Absenteeism in the Workplace: An Examination of the Problem and Possible Solutions to It

One of the biggest nightmares for any company is absenteeism, and it costs companies billions every year. Absenteeism is, quite simply, the failure of an employee to show up for work repeatedly. Absenteeism is a growing problem in the workplace. In fact, absenteeism costs companies, not millions, but billions of dollars a year (Markussen, Roed, Rogeberg, Gaure, 2011). There are a number of reasons for chronic absenteeism, not all of them malicious or fear-based. The ones that are based on maliciousness or fear are the ones that are most prominent, but also the easiest to find solutions for. However, in order to minimize workplace absenteeism as much as possible, it is necessary to analyze each major cause of absenteeism and create unique solutions for each one.

There are a number of sub-categories of absenteeism. One of the most common is depression with either the employee themselves or their jobs (Bender, 2008). In fact, depression is such a serious cause of absenteeism that about 5% of all employees reported depression affecting their absenteeism rates (Bender, 2008). Depression is one of the most serious causes of absenteeism because it can snowball until the employee either quits the company or worse. Depression is difficult to fix on a broad scale, so solutions to it must be focused on the individual and his or her own unique needs. The best way to start is to set up an employee counseling program. Having discussions with the employee with an authority figure in the workplace can help the employee get his or her feelings out on the table and give upper management a chance to possibly rectify some of these issues. If employee counseling proves ineffective, it may be necessary to simply offer a work-funded psychologist visit. The cost of this may initially be high, but in the long run, it will save the company money, assuming the employee is cured or shows improvement after visiting the psychologist. If no improvement is shown, it may be necessary to consider terminating the employee in question. Obviously this should only be used as a last resort because terminating the employee could make the depression worse, but sometimes there is simply no other alternative. Another possible way of dealing with depression is to give the employee paid leave, or to temporarily lay off the employee until he or she has gotten their issues under control. This can be useful if the depression is due to something relatively short-term, such as a breakup or death in the family. While it is certainly none of the company's business to pry into an employee's personal life, oftentimes it is necessary to analyze at least the basic cause of the depression in order to understand their needs. One possible way to do this is to ensure that depression, at least depression related to the job such as burnouts, does not occur in the first place. The best way to do this is to periodically evaluate each employee's satisfaction with particular aspects of the company. If an employee seems dissatisfied with a particular area, offer him or her some measures to help rectify the problem. Oftentimes, if an employee is already showing visible signs of depression, it is too late to prevent it from costing the company on at least some level.

Another relatively common form of absenteeism is a simple illness and injury. These are not related to the employee's dissatisfaction or anything of the sort, so it can be difficult to find an effective solution for it. The best way to deal with excessive absenteeism in relation to an injury or illness is to give the employee a set period of time off to recover and set him or her up with a doctor to examine their condition every week or so, assuming the office has a healthcare plan of some sort. If it does not, merely encourage the employee to be examined every week until the doctor determines that they can engage in physical activity and return to work. In the employee's absence, it might be necessary to hire a temporary replacement or assign the work to another employee.

The third category of absenteeism is a form that some do not even consider a valid for of absenteeism: tardiness. Arriving late for work on a regular basis adds up, and, financially, can be just as detrimental as absenteeism. Unfortunately, routine tardiness is usually the fault of the employee. Obviously, it is difficult to anticipate things like traffic on certain days, but when it happens regularly, it is obvious that there is a problem. There are a few solutions to this form of absenteeism. The first, and most gracious, is to offer an employee incentive program for arriving on time. For example, an employee who is only late three times per year may receive a $1,000 bonus. This would encourage the timely arrival of employees and would help to lessen some of the losses that come with chronic tardiness. Another, less desirable alternative is to put the employee on a form of probation. This would mean that once the employee has shown up late enough time, upper management must talk to them and explain that this cannot keep happening lest the employee loses his or her job. If the employee continues to be regularly late, even after this, it is necessary to terminate said employee, regardless of their performance in other areas of the company.

There are other solutions to excessive absenteeism that are not employee-dependent. That is to say, they are much less personal, and are essentially a guideline for dealing with absentee cases of any type. While it may seem foolhardy to create such a blanket program for dealing with absenteeism, it is also necessary to consider that each case is different, and oftentimes a premade, proven effective method might be best. This method involves first creating records of absenteeism, such as the types of absenteeism, their duration, and reasons for it (Biron and Bamberger, 2012). The second and final step is something of a follow-through and involves visiting the employee if they are sick or otherwise in poor health, conducting workplace interviews with the returning employee, and sending the employee letters for them to record their absenteeism on, to ensure that there is proper communication between the employee and the company. An example of this might be an employee who suddenly feels depressed and stops showing up for work. The company would first begin creating a written record of the absenteeism, the possible reasons for it, and its duration. The company would then attempt to conduct interviews with the employee in order to assess the nature and severity of the issue (in this case, depression). Finally, the company would, if possible, send someone to talk to the employee at wherever they are staying and, if the employee returns, continue to conduct interviews with him or her to ensure that they are okay to work again.

Lastly, it is important to examine the company itself and its demographics before creating a plan to deal with absenteeism. For example, if the company is smaller, there is a 25% lower chance of employee absenteeism (Markussen et al, 2011). Age is another crucial factor regarding absenteeism, especially absenteeism related to major and minor diseases. For instance, absenteeism due to major diseases slowly lowers with age until around age 45, when it begins to go back up again (Markussen et al, 2011). For shorter-term absenteeism due to minor diseases (such as a cold or the flu), absentee rates take a sharp decline around age thirty until around age forty-five where they stabilize (Markussen et al, 2011).

Absenteeism is an extremely serious issue in the workplace, and it is important for companies to be proactive in seeking out symptoms of possible causes of absenteeism (especially depression) and stopping it before it has a chance to start. Even things like dissatisfaction with the workplace environment, one of the main causes of depression in the workplace, can at least partially be curbed by the correct application of employee counseling, workplace incentives, or a combination of the two. The important thing to remember is that employees are humans, and it is necessary to keep them happy, whatever the cost.

References

Bender, A., & Farvolden, P. (2008). Depression and the workplace: a progress report. Current psychiatry reports, 10(1), 73-79.

Biron, M., & Bamberger, P. (2012). Aversive workplace conditions and absenteeism: Taking referent group norms and supervisor support into account. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(4), 901.

Markussen, S., Røed, K., Røgeberg, O. J., & Gaure, S. (2011). The anatomy of absenteeism. Journal of health economics, 30(2), 277-292.