Like anything – it’s not an issue if you don’t have a problem with it. Most absenteeism is really “sick leave”. It’s that which I am addressing here.
Some organizations have such high engagement and happy employees that absence management is not something they even have to think about. Honestly… I do have clients like that.
Other organizations see absenteeism as a fundamental problem and root cause of so many other employment issues. These employers can’t even believe that all employers are not struggling with managing attendance.
I see absenteeism as a fancy Starbucks drink or delicious cocktail that has three different layers:
- The bottom layer is the group of employees who are truly ill and need to be off work.
- The middle layer is the people who could perhaps be at work but decided that they need some time off for whatever reason – like they might have a mild cold
- The top layer are those who are off not because they are sick but that simply feel like not attending work
The first layer is why you have sick time or short-term disability.
The second layer is usually the slightly less committed employees who feel they can justify to themselves some time off.
The last layer is the layer that you need to go after first, as you will be able to impact it the fastest.
To make some inroads in absenteeism you need to do the following:
Firstly, you need to track attendance. Do not look at your aggregate absenteeism but rather absenteeism as a percentage per employee. The aggregate number will result in you missing the individuals that you need to target.
Secondly, you need a benchmark level of absenteeism to target. A benchmark for absenteeism is a good place to start. The benchmark I have used my entire career is 4% absence for unionized employees and 3% for non-union employees.
Lastly, having success with attendance management requires commitment from the employee’s managers. Here’s why: Employees tend to be more focused on something when you are paying attention to them around that activity. So when managers do not acknowledge an employee’s absence, the employee does not receive the feedback that absences are to be the exception, not the norm. Managers must also set a good example themselves and have good attendance records.
One of the manufacturing plants under my supervision had absenteeism as high as 10 % at one time. The local HR manager, JP, decided that he would make sure employees who were absent were aware that he knew they had missed work.
Following each employee’s absence, he met with them when they returned to work. In this meeting, he would review their sick time entitlement. He also reviewed anything that had happened during the employee’s absence particularly anything related to health and safety.
Very quickly, absenteeism was reduced because employees really didn’t like having these meetings with HR. It took a great deal of commitment on JP’s part, but within a matter of months, our absenteeism for employees at that facility was close to 4%.
I know it sounds simple, but it works… As long as the manager has the discipline to continue having a meeting after every absence, the number will quickly reduce and progress will be made.
Do keep in mind that some individuals avoid work because they are not comfortable in the workplace. For tough attendance issues always probe employees about their relationships with supervisors and other staff in case that is an issue.
There will always be individuals with whom you need to take more action than what is described above. For those cases, you need to work through a more rigid attendance management program with staff. Our HR team at the Osborne Group would be happy to help you with that.
