them to have difficult conversations with employees in a productive manner.
6.Reach out to problematic employees
If an employee is persistently absent, you should arrange a meeting with them to discuss the reasons for their absence and how they can manage and work around them. Creating a comfortable environment is especially important when it comes to sensitive issues related to health or family.
7.Conduct return-to-work (RTO) discussions
If an employee returns to work after a long period of time, you should arrange a return meeting between him and his supervisor or a member of the human resources department. Such a conversation can help the employee settle back into their role, give them the opportunity to discuss related issues and develop a strategy to reduce their absence.
8.Consider disciplinary action
As soon as a pattern of absenteeism becomes apparent, you should have a personal conversation with the employee to determine the cause. If absenteeism does not improve, enforce your absence policies (see below) and, if necessary, take disciplinary action, which may include firing an employee.
How do you create an absence policy?
Part of your company policy should include rules and regulations regarding employee absences, including:
- How to report absences (to whom and when)
- How absences are tracked
- The company’s sick leave policy
- Communicate about employee absence expectations
- How the absence affects wages or salaries
- Disciplinary action in the event of constant, unauthorized absence
Combat absence with absence management software
The world of work is becoming increasingly complex. The last thing you want to worry about is calculating vacation entitlements, tracking them, or ensuring you comply with legal requirements. Allow us to help.
IceHrm is an all-in-one HR software that helps you improve your HR work now and in the future. This includes leave management software that allows you to manage leave requests, track any type of leave (from emergencies to sickness and holidays), and handle all other important HR processes.