3. Absenteeism
Absenteeism is another way in which human resources are wasted. It is a major concern in most organizations. Employees may be absent from work for several reasons illness, death in the family, or personal reasons which are unavoidable and understandable. Number of employers have sick policies that allow employees to take paid absences, a certain number of days per year. The formula suggested by U.S Department of Labor for computing absenteeism rate is as
follows:
Number of person days lost through job absence during period
————————————————————————— x IOO
Average number of employees x Number of work days
- Reasonable absenteeism: When a laborer or personnel absents him with proper reasons, (illness, death of relatives, urgent personal work, etc.) then the employer could bear with such absenteeism.
- Unreasonable absenteeism: When a laborer or personnel absents himself from work without genuine reasons, then it is called unreasonable absenteeism. For example, medical leave may be applied for, by a worker for completing his personal works. Perhaps it may be called as ‘medical leave on non-medical ground’. Similarly employees may avail casual leave to stretch the week-end on Friday and Monday.
Steps to Achieve Effective Absence Control
- There must be commitment on the part of management to reduce the cost of absenteeism.
- Another controlling measure of absenteeism is to trust the employees and provide sickness benefits on the strength of this trust. Yet they should not accept claims of sickness benefit when the level of sickness absence is unacceptable.
- Computerized information system is necessary for the successful functioning of the ‘trust’ system.
- Absenteeism must be accepted on the basis of a documented attendance policy.
- In order to increase the responsibility of the managers and team leaders to deal with the problem of absenteeism, regular and proper training must be given.
- Counseling facilities must be given to employees on attendance problems.