What you can do about high absenteeism at work
According to a Conference Board of Canada report that undertook a 2012 study of workplace absenteeism, full-time employees took an average of 8.9 sick day days per year. Private sector workers took fewer – 7.8 days, and at 12.7 days, public sector employees took significantly more.
If your workplace is plagued with chronic absenteeism, it’s not the only one. In 2012, the direct cost of absenteeism to the Canadian economy was more than $16 billion. That doesn’t include indirect costs, like those for replacing an absent worker, administrative costs for time spent finding a replacement, reduction in employee morale and productivity, and reduced customer satisfaction.
Absenteeism is not an easy fix. You don’t want your employees dragging their contagious selves in and getting everyone else sick. On the other hand, you also don’t want to put up with employees who routinely call in sick every other Friday.
What’s a business owner to do?
Pay attention to why employees are taking sick leave.
Surprisingly, a high number of Canadian businesses don’t track absenteeism. In the Conference Board of Canada’s study, only 46 per cent of organizations tracked absences, and most of those were in the public sector.
If you don’t know what you’re dealing with, how can you remedy it? While your first instinct may be to bring down the hammer, creating super strict, across-the-board rules about absenteeism won’t address the root problem. And it may punish those employees who are legitimately ill.
Instead, start by investigating the causes behind above-average sick leave. You may discover a varied number of reasons – most of which will likely fit into one (or more) of three main categories:
- Actual illness;
- Family issues; or
- Problems in the workplace.
Your employees are actually ill. Everyone gets sick at some point. But if your employees are getting sick frequently, think about steps you can take at the workplace to reduce illness.
· Germs can live on surfaces, so institute a practice to wash items like shared telephones and equipment handles. Remind employees to wash up and make hand sanitizer available around the workplace.
· Is everyone getting their flu shot? Arrange a flu shot “field trip” or a hold a clinic on-site.
· Sometimes illness is self-inflicted. If fast food is your staff’s go-to lunch every day, or if many of your employees take regular smoke breaks, you might consider creating a wellness program to help staff break unhealthy habits.
They’re dealing with problems at home. When employees need to deal with personal issues, they may take sick days because there is no other option (and they are reluctant to use what may be precious few vacation days). A child with behavioral problems; a painful divorce? No matter your absenteeism policy, life happens.
· Could your workplace be more flexible in allowing employees to take an hour or two in the day to see a therapist or look after a family situation? Or work from home?
· Think about allowing employees to work an extra hour a day for however long it takes to make up for time taken.
It’s not them, it’s you (your workplace, that is). People who actually like coming in to work probably don’t call in sick when they’re not. Employees will call in sick if they’re trying to avoid conflict, negativity or boredom. Take a good look at your company’s culture and workplace environment. Is this a place where your employees are happy to come in to work every day?
Whatever the reason for absenteeism, if it’s a problem in your organization, make sure you have a clear absenteeism policy and all employees are aware of and understand it. The policy should include:
- who they contact when they’re going to be away;
- how they should make contact (e.g. phone, text or email);
- how much notice is required;
- if or when they need to bring in a doctor’s note
Your policy should also include some rules and repercussions for habitual absenteeism. Ultimately, your business needs healthy employees, and it needs those healthy employees to come to work!
Sources
www.rtwmatters.org/article/article.php?id=971&t=top-ten-ways-to-reduce-sick-leave
www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_56.htm