Employee attitudes and absenteeism

¶ … employee absenteeism and attitudes. The writer explores the reasons for the absences and some of the ways that a company can promote attendance at work. There were six sources used to complete this paper.

The national economy is sluggish and for businesses to continue moving forward it is imperative that they continue producing at an acceptable rate without incurring many additional costs. One of the chief components to success in this venture is employee attendance. The employee absenteeism can cost the company funds from an already tight budget by way of lost manpower, or hiring temps. Temps generally are not going to be as fast as the employee because they have not been acclimated to the system at the company and if a temp is not brought in the missing employee slows the work schedule regardless of the position the employee holds. The arguments about what causes employee absenteeism abound worldwide but the bottom line still equals dollars and cents. Recently there have been movements to create an atmosphere from which employees do not want to stay home from. Caregiver centers for children, buy back programs for sick days and many other avenues are being tried. Until businesses can determine the cause of absenteeism that is not illness related and find solutions they will continue to lose money.

At the end of the last decade the employee absenteeism rate was lower than it had been in a decade. Many believe that family leave issues and personal leave problems had been dealt with in a successful manner and the problem was solved (Employee, 1997). Since that time however absences in the workplace have continued to plague business around the world including in the United States. The debate about what causes the absences and the argument as to whether the cost of a more family conducive workplace vs. The old fashioned style rage on (Employee, 1997). While the absenteeism rate fell for medium companies, the large companies and the small companies saw an increase during the 1990's according to recent studies. " The cost in paid sick leave for unscheduled absenteeism fell to $572 per employee in 1997 from $603 in 1996, according to the CCH survey (Employee, 1997). Among employers seeing a drop in absenteeism, the most common reasons were fear of punishment and a strong work ethic, each cited by 23% of respondents. Loyalty to a supervisor was the third most commonly mentioned reason at 21%, and mid-size companies most commonly cited it (Employee, 1997). In the largest organizations, those employing more than 5,000, fear of punishment topped the list. For the third consecutive year, personal illness continued to decline as a reason for unscheduled absenteeism, tying with family issues at 26%, CCH said (Employee, 1997)."

The cost of excessive employee absenteeism can cost a city millions according to a recent study conducted in Toronto (Ward, 2002). One of the most common causes of absenteeism according to some is stress (Lem, 2000). Work stress causes the employee to lose their focus and to need a break. In Canada, for example the average employee puts I over 60 hours a week on their job. This inability to spend much down time relaxing away from work causes the stress to build until the employee takes an unscheduled break instead. With unscheduled breaks occurring the companies are put in the position of losing productivity or spending money trying to pay temps as well as the sick leave for the employee who is out (Lem, 2000).

Employee absenteeism in 1998 increased by half a day per year, costing companies $20 billion annually (Lem, 2000). " recent report by the World Health Organization concluded that stress, anxiety and depression would be the leading causes of absences in the workplace by the year 2020(Lem, 2000).

A last year the average full time employee was absent eight days from his or her position. Reasons given for the call outs were illness of family reasons according to those surveyed (Botchford, 2001).

Research has indicated that businesses are spending over 3% of their budget on employees who do not come into work which translates into approximately $12 billion annually being spent on not at work employees (Botchford, 2001).

There have been several arguments about what to do to increase employee attendance and many avenues have been tried. Some businesses began to implement a docking system whereas employees who call out to much begin to get docked. The plans often targeted something called weekend warriors who consistently took Fridays and Mondays off (Botchford, 2001).

Another avenue that has been tried throughout the nation is a buy back plan. Employees are given a predetermined number of sick days per year. If at the end of the year, or quarter they have not used them all the company buys back the unused ones at half day rates. While this seems expensive it is much less costly than paying the employee while they are out and then paying a temp to come in and losing production because the temp is not as fast as the employee would be. The buy back program is not new and has been implemented in many manufacturing settings around the nation for several years with some success.

One of the biggest troubles with chronic absenteeism is that it is contagious. According to experts the employees who are chronically absent and do not punished for it encourage others who are watching. Soon a small problem with a few employees can become a company wide problem with many employees and that can get extremely costly. "The Mercer study found replacement costs, such as extra overtime, temporary workers and outside contractors covering absences for other employees can add 10%-50% to direct costs. Replacement costs for short- term disability are more than long-term disability and workers' compensation costs combined (Botchford, 2001). "

One of the most successful avenues to curb absenteeism is called a paid leave bank. The vacation, personal days and holidays accrue in a bank for the named employee. The employee can use them for any reason without being questioned but once they are used up the employee can be docked or terminated for continued absences (Employee, 1995). "Paid leave bank is better for employers because workers often can plan ahead for some of the absences. It is easier to schedule workflow without those last-minute "I'm dying of the flu" calls. A paid leave bank also makes it easier for employers to cap the number of sick days an employee gets (Employee, 1995)."