Absenteeism

Understanding and Controlling Absenteeism

Dana L Cremer

Human Resources Management

Professor Hutton

1 May, 2010

One of the many human resource issues that companies have to deal with is absenteeism. There isn’t much written history on absenteeism in business literature because it wasn’t a problem until the 20th century. Companies did not have to pay their employees unless they worked. Once labor unions were formed, companies were forced into contracts. This allowed employees to take time off from work for various reasons such as illness, personal reasons, injury, death in the family, bad weather conditions, etc. Regardless of the reason for absenteeism, it decreases production in the company and is expensive. There are several methods that a company can use to control absenteeism. 1 No matter which method the company decides to use, absenteeism has to be managed and controlled to a reasonable level.

The first thing any company must do to manage and control absenteeism is to try and understand what causes it. There are many studies that suggested that around 60% to 70% of absenteeism is not due to illness but other reasons. The employee may be burdened with personal issues such as marital problems, illness in the family, care for elderly relatives, childcare issues, etc. If they have personal issues going on in their life, they may not be able to concentrate on their job. They may choose to miss work instead. The employee may be overwhelmed in their current work position. This could be due to a reduction in the workforce and voluntary turnovers. This kind of stress could cause the employee avoid the work environment as much as possible. The employee might also be unhappy with their current working conditions, position, co-workers, team performance, supervisor, or the company itself. If the employee isn’t happy with their current work situation, then they aren’t going to want to be there. Absenteeism can also occur if an employee isn’t...