Measuring and Managing Absenteeism in the Workplace

metre and Managing Absenteeism in the WorkplaceProductivity loss due to rattlebrainedeeism is a atrocious growing challenge.We live in an take a counseleeism ending. Talking a day saturnine and calling in toot is supported and supercharged by the society. umpteen peoples attitude is The clock clip is coming to us (Robert F.Allen and Michael Higgens- the Absenteeism Culture. Becoming attending oriented.) special absenteeism is on the rise and the rates of absenteeism atomic number 18 at their highest since 1999. The major uphold is that almost two out of three employees who do not sharpen up arnt physically ill or boast challenging issues. absence euphonyment and steering is an increasingly growing body of knowledge and consider that private instructors apply to control and reduce absenteeism and its accruing cost.To ensure that the issue of absenteeism is usefully addressed, managers and supervisors-armed with the necessary guidance and training, film to un derstand the circumstances and f capital punish mentors surrounding absenteeism in the growplace, and olibanum actively participate in the companys procedures and policies to traffic circle upive curb absenteeism in the study.Employers contract to cut d stimulate excessive employee absenteeism by tighter controls. They demand doctors report or use some early(a) punitive mechanisms that targets symptoms of absenteeism rather than its causes. The task give not go away unless the underlying root causes ar removed. micturate an attendance nicetyHow should absenteeism soundly be managed? Triggers or incentives? / Carrots or sticks? substructureAbsenteeism from perishplace has been on the increase and may be an indicative of worthless esprit de corps, inadequacy of motive, sick building syndrome, poor organizational polities or pure indiscipline from the employees. However, many employers have introduced and implemented absence policies which make no distinction mingle d with absence for genuine reasons or unsoundness and absence for inappropriate reasons. One of these policies is the calculation of the Bradford ingredient, which only factors total number and frequency of individual(a) absence into account, neglecting the kind of absence.40 million eld argon lost each year in the UK, due to lamplace absenteeism,93% of employees swan cold and flu are the reason for being away from drop dead, and interrogation has shown that in reality, half of absenteeism in the movementplace has nothing whatever to do with health. Workers decide to stay away from flex for a armament of another(prenominal) reasons relating to bat and personal issues, which range from pipeline de-motivation, low pay, deficiency of work feel balance and occasional hang everyplace.Absenteeism has been viewed traditionally as a breach of an implicit contract between employee and employer, as a management problem and has been framed in economic terms. This report leav e behind critically discuss the causes and personal effects of absenteeism in the workplace with the view to derive effective ways to step and manage absenteeism. It will seek to understand absenteeism as an indicator of psychological, social ad solelyment to work.1. What do we mean by Absenteeism? consort to dictionary reference.com, Absenteeism back end be defined as accustomed reverse to appear, especially for work and other regular duty. The rate occurrence of habitual absence from work or duty.Absenteeism so-and-so be viewed as re-occurring absence from work, duty and obligation, thought to reflect employee demoralization or dis atonement.This can as well be viewed as a breach of the implicit contract that exists between the employer and the employed.Simply put, Failure to report to or stay at work when scheduled is tagged absenteeism.1.1 Absenteeism can be grouped into two categories spontaneous/Innocent absenteeism This is when absences are unavoidable and understandab le. For instanceAbsences due to death in the familyPregnancy or Maternity issuesAbsences caused by illness or dishonorCar/ vehicle issuesOther family related or personal issuesAccidents and essential disasters baulk-related absenteeism- Human rights obligationsVoluntary/Culpable Absenteeism Voluntary absenteeism is an instance where an employee, out of his own freewill or laziness, elects to stay off work. Absences in this case are avoidable.Missing work without advance notice, to go the cinema or repute footballMaking excuses for consistent late coming to work deceitfully/fraudulently applying for sick leave or calling in sickFailure to report to work as scheduled or wake up late for no good reason1.2 Causes of Absenteeism in the workplace in that location are various factors that could influence an employee to be absent at work. These factors are as follows own(prenominal) FactorsPersonal Attitude individuals posses different attitudes and leave these attitudes forth to the workplace. Employees with strong workplace ethics will respect their work and appreciate their contribution to the organisation and as much(prenominal), will not ask unscheduled off from the workplace. Conversely, employees with low or without work ethics are in- disciplined and have behavioural issues. Because they encounter no obligation to the organisation, absenteeism comes easy to them.Age The age of an employee often affects their attitude to work. The younger the employees are often restless, they want to have fun and be with friends rather than being fastened down with responsibilities. This leads to lack of ownership and usually leads to unscheduled and unauthorised time off.Gender Women are usually challenged with balancing their time between work and home. Their families are always the utmost priority, thereof they would rather be absent from work to sort out family issuesWorkplace FactorsOrganizational Culture either organisation is a culture with its own norms. An organisation with an embedded absenteeism culture, disguise played by its management and supervisors lack of commission would encourage just employee absenteeismLack of need and Rewards The kin between the organisation and its employees is influenced by what motives them to work and the rewards and fulfilment they derive from it. Inability of managers or employers to motivate employees and meet their alien and inseparable needs would lead to lack if motivation and commitment hence, absenteeism in the workplaceAbsence of learning culture Learning means change, thus can affect organisations effectiveness. Employees love to work in an organisation where they would modify themselves and their career through organisational learning and knowledge management, which could be inculcated through coaching, mentoring, trainings and other explicit methods. In an organisation where a learning culture is absent, employees notice de-motivated, unsatisfied and palpate their career growt h is threatened. Hence they excuse themselves from work without authorisation in search for greater challenges and organisations where they would gain improve themselves. tenor at work According to a report cited in pecuniary Times Stress at work is the biggest problem in European companiesVoluntary absenteeism carry offs place because employees are dissatisfied with their hypothecate hence they feel hard put doing the work either because of the work load or irreconcilable assigned roles. Egs wrongly assigning a customer service manager to manage treasury department, without fit experience and training. Due to lack of adequate experience in the field and fixed timed deliverables and tasks, he feels stressed and harassed in the role and thus breaks down into stress or depression and seeks sick leave and abandons the job.Voluntary Absenteeism also takes place where the employees feel there is a strain on their psychological contract with the employer, this indirectly erupts lac k of organizational commitment. This strain could develop to stress and impact on employee attendance to work.Leadership Style An organizations, police squad or unit leaders style could impact on employee commitment, job satisfaction with improved or impaired connection and attendance to work.While Democratic and laissez fair lead style encourages shared decision making, shared responsibility, creativity and participation and can be highly motivational, which enhances teamwork and immersepersonal relations. Autocratic and paternalistic leadership styles could de-motivate and alien employees. Employees might feel less important in the organisation, hence the need to avoid work.Work Routine and lack of Change doing the same job or task over a long period of time can get monotonous. The employees get bored and thus might choose to take unauthorised time off to do something he considers kindle than going to work.Job Satisfaction if employees do not find their work interesting, sat isfying and challenging, they feel dissatisfied, which leads to change magnitude absenteeism in the workplaceWork life balance Organisation who not factor employees roles and work life such that a balance is stroked with work and the individuals personal life commitments and family would experience increased employee absenteeism.Conflict in the workplace ultimately increases chances of employee absenteeism.Lack of team warmheartedness A team that lacks unity, synergy and good interpersonal relationship amongst its members, will be a weak and unproductive. Such team members will lack team inwardness-the spirit that bonds individuals in a team. This lack of team spirit can de-motivate team members, make them work in isolation, they would lack the soul of belonging, love and satisfaction. There would exist, cautions of the unknown, lack of trust for team members. These impressions will encourage an employee to stay off work.Social Factors factors such as difficult union circumst ances likeHigh crime and intimidation rates which constitutes fear in employees catalyses absenteeism in the workplace. Other social factors are Lack of imparting/transport facilitiesPoverty levelsMalnutritionHIV/AIDSLabour Strikes1.3 Effects of Absenteeism in the workplaceWhen a company has an absentee problem, it has a profit problem. Absenteeism can take a deep financial toll on any business, whether a small or multinational company. There are also other noteworthy effects associated with excessive absenteeismDecreased Productivity in a team of people doing interrelated tasks, if one persistent remains absent or fails to deliver, it creates a domino effect on productivity.It affects employee/team morale this is due to the fact that additional stress are places on employees who act as replacements or assume additional tasks for absenteesAbsenteeism causes disruptions in the workplace and impacts on the SLAsIt affects customer service levels, turnaround times, customer loyalty an d satisfaction.It affect or disrupts effective team formation and operationsIt may create a perception of unfairness amongst employeesIt affects the bottom-line2.0 Measuring Absenteeism2.1 Why measure absenteeism?It is pertinent to measure the rate of absenteeism in the workplace. Measuring employees absenteeism is a good way to measure Overall Labour Effectiveness (OLE) in the workplace, which is a key performance indicator (KPI) that measures the utilization, performance and quality of the workforce and its impact on productivity. supervise staff absence rates helps to trace the pattern of employee attendance. To monitor and reserve dead times, in the workplace, to derive and measure resources and be incurred due to employee absenteeism with the maneuver of devising effective methods to manage absenteeism in the workplace.In measuring absenteeism in the workplace, we derive the ratio of its administrative, financial and productivity cost to the organisation which will enable de velopment of strategies to curb absenteeism piece rechanneling resources more effectively to effect the bottom-line positively.Administrative costs of AbsenteeismTime consumed in controlling absenteeismTime consumed in sourcing replacements and re-assigning duties.Supervisors timeFinancial Costs this are the costs accruing form overtime costsReplacement employee costsTraining costsOver staffing costsProductivity CostsReplaced productivity and loss of output coststhe costs of supporting replacement employeesCosts accrued in training sassy or replacement staff/hiring temp staffSubstandard output2.2 Ways of Measuring AbsenteeismThe Total Tim lost human action of person- years lost through job absence during period X 100(Average number of employees) x (Number of Work days)This rate also can be based on number of hours instead of number of days.The individual frequency formula This is figure as thus Individual frequency = (Num of Absent Employees/Average Number of Employees) x100The Bradford Factor or Bradford Formula According to the Chartered Institute of Personal and Development, the term was first coined due to its supposed connection with research undertaken by the Bradford University School of Management in the 1980s.It was developed as a way of highlighting the misappropriate level of disruption on an organisations performance that can be caused by short-term employee absence compared to incidences of prolonged absence. In contrast, it is considered short-sighted and unconvincing to be successful which could lead to staff dissatisfaction and grievances.The Bradford factor can be calculated as followsB= S2 x D whereB is the Bradford Factor scoreS is the total number of spells(instances) of absence of an individual over a set periodD is the total number of days of absence of that individual over the same set periodThe set period is typically set as a rolling 52 week period.For usage1 instance of absence with a continuance of 15 days (1x 1 x 5)= 5 point s4 instances of absence one of one, one of four and one of six days (4 x 4 x 5) =80 points6 instances of absences each for two days (6 x 6 x 5) = 180 pointsHowever, the Bradford factor has been critiqued for its limited and short-sightedness in effectively measuring absenteeism, this is because it only factors total number and frequency of individual absence into account, neglecting the kind of absence.Again, the Bradford factor is a generic process and would be inappropriate to implement on disabled employees this is because certain disabilities require higher(prenominal) days of absence. Employers are bound by law e.g. The British Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005 (DDA) to tailor their actions to the individual circumstances of disabled employees and visitation to provide these reasonable adjustments by employers may lead to civil actions or breach of DDA in employment tribunal3.0 Managing absenteeismAbsenteeism A cultural problemEvery organisation is a culture, with it s own norms that constitute the expected, supported and accepted ways of behaving. These norms are most times unwritten and advice people on the code of conduct. The existing culture and norms influences everyones perception of the business, from the CEO to the newly hired employee.Managements behaviour has a special impact on organisational behaviour as relates to absenteeism, this is because of its modelling influence.Investigations have shown that absenteeism was/is directly traceable to the group norms established by leadership, the work environment and group expectations. Each group had similar illness records, it was the norms that dictated, and almost predictably, whether people showed up for work.Absenteeism is often symptoms of larger organisational problems and can be managed as thusLeadership modelling and commitment Managerial commitments and democratic culture have an important impact on attendance. E.g. in a retail company, a manager who demonstrated little commitme nt to attendance practices recorded one of the highest absenteeism rates in his organisation.Work motivation and rewards Motivation in the work place is the driving force to achieve employee job satisfaction and commitment. This motivation could be Extrinsic or Intrinsic.Extrinsic motivation relates to the tangible rewards e.g. Salary, security, promotion and conditions of work. While,Intrinsic motivation relates to the psychological rewards which includes a instinct of challenge and achievement, participation and appreciation from the employer.According to Maslows hierarchy of needs the expectancies of an employee from the employer are captured as thus-Motivated employees overcome obstacles to make it to work. The key to reducing employee absenteeism is to create a culture where employees want to come to work.Effective Groups and Team mental synthesis groups and teams are essential features of the work pattern of organisations. These include formal and open groups, project and v irtual teams. Effective group and team building encourages inter personal relationships, fulfils the individuals psychological need of love and belonging, encourages organisational learning and talk while reducing conflicts in the organisation. This ultimately gives employees, sense of belonging and contribution, job satisfaction and an increased love for the job which will be evidenced in attendance rate.Recruitment and selection Employers should recruit employees with good attendance records. This discipline should be included in references.Employee orientation and training Attendance norms should be established the first day on the job. These norms are inculcated at inductions and orientation sessions.Performance Appraisal this can boost employee attendance rates. Management should tie attendance rates to performance appraisals, if employees are aware that attendance would be a part of their appraisal, they would minimise unnecessary absence from work.ConclusionOrganisational culture is a key factor that affects the norms and modus operandi of an organisation. Thus the leaders and manager have a great job of making effective decisions and inculcation the involve culture through policies and examples.Creating an attendance-oriented culture requires a complete corporate commitment to encourage attendance rather than manage absenteeism. This would be a significant shift because an absenteeism culture not only cost millions of pounds, but also impedes the development of human resources, reduces organisations competitive advantage and affects the bottom-lineMy case study illustrating the causes, effects and how to manage absenteeism is evidenced in my reflective writing.Reflective WritingI would always wish I would not have to return to work the following day, I would call-in sick at the slightest headache. I dislike the new branch I was posted to be a team leader.Not having prior information or notice of my sudden inter-state take out until a mail dropped in my mailbox, a Monday morning I just resumed from vacation, gave me the shock. I was to resume in the new branch with immediate effect. There was no communication whatever from my team leader that arrangement has been make for me to move to another state where i would lead the funds guide team. This is a clear indication of communication gap and ineffective headman and subordinate relationship, where the team leader feels less need to have inter-personal relationship with team members. Her autocratic system of leadership in the workplace does not encourage participation, shared learning, sense of belonging and team spirit, which are among an employees intrinsic expectancies from the organisation/workplaceThis autocratic, non-participatory system of leadership and lack of effective communication and team spirit became a culture instilled by the branch leader. This holistically modify all team members. Demonization, fear, lack of commitment, ineffective communication that often c aused conflicts, and absenteeism creped in.The feeling of betrayal, neglect and less regard filled my heart as i journeyed down the new branch. I lost motivation and commitment in the job. I lost the feeling of being part of the organisation. This was reflected in my re-occurring absenteeism and unfitness to deliver on deadlinesThe sudden relocation was pressuring and put me under stress. This come along increased my absenteeism rate from work till the point I tendered my resignation. This space highlights the importance and implication of the supervisory and managers roles in the work place as regards motivation, team building, eradicating conflicts and commitment.However, I feel sober, writing this coursework having realised through my research and the module learning, the cost and other implications of employee absenteeism in organisations. This also reflects why my recommendations for an effective management of employee absenteeism points to organisational culture, effective t eam and group building which encourages team participation and motivation, and leadership styles and modelling.A motivational team leader or mentor would encourage effective communication, build effective teams, build a culture of attendance and commitment through a democratic or participatory system of leadership where everyone contributes and feels the sense of responsibly and love.As a manager, having participated in this course module, I understand and appreciate my roles more. I have gained more insights on to build effective teams manage conflicts, leadership by example and ultimately, how to manage individual differences and diversity in the workplace. Getting back into work, I would be a good leader, and inspire brilliance.