Employee Absenteeism: A Guide to Managing

Explore best practices for understanding and addressing employee absenteeism in the workplace. Learn about the causes, effects, and methods for minimizing absenteeism to enhance productivity and maintain a positive work environment.

Understanding and Addressing Employee Absenteeism

What are the Best Practices for Employee Absenteeism? This article provides a comprehensive overview of employee absenteeism, covering its meaning, causes, effects, and methods for minimization.

What is Employee Absenteeism?

Meaning and Definition:

Employee absenteeism is essentially the failure of an employee to report for work when scheduled. It is an unauthorized absence from the workplace.

• Indian Factories Act, 1948: Defines absence as the failure of an employee to report for duty when work is available and the employee is aware of it.
• Voluntary vs. Involuntary Absence: The statistics typically relate to voluntary absenteeism—absence due to personal reasons. Absence due to strikes, lockouts, or lay-offs (involuntary absence) is not included in these statistics.
• Important Note: An employee is counted as absent even if they fail to show up after obtaining prior permission, unless they report for duty for even a part of the day or shift.

Key Characteristics (Features) of Absenteeism

Studies have revealed several peculiar patterns in employee absenteeism:

• Pay Cycle Effect: The rate is lowest on pay day but increases considerably in the days immediately following the payment of wages or bonus, often when workers take time off to enjoy themselves or return to their villages. It also spikes before and after a holiday.
• Shift Variation: Absenteeism is generally higher in night shifts, possibly due to increased discomfort or uneasiness experienced by workers.
• Industry Variation: It is significantly higher in industries like coal and mining compared to organized industries, often linked to agricultural seasons (sowing/harvesting), marriages, and festivals.
• Seasonal Character: Absenteeism in India is highest during March-April-May (for pre-monsoon field work) and in the harvest season (September-October), sometimes reaching as high as 40 percent.

Types and Categories of Absenteeism

Four Types of Absenteeism:

1. Authorised Absenteeism: Absence with prior permission and application for leave.
2. Unauthorised Absenteeism: Absence without informing or taking permission.
3. Willful Absenteeism: Absence from duty intentionally.
4. Absenteeism Caused by Circumstances Beyond One’s Control: Absence due to unavoidable events like accidents or sudden sickness.

Five Categories of Chronic Absentees (K.N. Vaid’s Classification):

1. Entrepreneurs: Employees who feel their job is too small for their goals and engage in other economic and social activities.
2. Status Seekers: Individuals who enjoy or perceive a higher social status and focus on maintaining it.
3. Epicureans: Workers who avoid jobs demanding initiative, responsibility, discipline, and discomfort, but still desire money and status.
4. Family-Oriented: Absentees frequently identified with family activities and responsibilities.
5. The Sick and Old: Employees who are often unhealthy, have a weak constitution, or are older people.

Factors and Causes of Absenteeism

Absenteeism is influenced by a combination of factors:

I. Organizational Factors

• Dull, monotonous, or mundane work leading to loss of interest and fatigue.
• Lax enforcement or leniency toward unapproved absence.
• High reliance on temporary or casual workers.
• Worker frustration caused by militant trade union attitudes.
• Defective or ineffective selection and placement procedures.
• Heavy workload leading to excessive fatigue and accidents.
• Poor working conditions (lighting, ventilation, lack of amenities like housing/canteen, dangerous methods) resulting in low morale and dissatisfaction.
• Poor and overbearing supervisors causing discontent, tension, and conflict.
• Other factors: Overstaffing, irregular production flow, inadequate training/incentives, ineffective grievance procedures, and low pay (workers absent themselves to find supplemental income).

II. Social Factors

• Migratory nature of the Indian labor force, hindering a sense of belonging to the workplace.
• Inadequate housing and transportation facilities.
• Lack of hospital/medical facilities.
• Seasonal reasons like cultivation, marriage, religious festivals, and amusements.

III. Personal Factors

• Higher rate of absence among unskilled and young workers due to personal problems.
• Higher tendency for absenteeism among women workers due to personal and family issues.
• Alcoholic and drug-addicted workers.
• Indebtedness of workers, causing them to hide from moneylenders.
• Personal distress (inferiority complex, maladjustment, job dissatisfaction, family neglect) leading to loss of job interest.

10 Major Causes (Detailed)

Maladjustment with Factory Conditions: Employees find urban/factory life distasteful (insanitary conditions, strict discipline, heavy traffic, etc.) and maintain frequent contacts with their villages for relief.

1. Social and Religious Ceremonies: Functions and local festivals divert employees from work.
2. Unsatisfactory Housing Condition: Difficulties in finding adequate and healthy housing in towns lead to frequent visits to village homes.
3. Industrial Fatigue: Low wages force workers to take up part-time jobs, resulting in constant fatigue and subsequent absence.
4. Unhealthy Working Conditions: Intolerable factory conditions (heat, noise, dust, poor lighting) affect workers’ health.
5. Absence of Adequate Welfare Facilities: Half-hearted or inadequate provision of statutory welfare amenities (sanitation, first aid, canteen) cause workers to migrate.
6. Alcoholism: A significant cause, particularly high in the first week of the month after payday, leading to hangovers and continuous habit.
7. Indebtedness: Workers absent themselves or resign to escape moneylenders.
8. Improper or Unrealistic Personnel Policies: Rejection of unskilled/untrained workers, or prevalence of nepotism, causes frustration and poor efficiency.
9. Inadequate Leave Facilities: Strict leave policies compel workers to utilize E.S.I. leave (56 days on half-pay) instead of going without pay.

Adverse Effects and Consequences

High employee absenteeism has multifarious effects on employees, employers, and the economy:

Effects on the Enterprise (Employer):

• Stops the entire production process, hindering the smooth flow of work.
• Increases the cost of production, reducing profit margins.
• Lowers the rate of production and overall productivity, upsetting targets.
• Increases the selling price of the commodity for customers.
• Forces the industry to rely on casual or sub-standard employees, leading to machinery breakdown, low quality, and material wastage.
• Inability to meet market demand, causing delays in supply to customers.
• Upsets the personnel planning policy of the enterprise.
• Is a reason for indiscipline among workers.
• Wastes precious management time on initiating disciplinary action.
• Hampers the implementation of HR planning and affects the regular flow of interdependent work.
• Causes the plant to remain idle, resulting in underutilization of machine capacity.
• Hinders delivery schedules, making the company vulnerable to litigation, penalties, and loss of orders.
• Leads to overloading available workers and paying overtime, increasing financial commitment.
• Damages the company’s reputation and leads to a loss of customers.

Effects on the Employee:

• Decreases the worker’s working efficiency and interest in the job.
• Reduces the worker’s income, often leading to indebtedness.

Calculating and Analyzing Employee Absenteeism

Absenteeism can be quantified using the following formula:

Absenteeism Rate = (Number of Mandays Lost / Number of Mandays Scheduled to Work) x 100

This rate can be calculated for different employees and across various time periods, such as monthly or annually.

To understand the incidence of absence, the Frequency Rate is used. This rate represents the average number of separate absences per worker within a given period, regardless of their duration.

Frequency Rate = (Total Number of Times Leave was Availed / Total Number of Mandays Scheduled to Work) x 100

The Severity Rate helps determine the average length of time lost per single absence:

Severity Rate = (Total Number of Days Absent During a Period / Total Number of Times Absent During that Period) x 100

A high severity rate signifies that employees are taking longer periods of absence each time. When both the frequency and severity rates are high, it points to employees being absent more often and for longer durations, resulting in a high overall absenteeism figure.

Investigation Procedure for Absenteeism

A firm and cautious procedure is essential for handling absence without leave:

1. Return to Work: The time office must record the returning employee’s arrival time and send them to the Personnel Office.
2. Initial Investigation: The Personnel Assistant takes the employee’s statement and presents the case to the Personnel Manager with the personal file.
3. Personnel Manager Review: The Manager questions the employee. If reasons are satisfactory, leave is granted.
4. Disciplinary Action (for unsatisfactory reasons): If unauthorized, the worker receives an oral warning. Repeated absence leads to a written warning, and habitual absence may result in a charge sheet. Proper records must be maintained.
5. Sickness Cases: A medical certificate must be produced, or the company medical officer’s opinion must be sought.
6. Finalizing the Case: After investigation, the Personnel Office initials the time card and sends the worker back to the department.
7. No Penalty for Investigation Time: The employee must not be penalized for the time spent in the Personnel Office for investigation.
8. Informing Management: The Foreman and Department Head must informed at all stages.
9. Prolonged Absence (Over a Week): A registered letter must be sent to the employee’s last known address, demanding an explanation and warning that failure to report within a reasonable period will be treated as resignation (provided Standing Orders allow).
10. Termination: If the employee fails to return or provide satisfactory evidence, services can be terminated after an ex-parte inquiry, and a termination letter is sent.

Measures to Minimize Employee Absenteeism

A skillful combination of various measures required to control absenteeism:

1. Improving Working Conditions and Wages

• Healthful and Hygienic Conditions: Provide proper facilities for drinking water, canteens, rest rooms, lighting, and ventilation to keep employees cheerful and increase efficiency.
• Reasonable Compensation and Security: Pay reasonable wages and allowances (including old age, length-of-service, good attendance, transportation, and housing allowances) to ensure job security and maintain a good standard of living.

2. Personnel Management and Worker Welfare

• Well-Defined Recruitment: Discourage selection based on communal, linguistic, or family considerations. Focus on aptitude and ability, utilizing application blanks and interviews. Relying on intermediaries should avoided.
• Motivation, Welfare, and Social Measures: Recognize worker needs by offering cheap housing, subsidized food, free medical aid, transportation, and educational facilities. Help with genuine difficulties (marriage, death, illness). Improve social security measures (PF, ESI, gratuity, pension) to foster a sense of belonging.

3. Safety and Operational Measures

• Safety and Accident Prevention: Eliminate personal factors (negligence, carelessness) and material factors (unguarded machinery, defective equipment). Ensure supervisors follow proper operational procedures and safety instructions, and teach work groups safe methods.

4. Administrative and Relational Measures

• Liberal Grant of Leave: Relax strict leave rules to discourage workers from resorting to E.S.I. leave unnecessarily. Grant leave liberally for genuine needs.
• Communication and Grievance Redressal: Since many workers are illiterate, use timely illustrations, instructions, meetings, and counseling. Use notice boards only for essential notices. Promptly address grievances.
• Cordial Supervisor-Worker Relations: Train supervisors to foster cooperation and an atmosphere where workers can freely discuss problems, as poor relations are a cause of absenteeism.
• Definite Rules and Records: Have clear rules for authorized and unauthorized leave, maintain a proper daily attendance card for each worker, and ensure rules are clearly explained.
• Supervisor Authority: Give supervisors definite authority to take action on all cases of absenteeism.

5. Worker Development

• Worker’s Education: Design a system to meet workers’ needs for personal evaluation, efficiency, and citizenship. The goal is to make a worker aware of rights/obligations, disciplined, knowledgeable about the industry, ethical, and a responsible trade union member and citizen.

By performing their role properly and harmoniously, the employer, employee, and State can eliminate the problems of inefficiency, low productivity, and dissatisfaction that result in frequent absenteeism.