How Do You Motivate Employees to Reduce Absenteeism and Boost Productivity?

Dear Friends,

In my organization, absenteeism is a recurrent problem. Our production suffers a lot due to this. We have restructured our leave policy to counter this.

At the same time, we want to take steps in employee motivation to address this problem. For example, we intend to link rewards to attendance and productivity (something like a performance bonus), as a way to encourage employees with the highest attendance or teams that are able to reduce absenteeism levels and deliver optimal performance. We aim for these efforts to be reflected in an employee's appraisal.

Could someone guide on how this is managed in your organization?

This is very urgent as I have to provide a solution in my next production meeting.

Regards,
Vinita

Some Solutions:

1. Attendance Bonus.
2. Flexitime
3. Linking some nonmandatory benefits to attendance
4. Counseling individually by seniors/HR for poor "attendees"
5. Visible public recognition (addition to attendance bonus) for best "attendees"
6. Developing managers/bosses as "good leaders"
7. Linking promotions to attendance in addition to potential/merit

Regards,
Krishnan.

Dear Mr. Krishnan,

Thank you for your valuable tips. Could you provide me with more insights on how I can improve the 'Attendance Bonus' as I am not familiar with it?

Regards,
Vinita

Dear Vinita,

You can motivate your employees by implementing a policy where they receive one day's salary if they are present for the entire month without being late to work. I believe this initiative will help reduce absenteeism and tardiness.

Thank you,

Regards,

Shiela Shetty
Manager HR

These are good tips, but how long should I continue to pay an allowance for coming on time and no leaves?

Reg,
Meenu

Hello Vinita:

Absenteeism is a recurrent problem. Do all supervisors have the same absenteeism rate?

At the same time, we want to take steps in employee motivation to counter this problem. For example, we intend to link rewards to attendance and productivity (something like a performance bonus). That is good, but why are employees not showing up for work?

Some way of encouraging the employee whose attendance is the maximum or the team which is able to reduce the level of absenteeism and put in optimum performance. We want this to be reflected in an employee's appraisal. That might reward the employees who show up for work anyway. I wonder if the employees who are a problem can be bribed to come to work.

Could someone guide as to how you follow this in your organization? Employees who have an attendance problem need to be managed by their supervisors. Are supervisors well trained in managing their direct reports?

This is very urgent, as I have to provide a solution in my next production meeting. Start with the supervisor who has the highest absenteeism rate and speak with her in private.

Bob

What company rules/policies are in place regarding attendance? Are they being enforced? Do employees know what is expected of them? Were they told during the interview process? Reinforced periodically?

In my experience, a 5-7% absentee rate was generally acceptable; any number higher than that required "remedial action". While most of the absences are due to illness and injury, others are the result of employees who have lost their commitment to the employer.

Prior notice of absence for "personal business" or "medical care" was required. Obviously, there are times when an employee cannot anticipate an illness or injury, however, there is no excuse for not informing the employer about the absence as soon as possible, either personally or through a surrogate. As bad as an unanticipated absence is in terms of production efficiency, the worse is a "no-call, no-show", which leaves the supervisor in a "suspended state" not knowing where the employee is or when he is expected. Consequently, the shift starts with one vacancy, which could have a significant impact on the organization.

I'm not a big fan of an "attendance bonus". I believe that it sends the wrong message to employees, that message being, "We have money to bribe employees to come to work, but not to raise the wage rates of those who recognize their obligations and diligently work as scheduled". In addition, such a "bonus" may cause some employees who are truly sick to come to work, thereby infecting the employee population.

It is a basic tenet of employer-employee relationship that an individual gives up certain rights when he or she accepts an offer of employment. The individual, now an employee, surrenders freedom of choice when he or she comes under the "direction and control" of the employer. The employee has an obligation to provide a "fair day's work for a fair day's wage", and that includes regular attendance as well as adherence to the rules. Failure to accept such restraints breaks the contract and, consequently, the relationship.

PALADIN

Dear Vinita,

I guess you are speaking about employees on the roll. In that case, there is a major problem in the organization's policy. If it was because of old policies, you can't expect change overnight; however, find out where the actual problem lies. Then you can work on it. Many HR experts have given their ideas here; however, you need to decide which one suits your organization best. As suggested by BOB, discuss with the line supervisors about the gravity of the core problem.

Absenteeism is a severe disciplinary problem, try to sort it out immediately if this is new to your organization. I suggest you to solve this with an expert consultant if your company can afford.

- Aravindan

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your valuable suggestions; I will try to incorporate them and bring about some changes in the organizational policies with the consent of the management.

Regards,
Vinita

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Dear Friends,

In my organization, absenteeism is a recurrent problem. Our production suffers a lot due to this. We have restructured our leave policy to counter this.

At the same time, we want to take steps in employee motivation to address this problem. For example, we intend to link rewards to attendance and productivity, such as a performance bonus. We aim to encourage employees with maximum attendance or teams that reduce absenteeism levels while maintaining optimum performance. We expect these efforts to be reflected in an employee's appraisal.

Could someone guide on how you manage this in your organization?

This is very urgent as I have to provide a solution in my next production meeting.

Regards,
Vinita