Understanding Absenteeism

Absenteeism "refers to the non attendance of employees for scheduled work when they are expected to attend" (Furnham, 1992). In fact, unauthorized or unscheduled absenteeism is a problem for every organization or business due to the consequences that absenteeism can have on productivity. According to Mathis & Jackson, estimates are that productivity losses due to absenteeism cost more than $70 billion per year for the United States employers in total, and one study indicates that employee absenteeism averages about 36 percent of company’s payroll. Different factors, such as technology, innovations can improve productivity but the most important metric remains human labor (output per hour). Therefore, different questions arise from the issue of absenteeism which has been the motives of different studies.

In the present paper, the reduction of absenteeism is investigated. It is hypothesized that employers should increase their understanding of the causes of absenteeism and get more aggressive in health and productivity strategies if they want to satisfy their employees’ needs as well the organizational goals by implementing health and wellness programs that result in modifiable health behaviors, and absence program administration. The following three literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support the hypothesis.

In a research study article by Kathy Harte, Kathleen Mahieu, David Mallett, Julie Norville and Sander VanderWerf. (2011), employers can use tactical strategies to tackle absenteeism issues. In fact, the target areas can be from the perspective of data management, absence program design and management, employee health and wellness, and behavioral health in order to increase productivity since costs will be decreased because absenteeism generates loss of productivity as well as cost to the employer (sick time, personal leave, and paid holidays, voluntary or involuntary absences). The study found that employers are aware that absent workers...