Strategies to Address Employee Absenteeism and Enhance Engagement

Hi,

I am working as an HR professional in a Software Company with 15 employees. There is a lot of absenteeism in our company. Apart from salary deductions, it seems that it does not make a difference to them. Due to such absenteeism, our projects are being severely affected. We exclusively work for international clients.

Please provide me with a solution for this issue. You can email me at "kala@transpacific.in".

Regards,
Kala

Employee's absenteeism in your organization may be because of various reasons. You need to do a thorough analysis of what is actually going wrong. Absenteeism is only the symptom, not a problem in itself. You, as an HR person, have to identify the root cause.

You can start by conducting an employee survey, holding skip-level meetings with team members, meeting with concerned managers/project leads, and then correlating various metrics to reach a conclusion.

Again, I want to emphasize that an HR person alone cannot implement a system in place; this requires the cooperation of top management and concerned department heads. Managing human resources is not only the onus of HR professionals but also the responsibility of every individual concerned.

Hi,

Other than Manavsi, I would suggest that you should create a time evaluation sheet similar to the one we use in our office. This sheet should include all the projects you have worked on and the number of hours you have spent on each project. We are a US-based company that works exclusively with international clients.

Regarding deductions, you may implement stricter measures. For example, if an employee takes a day off without informing, you may deduct their salary. Similarly, if a person arrives late to work two days in a week after 9.15 am (when our office officially starts at 9 am), half a day's salary may be deducted, regardless of available paid leaves. Furthermore, leaving before 3.30 pm in the evening may result in a similar deduction. Bonuses and appraisals will certainly be affected by these measures.

We meticulously track the hours worked by every employee. In case of a 5-day work week, compensatory leave should be provided if overtime is not feasible. Alternatively, offering overtime pay, meals, or transportation facilities can be considered if the working hours exceed the limit.

Implementing these changes should lead to a positive transformation. We have adopted these practices, and they have yielded beneficial results.

Thanks,
Shweta Jaitly

Hi Ankit,

I agree with Manavsi and Shweta. But in case these ideas do not work out, then you have only one choice - issuing a letter stating that you have been on unauthorized leave, and that strict disciplinary action will be taken. Make sure not to mention the specific disciplinary measures. I hope this step will help reduce absenteeism in your company. However, ensure that this action is taken as a last resort when there are no other options left.

I have attached a draft of the unauthorized leave letter for your reference.

Regards,
Ankit
09869851356

Thank you very much for providing me with valuable solutions.

Shweta, could you please forward me the evaluation sheet? Hopefully, it should be suitable for our company as well.

Regards,
Kala.

Hi,

I think you need to look into the reason behind absenteeism. Some of the employees may have valid reasons. The best way to handle this indiscipline is by getting an ex-armed forces person to control.

Regards,
Bharat

Great inputs! Apart from that, I would suggest discussing with them in a friendly manner to identify their problems and suggest the right solutions. Try to maintain good employee relations to create a challenging and healthy work environment.

Thanks

Dear Kala,

I think checking the employee relations at the office, work culture, and environment plays vital roles in the commitment of employees. A passionate employee will naturally turn into a workaholic (irrespective of the quantity of time they work; they work sincerely with quality time) because they don't require pushing or pressure from the top, but they love their work and give excellent output. The same applies to the opposite case.

So, check employee relations at the office, work culture, and environment.

Thanks,
Sri

Hi,

Time evaluation sheet attached. In this, just see how clearly it is mentioned where you need to fill in the project number, number of hours, vacation (if taken), and billable & non-billable hours.

Hope that it will work for you.

Regards, Shweta

In addition to all these valuable suggestions, can we make our workplace more vibrant, interesting, friendly, and jubilant by engaging in activities and creating an amicable and enabling work atmosphere so employees will enjoy attending the office?

Hi,

There could be various reasons for employees to behave in a negative manner, including absenteeism in an establishment. Among other things could be the following: inadequate compensation and other benefits, unfavorable working conditions, lack of management's support, job becoming monotonous, low employee morale.

It is up to management to find out the root cause of the actions of the various employees. Senior management's involvement is very necessary in this direction.

Eve

Hi,

There could be a lot of reasons why employees will deliberately absent themselves from the workplace. Among other things are the following:

- Inadequate compensation and other benefits
- Unfavorable working conditions
- Lack of Management's support
- Employee finds work boring
- No laid down procedure to channel grievance

Top Management's support is needed in this direction.

Eve

Dear All,

One important suggestion, friends. We have all discussed controlling absenteeism due to monetary aspects. I am working as an HR person for a company. Let me narrate some reasons why I have been taking leaves (not absenteeism).

1. I stay alone here; I have some important couriers to be made today.
2. I am the only son of my parents, and I have to take care of household things like paying off my electricity bills, phone bills, etc.
3. I have no one who can help me in certain situations where I have to deposit money in my bank and attend some issues that a reliever in my family could have attended to if I was not the only person supposed to do that task.
4. I have to attend some interviews.
5. I am fed up with my work, and there is a lot of monotony in work.
6. I have been slogging a lot, and I feel it's my right to take a day off regardless of approval as I have put in so much effort in the last week.

There are a lot of reasons why I take leave/days off as an employee. So, deducting salary for reasons like 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 would not motivate me but would lead to negative feelings about the company, which I can propagate to peers, colleagues, and subordinates. I would feel I lost a good chunk of money today because I had to go to the RTO for my driving license. The company is not really good in policies, etc. Such perceptions are detrimental to the company's growth.

The above are the reasons why someone takes leave, so I suggest:

1. Allot a staff boy to attend a help desk of HR in your organization "May I help You."

2. This person will collect bills and money from employees for electricity, mobile, landline, courier, travel tickets.

3. As HR, you have to get in contact with the respective agencies like travel management.

4. Call the respective local DSA collection person of the service operator to collect bills twice a week.

5. Call the courier person to the office to collect the envelopes and parcels, etc.

These things will reduce absenteeism. I am sure this works. This has cut down absenteeism in my org.

Please reply if you find this helpful.

Regards,
Samir Kulkarni.

All given suggestions seem to be okay, but I have a different frame of mind:-P. Money is the most important thing to shape up the system in the corporate. Start giving "Attendance Allowance" - If an employee is regular and punctual in the month, then the employee can be given the attendance allowance of Rs. 1000/- as a perfect attendance allowance. You can review it over. San HR

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Dear,

Why don't you try an attendance allowance:
For those present the whole month with no leave = fix some amount. For those with only one leave during the month = fix some amount. Sometimes, incentives work more than deductions.

Regards,
Tariq

Also, you can do one thing: Check your policy of leave encashment. If it's not there, announce this policy for annual and casual leave, etc. You can achieve the desired results this way.

Tariq

Our organization is small. We initiated weekly meetings where everyone, including the Managing Director, was expected to participate. During these meetings, any issues concerning office culture, systems, and policies were discussed. Following the agreed-upon actions, we began sharing daily attendance with the entire staff. This practice proved beneficial in facilitating information sharing and promoting discipline.

Dear Kala,

Since you are only 15 members, you should try speaking with them individually. Start talking to them about their work, their level of satisfaction with the work, their team, and the working environment. Depending on their response, talk to them about their late arrival to work.

This worked for me to a certain extent. Our staff number 130, and although initially I got a good response, with the hardcore latercomers, only salary deduction made them punctual.

Keep in mind the first action you take should not be salary deduction. Try to talk it out, and if that doesn't work, warn them and then deduct salary.

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

Dear Kala,

I think they need freedom. They don't want to restrict themselves to work. So, you have to study your employees' needs, problems, behavior, and their relationships in the office. If you can fulfill their needs, your problems will be reduced.

Regds,
Cherin

Dear Kala,

I share your concern regarding heavy absenteeism. We cannot eliminate absenteeism but can control it by following, apart from Ankit, Shweta, Manasvi, listed various options:

1. Open communication between HOD and subordinates.
2. Clarity of work.
3. Fixing responsibility.
4. Creating ownership for the jobs done.
5. Learning to appreciate in public and provide criticism in private.
6. Never lower the self-esteem of the employee.

Please understand that in any organization, it is 5 to 10% of employees responsible for 95% of total manpower loss. Another point to note is that employees don't leave the company; they leave their supervisors.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share this with you. I can be contacted via email at [email address] for any queries regarding HR issues.

Best wishes,
R. Sreenivasan

COPC recommendations are:

Late coming and leaving early are not issues. Only unscheduled leaves affect adversely. Have an attendance bonus, e.g., 1000/-. If you take one leave, deduct 500, and with two or more leaves, it becomes zero. Counsel the employee in the presence of the line manager and maintain documentation. The company reserves the right to have the employee examined by a competent medical authority. The company reserves the right to send one of the seniors to visit the employee's place, which will drastically reduce leaves. Absenteeism is a gate; quarter is not considered for appraisals. Track absenteeism by trends, e.g., by day of the week, dates, festivals, work area or task-based, process-based, immediate reporting manager, etc. By doing so, you will be able to get a fair picture of employee dissatisfaction and predict attrition as well.

Surya

Hi,

First of all, try to find the reason. Sometimes, the work environment will affect. Provide some benefits to employees through the team leader. What I mean is a team leader can give some monetary or non-monetary benefits to his employees according to their performance. Additionally, if performance is not good, employees should be sent for training. Team gatherings after working hours regularly can also help in bringing a team together.

Hi,

There is a strategic way to bring down absenteeism. You will have to analyze the data, then find the root cause, and plan for action. It doesn't mean that the employee alone would be the reason for absenteeism; there are many factors:

a) Organizational Factor - Culture and policies
b) Personal Factor - Attitude and interest
c) Relationship Factor - Relationship between employees and employer

You will have to analyze the absenteeism data based on the following criteria:
- Take the data of employees who have taken leave more than the approved leave days in a year.
- Take 3 years leave details of employees who have taken more than the approved days.
- Take month-on-month leave details of those who are taking leave each month continuously for 4 months.
- Classification of absenteeism based on Age, No. of years, and Position.
- Classification based on the type of leave (EL/ML/LOP/Absent)
- Department and Machine-wise Classification
- District-wise classification
- Shift-wise Classification
- Qualification-wise Classification
- Family status-wise classification

Based on the above analysis, you will have to make decisions. Possible decisions include:
a) Counseling
b) Loyal Employee award
c) Incentives based on attendance

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