What do absenteeism mean




















By clicking sign up, you agree to receive emails from Safeopedia and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Absenteeism refers to a habitual or repeating pattern of absences by an employee from his or her workplace, often characterized by absences that are unclear to the employer.

It is commonly associated with employees who have reduced physical or psychological health, increased workplace stress, or a feeling of disengagement from the workplace. Absenteeism is recognized as a major challenge to workplace management. It reduces workplace productivity, can result in increased stress levels in non-absent employees who must do extra duties, and may indicate a larger problem within the workplace environment. The economic cost of absenteeism tends to be very high when considered at a national level.

Much of this loss has been linked to mental health and wellness issues. A UK Labour Force Survey found that 15 million working days are lost per year due to stress, anxiety, and depression, in addition to , days lost due to major mental health problems.

According to OSHA, injury and illness prevention programs that emphasize worker participation are associated with improved employee morale and lower rates of absenteeism. Furthermore, research has shown that firms that invest in workplace wellness programs tend to perform better and have lower rates of absenteeism than their peers. As a result of loss of production, the cost of production increases. It results in the reduced margin of profits of the industry.

The rate of production and the productivity remains low. The production targets are upset. As a result of increase in the cost of production, the selling price of the commodity is to be increased. So the customers have to pay more for the commodity. Frequent absenteeism of the workers decreases their working efficiency also. It also reduces their interest in the work. Due to absenteeism of regular workers, the industry has to depend upon casual or sub-standard employees, it causes many problems in itself such as-breakdown of machinery, low quality of production, wastages of raw materials etc.

As a result of all these factors, the enterprise gets itself unable to meet the demand of market in full and it causes delay in the supply to the valuable customers. Frequent absenteeism of workers effects the economy of the workers also. It reduces their incomes. High rate of absenteeism upsets personnel planning policy of an enterprise.

High rate of absenteeism is also a reason of indiscipline among the workers. Thus it may concluded that the effects of absenteeism are multifarious. It affects all the workers, the employees, the government, the shareholders and the economy of the nation. The higher employee absenteeism is caused due to:. Higher degree of absenteeism hinders the process of implementation of HR planning.

When the nature of work is interdependent, absenteeism affects regular flow of work. Manpower shortage leads to failure in attaining production targets which in turn causes failure in attaining sales targets which adversely impact the bottom line. Absence of workers causes the plant to remain idle. This results in underutilization of machine capacity.

Manpower shortage triggered by absenteeism hinders the delivery schedule of enterprises. This makes them vulnerable to face litigation, penalty and loss of orders from clients. Available workers need to be overloaded and overtime wages need to be paid to complete the task. This leads to higher financial commitment on the part of the enterprise. Delayed delivery, delayed execution of orders lead to loss of customers and thereby the company loses its reputation.

The precious time of the employer is wasted in initiating disciplinary action on unauthorized absentees. Absentee employees lose pay and get indebted to private money lenders. The encyclopaedia of social sciences suggests the following measures to reduce the rate of absenteeism:. Absenteeism is probably a natural human reaction to the routine of modern factory life. The routine can be relaxed or modified by grant of leave with pay, by shortening or redistributing scheduled hours, by having employees living nearer to their places of work, and by adjusting the physical condition of the plant, especially noise and ventilation.

The personnel management should encourage notification, especially in cases of sickness when the duration of absences is likely to belong. In case of personnel and family circumstances, e. Regularly in attendance can be encouraged to some extent by the offer of a bonus and other pecuniary inducements.

To reduce unavoidable absence due to sickness and industrial accidents, programmes of industrial hygiene and safety should by, strengthened. It should be noted no single measure can be effective in controlling absenteeism; but a skillful combination of various measures would definitely lead to the desired results. In India, where the climate is warm and most of the works involves manual labour, it is essential that workers should be provided with proper and healthy working conditions.

The facilities of drinking water, canteens, lavatories, rest rooms, lighting and ventilation, need to be improved. Where anyone of these facilities is not available, it should be provided. All these help in keeping the employee cheerful and increase productivity and the efficiency of operations throughout the plant.

The management should, therefore, pay reasonable wages and allowances, taking into account the capacity of the industry to pay, the level of wages prevailing in different units of the same industry in the same area in neighbouring areas, the productivity of labour and the general effect of rising wages in neighbouring industries. The allowances that may be paid to workers should include old age allowance, length-of-service allowance, position allowance, special job allowance, good attendance allowance, transportation allowance and housing allowance, so that the worker may have and know security of employment.

The selection of employees on the basis of communal, linguistic and family consideration should be discouraged or avoided. The management should look for aptitude and ability in the prospective employees and should not easily yield to pressure or personal likes and dislikes. Application blanks should invariably be used for a preliminary selection and as tools for interviews. The personnel officer should play a more effective role as a co-ordinator of information provided that he has acquired job knowledge in the function of selection.

Their genuine difficulties—for example, their need of money at the time of marriage, death, family illness and disablement— should be recognised by the management and it should try to help them in this regard. As for social security measures such as the provision of provident fund, E. I, facilities, gratuity and pension, all these need to be improved, so that workers may have a sense of belonging. Job satisfaction and cordial relations between the workers and the employers would help eliminate most of the personal factors.

As for the hazards to which industrial workers are exposed, supervisors should ensure that proper operational procedures and safety instructions are followed in the course of work. Work groups should be taught safe methods of operation. In addition to consistent and timely safety instructions, written instructions manual in the regional language of the area should be given to the work force. I, leave, for under this scheme, they can have 56 days in a year on half day.

An effective way of dealing with absenteeism is to liberalise leave rules. Since a majority of the workers are illiterate, bulletins and written notices, journals and booklets are not understood by them.

Therefore, timely illustrations and instructions, meetings and counseling, are called for. Lost productivity is shown through time lost from work due to illness, presenteeism , or even early retirement.

The impact of depression across the world is considerable. The annual prevalence of depression in the U. Age is another factor that influences absence. The older people are, the lower the likelihood of avoidable absence. This decreases their frequency of absence. However, with age the risk of chronic conditions increases leading to longer periods of absence.

Based on the research we discussed earlier, there are several common reasons for absenteeism. Interventions or HR policies that counteract these effects can be good at reducing absenteeism in the workplace.

The goal of many of these interventions is often to increase the opportunity cost of not working. In general, the higher the cost of not working i. This means that many of these can be highly effective in case of excessive absenteeism. In this case, you are already doing a great job at minimizing absence and most of these interventions will not make a difference.

Washing hands significantly reduces absence during the influenza season. Although results are mixed during the normal season, during the flu season, washing hands significantly reduces the rate of infections. Putting up signs for people to wash their hands when they come into the office, after going to the restroom, or before having lunch are easy but effective interventions.

Exercise frequency. A study showed that exercise frequency is negatively related to absenteeism. The details are displayed in the table below. Corporate wellness programs that are effective at getting people to exercise can, therefore, be effective. Workplace health promotion WPH.

WHP is aimed at preventing illnesses. When effective, they reduce absence. These programs are especially effective among workers who have similar conditions e.

Employee wellness programs are a good example of this. EAPs are aimed at the rehabilitation of workers. These intervention programs are aimed at reducing absence and improving health. Health screening. Timely screenings for conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and colorectal cancer can help to detect problems before they become dangerous for employees. These screenings help employees to stay healthy and reduce absenteeism. While these can be effective to reduce high-risk drinking, they need to be more comprehensive to impact drug use.

Notably, alcohol and drug testing in isolation do not appear to be related to reduced employee substance use or absenteeism. Drug testing. Mandatory drug testing is a commonly practiced policy in some areas of the world. These offer a proven way to reduce absence abuse. Although often unpopular, drug testing programs are in most cases cost-effective and reduce absenteeism — often at the cost of employee morale.

Depression treatment. Enhanced care for chronic diseases, like depression, can be highly effective. A study showed that patients in enhanced care reported 8. Creating commitment. Commitment to the organization and alignment with the organizational goals leads to lower absenteeism. Drugmakers plan to raise prices in new year to make up for pandemic-related declines December 31, Washington Post.

Students are falling behind in math during the pandemic Rachel Schallom December 1, Fortune. Mushroom Town Oliver Onions. The Canadian Dominion Oscar D. Disturbed Ireland Bernard H. All rights reserved.



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