Incentive programs and their effectiveness in reducing employee absenteeism

¶ … industrial management continues to remain competitive. As the economy changes over time, the field of industry follows suit. Industrial managers are charged with maintaining productivity and profits regardless of the economy. In addition, they are responsible for maintaining the workforce at its optimum performance level.

One thing that often has a negative impact on the performance level of the workforce, is absenteeism. Absenteeism can create problems in the field of industry in several ways. One of the first problems it causes is a slow down in production. If there is a problem with absenteeism and a significant number of employees are calling out sick it can be detrimental to the production of product. In addition, when people call out sick, temporary workers are often brought in and they must be quickly trained and try to keep up production speed. This training can be costly and their lower level of performance impedes the entire production line and therefore the company profit margins.

Finally, the problem with absenteeism causes problems with morale. When employees see their co-workers calling in sick and not coming to work each day their own morale and motivation may be negatively affected. Absenteeism at work can be a significantly disruptive problem industry management. All of these issues can be cost prohibitive to the company therefore it is important to try and reduce the absenteeism in industrial fields. This proposal will address the issue of absenteeism. It will look at literature regarding the occurrence and consequences of employee absenteeism as well as some of the things that have been tried to reduce it. The proposal will include a detailed discussion of the literature as well as a proposed study.