What Is Absenteeism And What Causes Absence Management Essay

What Is Absenteeism And What Causes absence seizure seizure focvictimization EssayAn employees delibe appraise or habitual absence seizure from prep ar. In to eld formulateing organisations everybody misses a day of work right away and then. But when an employee misses too m any(prenominal) days of work it base be a jumbo problem for the organisation and this can grammatical case serious problems when all more or less other employees shake to cover for the miss worker or in worse cases the work simply doesnt conk done.Absenteeism occurs when the employees of a political party do non turn up to work due to scheduled epoch forth, nausea, injury, or any other reason. Recent studies entertain reviled that Absenteeism roughlytimes put the figure much higher.One new-made Gallup poll did not put a price tag on the sniffles and swollen eyes, but claimed that much than 3 meg workdays per year atomic number 18 disjointed when working people stay home be eccentric t heir allergies are acting up. The momma Institute of Technology released a experience on in 1994 claiming that clinical depression alone resulted in more than 213 trillion confused workdays, cost $24 billion. Furthermore, a 1995 remove discovered a correlation in the midst of absenteeism and employee turnover. Companies with high place of absenteeism were found to be more the likes ofly to have their employees bestow for personal line of credits with other firms. In light of such findings, employers have recognized that a generous absence insurance policy can be pro accommodateable and contribute to employee satisfaction and stability.1If we look back the history, there is just a small compose history of absenteeism in seam literature, probably because until the 20th century businesses had a simple rule, No work no pay. Then labour coalitions forced the companies into contracts to allow employees to take time off from work for unsoundness or vacations and the pract ice of offering paid unrelenting days become widespread. These practices still vary among companies and union contracts and normally there is an average of quadruple to ten sick days per year is standard. Companies have realise that valet absence heed policies are cost legal even many companies were un volitioning to off paid pull to their employees. In fact, there is an estimate in the current studies regarding absenteeism that those company who have hard-hitting employee absence strategies can reduce their overall payroll be by atleast 10 percent.HOW MUCH ABSENTEEISM woo THE BUSINESSMost youthful studies on absenteeism have claimed that missing employees cost companies millions of pounds in lost tax revenue each year. at that place have been several horizons to find show up how much exactly does absenteeism cost the organisations, some of them are as under(a) check to a new survey by Mercer,The issue forth monetary Impact of Employee Absences, the marrow cost of absence can equal as much as 36% of payroll (compared to 15.4% for health care coverage). Of that figure, 9% ac count ons for unintentional absences. Planned absences, like vacations and holidays, average 26.6%. For a midsize business, this un be after absence can account for as much as $4.5 million per year and unplanned absences like casual sick days result in the highest per-day productivity loss, 21% versus just 15% for planned absences like vacation days. On an average, employees have 5.3 unplanned absence days per year.2The other most recent survey on the popular causes of absenteeism by BBC has revealed that within the UK 93% of workers cite cods and flu as their common reason for world away from their work.IHC estimates that 13.4 million working days a year are lost to stress, anxiety and depression, and 12.3 million to back and upper limb problems. And the overall cost to UK industry? A hit 11.5bn in 2002 was paid out in wages to absent employees and on additional over time and pro tem staff cover, according to the CBI. One such firm that has decided to tackle the problem of workplace absence is investment solicitude company INVESCO. Based in the City of London and Henley-on-Thames and employing 1,000 permanent staff, it realised that absenteeism, whether to find a doctor, physiotherapist or councillor, was costing it an estimated 38,000 a year after carrying out a study into the problem in late 2002.3Absence from work costs British industry 10.2bn a year, in the get-go place through minor illnesses, stress and family responsibilities, according to a new report. A survey of more than 530 firms for the federation of British Industry estimated that 200m days were lost through affection absence last year, an average of 8.5 days per worker.4TheMassachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) is aprivateresearch university located inCambridge,Massachusetts, United States, MIT has released a study in 1994 that, Clinical depression alone resulted in mo re than 213 million lost workdays, costing $24 billion.5According to an annual survey report of CIPD in 2009, it is stated that the annual cost of absence, is highest in the public sector, averaging 784 per employee per year. Manufacturing and production employers recorded the next highest cost at 754 per employee per year. Absence costs among non-profit organisations excessively uncivilized slightly to 698 from 741 per employee per year.Private services organisations recorded the lowest annual absence costs, averaging 666. However, the findings showed that scarcely 41% of employers supervise the cost of employee absence, a figure which has re primary(prenominal)ed stubbornly low over the last few years.Annual Absence Labour Turnover Survey 2008by the CBI and insurer AXA revealed that of the 172 million sick days lost to absence in 2007, more than one in ten (12%) are thought to be non-genuine. These 21 million sick employees cost the economy 1.6bn and cardinal thirds of empl oyers think that people use them to extend their weekends.6Another company Hewitt Associateswhich is based inLincolnshire,Illinoisis a globalhuman resources(HR)outsourcing andconsultingfirm which delivers a wide range of structured services to help companies manage their total HR and employee costs and improve their workforces has confirmed thatSickness costs UK companies more than 1,000 per employee every year. In addition, absenteeism is costing employers at least 662 per employee, although this rises by as much as 60% once indirect costs, such as lost productivity, overtime and recruitment, are included. The first Hewitt health care Fundamentals Survey, found that many companies are under-estimating their rate of absenteeism and its financial impact as less than two thirds of companies indicated that they properly record employee absenteeism. The survey showed that the biggest causes of absenteeism are flu, muscular injuries such as back anguish and repetitive strain injury, and stress and depression. more or less 56% of respondents said that stress is an issue for their organisation yet only a third provides stress instruction coaching for their managers. The report makes it clear that stress is predicted to be the main cause of employee ill-health in the next three years. If the UK economy worsens, stress levels can undoubtedly be expect to rise further, making this the biggest threat to employee health in the UK. Poor health and work absenteeism has long been prize as a problem for UK employers. According to a recent review by Dame carol Black, the National Director for Health and Work at the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, the total cost of sickness and absenteeism to the UK economy is over 60 billion.7Forum of Private Business (FPB) an online forum has recently conducted a survey on how much absenteeism is costing the business in the United Kingdom. This forum warned that the cost of a unmarried day of workers absenteeism within UK because of the freezing winter conditions could be at least 230 million. FPB also stated thatEmployee absenteeism represents a huge cost for many small businesses. According to the FPBs recent cost of compliance survey, small business employers in the UK spend a total of 391 million per year on absence control and management more than on any other aspect of employment law.8WHAT CAUSES ABSENCE?The most common main causes of sickness absence for both manual and non-manual employees have been identified asManualNon-ManualMinor illness(cold, flu, stomach upsets headaches)Minor illness(cold, flu, stomach upsets headaches)Back painStressMusculo-skeletal injuriesMusculo-skeletal injuriesHome/family responsibilitiesBack painStressHome/family responsibilitiesRecurring medical conditionsRecurring medical conditionsInjuries/accidents not connect to work new(prenominal) absences not connectd to ill-healthThe current studies and surveys have revealed that an increase in stress connect absence is go on in hail of employers these days.INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONSInternational comparison of absence rates is equally useful and informative. The deed of conveyance sick man of Europe was once feed inn to Britain because of apparently poor industrial relations record. This claim can be given to any other country now as absence rates in the UK are among the lowest of any EU member country. Table 1 illustrates this point soilShort-term Absenteeism ratesemipermanent Absenteeism rateDenmarkUKAustriaSwedenIrelandNorwayNetherlandsFranceGermanyBelgiumItalyPortugal3.53.64.14.44.55.05.55.65.65.86.98.09.15.512.73.010.413.311.16.56.65.511.2Source Adapted from CBI, Focus on Absence, 19899THEORIES RELEVANT TO ABSENTEEISM motivation conjectureThe word motivation is used to describe certain sorts of demeanor. The purpose of motivation theories is to predict behaviours. demand is not the behaviour itself, and it is not performance. Motivation concerns action and the inside and ex ternal forces which influence a persons preference of action (Mitchell 1987).10HERZBERGS TWO FACTOR THEORYHerzberg used the critical incidental regularity and his original study was chosen because of the growing importance in the business world and his study was consisted of interviews with 203 accountants and engineersfrom different industries in the Pittsburgh discipline of America. The responses to these interviews were generally consistent and revealed that there were two different sets of factors affecting motivation and work. This led to the Two calculate system of motivation and avocation satisfaction.Herzberg concluded that the factors as company policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions, and salary are not motivators but are hygiene factors. According to Herzbergs guess, the absence of hygiene factors can create line of merchandise satisfaction and on the other hand their presence does not motivate or create satisfaction. In contrast, he deter mined from data that the motivators were elements that enriched a persons job he foundfive factorsin busy that were strongdeterminers of job satisfactionAchievementRecognitionThe work itselfResponsibilityAdvancementAccording to Herzberg theory these motivators who also can be known as satisfiers were associated with longpositive effects in job performance while the hygiene factors (dissatisfiers) consistently produced only before long-term changes in job attitudes and performance, which quickly throw away back to its previous level. In summary,satisfiers describe a persons relationship with that she or hedoes, many related to the tasks being performed.On the other hand dissatisfiers have to do with a personsrelationship to the context or environmentin which she or he performs the job.The satisfiers or motivators relate to what a person does while the dissatisfiers relate to the situation in which the person does what he or she does.Herzberg argued that extra compensation only work in the short term and other hygiene factors only avoid dissatisfaction and that satisfaction comes from intrinsic motivators. Herzberg developed the job enhancement process and brought out the dramatizeing features in his theoryDirect feedback non-evaluative feedback on work performance which goes straight to the employee, not through a superior.New learning employees given opportunities to learn new and meaning(prenominal) skillsScheduling employees are permitted to organise their own work patterns within reasonable limitsUnique expertise using ones special skills and knowledgeControl over resources having an individual budget for which one is responsibleDirect communication theory authority being able to communicate as necessary to get the job done individual(prenominal) accountability the employee is directly accountable for the work.11ATTRIBUTION THEORYAttribution theory suggests that we observe a persons behaviour and then try to establish whether internal or externa l forces caused it. If it is judged to be internal, it is seen as being under the persons control if it is judged to be external, it is seen as a result of the situation. Attribution is said to be subjected to a number of considerations, because we judge actions in a context. For example, we judge how distinctive behaviour is and whether behaviour is unusual for a occurrence person.Attribution theory is very much relevant to absenteeism as for example the employee is absent from work and the deal are that his or her attendance record is exemplary, then the behaviour could be considered unusual and an external cause (that is, that the behaviour is outside the control of the individual) bequeath be attributed. If the absenteeism fits in with the general pattern of behaviour, then an internal attribution leave be attached (that is, it will be seen as being under the persons control).DOUGLAS MCGREGOR THEORY X THEORY YAccording to Douglas McGregor there are two distinct views of hum an beings, the first one is basically negative, labelled as Theory X, and the other basically positive, labelled as Theory Y. McGregor concluded, after viewing the way in which managers dealt with employees, that a managers view of the nature of human beings is based on a certain grouping of assumptions and that he or she tends to mold his or her behaviour toward employees according to these assumptionsAccording to McGregors Theory X, there are four assumptions held by managers which areEmployees inherently dislike work and whenever possible, will attempt to avoid it.Since employees dislike work, they must be coerced, controlled, or threatened with punishment to achieve goals.Employees will avoid responsibilities and seek formal direction whenever possible.Most workers place security above all other factors associated with work and will display little ambition.12In contrast to these negative views about the nature of human beings, McGregor listed the four positive assumptions that h e called Theory YEmployees can view work as being as natural as rest or play.People will exercise self-direction and sobriety if they are committed to the objectives.The average person can learn to accept, even seek, responsibilities.The ability to make modernistic decisions is widely dispersed throughout the population and is not necessarily the sole province of those in management positions.13HOW TO MEASURE ABSENTEEISMTo measure worker absenteeism the most obvious way is to record how many days have employees not come in to work. The companies should have some sort of clock-in or accountability set-up making this bill relatively simple. Once the numbers are available, surely it would be interesting to know how many of those workers were really ill.Measuring absenteeism can serve as many as four purposes for organisations, which includes the followingAdministering payroll and benefits programs proviso human resource requirements for production schedulingidentifying absenteeism p roblemsmeasuring and controlling personnel costs (Gandz and Mikalachki, 1979)Actual appraisal and analyzing is a key aspect of managing absence effectively. Organisations must assess if they have complications with absenteeism, its extent and find out the best way to tackle it. In the latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) absence survey, less than half of employers monitor the cost of absence,and just underhalf of organisations have set a target for reducing absence and only 38% of organisations benchmark themselves against other employers.To examine particular line of battle of absenteeism and underlying the basis, employers should acquire and use data, for example, the management approach of an appropriate manager or an increase in workloads. This can also provide the evidence of how absenteeism impacts on the bottom line and why it value drop in an effective absenteeism management programme.HOW TO MEASURE TIME LOST?To evaluate absenteeism there are a n umber of different measures that can be used, each of which can gives information about the different aspects of absenteeism. Some of the factors are described as underLOST TIME enjoinLost time rate measurearticulate the percentage of the total time available which has been lost due to absenceTotal absence (hours or days) in the closex 100Possible total (hours or days) in the periodFor instance, if the total absence of the employees in the period is 155 person-hours and the total time available is 1,950 person-hours, the lost time rate will be155 x 100 = 7.95%1,950This can also be calculated separately for the individual departments of different groups of employees to uncover particular absence problems within an organisation.FREQUENCY RATEThe frequency rate method shows an average number of absences per employee, which is expressed as a percentage. This does not give any indication of the length or duration of each absence period, nor any indication of employees who take more tha n one spell of absence and it is calculated as underNo of spells of absence in the periodx 100No of employeesFor example, if an organisation employed on average 110 workers in one month, and during this time there were a total of 24 spells of absence, the frequency rate will be24x 100 = 21.82%110To find out the individual frequency rate, we have to count the number of workers who take at least one interval of absence in the period, rather than to total number of intervals of absence.BRADFORD FACTORThis method expresses the persistent short-term absence for individuals, by measuring the number of spells of absence, and is consequently a useful measure of the disruption caused by this type of absence. It is calculated using the formulaS x S x DS = number of spells of absence in 52 weeks interpreted by an individualD = number of days of absence in 52 weeks taken by that individualFor example10 one-day absences 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,0001 ten-day absence 1 x 1 x 10 = 105 two-day absences 5 x 5 x 10 = 2502 five-day absences 2 x 2 x 10 = 40The travel points will differ between organisations. The underlying causes will lack to be identified for all unofficial absence.ABSENCE POLICIESThe companies should have clear policies in place which backing their business objectives and culture and this is the first timber to managing absenteeism efficiently. Under the current legislation employers are undeniable to provide their staff with knowledge on any terms and conditions relating to inadequacy for work due to the sickness or injury, including any arrangement for sick pay. effectual absenteeism policies must spell out clearly employees rights and responsibilities when taking time off from work due to sickness or any other reason. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is Europes largest HR development professional person body which support and develop the management and development of people within organization, has explained that the following few fa cts are most considerable and the policies shouldProvide details of contractual sick pay terms and its relationship with statutory sick payOutline the process employees must follow if taking time off sick covering when and whom employees should notify if they are not able to attend workInclude when (after how many days) employees need a self-certificate formContain details of when they require a fit note from their doctor apologise that adjustments may be appropriate to assist the employee in returning to work as soon as is practicableMention that the organisation reserves the right to require employees to attend an examination by a company doctor and (with the workers consent) to request a report from the employees doctorInclude provisions for return-to-work interviews as these have been identified as the most effective intervention to manage short-term absence.14HOW TO MANAGE ABSENTEEISMBefore we converse how to manage absenteeism we look the types of absenteeism. There are many other reasons why people take time off from work. These can be categorised as underNon permitted absence or continuous latenessLong-term sickness absenceShort-term sickness absence (uncertificated, self-certificated, or covered by a doctors fit note which replaced the sick note from April 2010)Other authorised absencesfor example,annual leave maternity, paternity, adoption, or parental leave time off for public or trade union duties, or to care for dependents compassionate leave educational leave.Other than these above categories of absenteeism there are two main types of absenteeism, know as short term absenteeism and long term absenteeism. We discuss in detail how to manage these two main types of absenteeismMANAGING short-run ABSENCEShort term absence also known as absence interventions. The most effective interventions in managing short term absence include the followingsA proactive absence management policyReturn-to-work interviewsDisciplinary procedures for unacceptable abse nce levelsInvolving trained line managers in absence managementProviding sickness absence information to line managersRestricting sick payInvolving occupational health professionalsThe most common method which is currently being adopted by many organisations is return-to-work interviews which can help identify short-term absence problems at an early stage. These return-to-work interviews provide an opportunity to managers to start a dialogue with staff over underlying issues, which might be causing the absence.Tim Holden, the Managing Director ofFLUID, draws on more than 10 years experience as an award-winning recruiter and trainer. FLUID works with organisations to enhance their attractiveness to both current and future employees. Holden suggests thatThe use of corrective procedures for unacceptable absence may be used to make it clear to employees that unjustified absence will not be tolerated and that absence policies will be enforced.15According to CIPDs recent survey it has bee n revealed that, only 12% of organisations use attendance incentives or bonuses as a tool of absence management according to our latest absence survey. get out MANAGERS ROLETo control and reduce the causes of absenteeism, line managers have a substantial grapheme to play, either directly or indirectly. How managers behave is very important because it has a significant effect on employee health and comfort. Many recent researches show that line managers are the type of employees most likely to be reported as bullies within organisations. Management style within an organisation is also one of the chair causes of stress at work.In any organisations the managers need good communications skills to encourage employees so that they can feel free to discuss any problems they may have at an early stage so that they can be given support or advice by the managers before matters escalate. According to all the recent studies and surveys it is stated that despite of all the importance of line m anager/supervisor involvement, there are only 50% organisations are training their line managers to get the skills needed to do this effectively. The organisations should train their line managers to get the following skills to handle the absenteeism properly and they should have a good knowledge ofTheir companys absence policies and proceduresWhat is their graphic symbol in the absence management programmeHow to act upon any advice given by the doctor to the employee.All the related legal and disciplinary aspects of absence including potential disability discrimination issuesHow to maintain absence record-keeping and understanding facts and figures on absenceThe role of occupational health servicesThe proactive measures to support staff health and public assistanceOperation (where applicable) of trigger pointsDevelopment of return-to-work interview skillsDevelopment of counselling skills.MANAGING LONG-TERM ABSENCEThe current studies and researches on long term absence have shown that absence ofeight days or more give up about one thirdof total time lost through absence and absence of four weeks or more accounts for more than 15%. Consequently it is very vital that organisations have an approved dodging in place to help their employees to get back to work after a continuous period of sickness or injury-related absence. The knowledge of potential disability discrimination claims is also critical these days.THE ROLE OF LINE MANAGERSThe role and responsibilities of the line manager in the management of absence should be clearly defined. However, these days the role of line managers is paramount. It is the line managers responsibility to manager his or her departmental, or unit. Therefore it is his/her responsibility to see that these resources are used as effectively as possible. This means that levels of attendance should be good and absence kept to a minimum. The line managers should follow the companys approach to management style, organisation and alloca tion of work, as this will be a vital part of any strategy to control absence. In addition it is his/her responsibility to follow the company absence polices and procedures to staff.In addition, the line manager will be one of the main influences on an individuals view of the company attitude to absence. It is therefore important that the actions, and words of line manager support the companys position. victorious a difference stance on the management of absence, whether more strictly or leniently, will cause problems for the individual manager and for the organisation. Line managers must be able to rely on the support of elderly management for decision they take in line with the companys policy, their responsibilities are as underTo effectively develop and allocate workTo use an appropriate management styleTo ensure that all staff are adequately trained for their roleTo communicate the absence policy and procedures to all subordinatesTo apply policy and procedures in a consisten t and fair mannerTo deal with requests for prior approved absenceTo keep absolute and up-to-date records of absencesTo investigate reasons for unexplained absencesTo carry out return to work interviewsTo instigate disciplinary procedures, when requiredTo provide adequate feedback to senior managementTo ensure adequate personal development and training to be able to meet these responsibilities effectively.As we already discussed the role of line manager in managing the short-term absence, now we discuss the role of the line manager in managing long-term absence which is also crucial for managing long-term absence and other interventions are also important, which includeThe occupational health involvement and proactive measures to support staff health and wellbeingThe line management involvement as part of the absence management programmeRestricting sick payChanges to work patterns or environmentReturn-to-work interviewsRehabilitation programmeThere are also four typical components i n the recovery and return-to-work process, which are discussed as under care in contact with sick employeesThe line manager should ensure that a regular contact is maintain using both sensitive and non-intrusive approach with the employee and this should be agreed with the member of staff and manager and, also where appropriate, with the union or employee representative.Planning and undertaking workplace controls or adjustmentsThere can be some obstacles which may cause delay, interruption or difficulties to an employees return to work. A risk assessment can analyse measures or adjustm