Employee Absenteeism - Common Causes and How to Deal With It

What is employee absenteeism?

Employee absenteeism refers to the frequent absence of an employee from work, not including paid leave, that has been approved by the manager, or a business owner. An employee being absent occasionally is common, but when it happens habitually, it causes more problems to the business' operations. High absenteeism rates may cause decreased productivity, wasted management time, increased hiring costs and lost time in training temporary employees, poor customer service due to lack of staff and demotivated employees.

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What Causes Absenteeism among Employees

There are many causes of absenteeism at work but some of the most common ones include the following:

 1. Minor illnesses. Colds, flu, stomach issues, and headaches are very commonly cited reasons for being absent from work.

 2. Stress. Stress and mental health issues such as anxiety and depression often lead to frequent absences at work. It’s especially common among office-based workers.

 3. Injuries. Back pains and muscular pains as reasons for being absent are quite prevalent among office employees and manual workers.

 4. Familial and personal responsibilities. Childcare, looking after sick relatives, and dental and other health-related appointments are common causes of absenteeism.

 5. Job disengagement. Job disengagement could result from bullying, harassment, work pressure, lack of job satisfaction, and other workplace factors.

 How Can Managers Respond to Employee Absenteeism?

Although managers can’t control when employees get sick or injured or when they get family or personal obligations, there are a lot of things that they could do to address the causes of employee absenteeism.

 1. Promote a positive and motivating work environment. Motivated employees are happy employees. And when they are happy, they look forward to going to work every day, put in a lot of effort,and make sure to contribute significantly to the success of the organisation. To establish a fun and positive work environment, managers should be empowered to train, reward, guide, and communicate with their people. By having a comprehensive HR system in place and understanding the company's processes and systems, managers can easily create the kind of workplace that employees love.

 2. Encourage a healthy lifestyle. Companies can provide healthier diet alternatives and promote wellness and exercise in the workplace so they are less likely to get ill.

 3. Encourage work-life balance. The management should encourage employees to work reasonable hours and set healthy boundaries so work does not disrupt employees' time outside of their work hours.

4. Ensure proper data recording. Record disputes, illnesses, injuries, harassment reports, bullying reports, and other issues so the manager could have a clearer idea of the most common problems that cause absenteeism and address them accordingly.

Managers can feel overwhelmed by keeping track of employee absenteeism and how to manage it may be put on the back burner. Give your managers the support that they need to collect, record, and keep track of your employee’s data so you can find patterns of absenteeism and address them efficiently. Try HR Pulse’s HR management software to automate your HR processes so you can focus on growing your business. Get a free trial when you sign up today.

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