Introduction of AbsenteeismAbsenteeism is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or

obligation.

Absenteeism occurs when an employee of a company does not

come to work due to scheduled time off, illness, injury, or any

other reason. The cost of absenteeism to business, usually

expressed in terms of lost productivity, is difficult to

determine.

Traditionally, absenteeism has been viewed as an indicator of

rich individual performance, as well as a breach of an implicit

contract between employee and employer; it was seen as a

management problem, and framed in economic terms.

Absenteeism is the term generally used to refer to

unscheduled employee absences from the

workplace.

Many causes of absenteeism are legitimate—

personal illness or family issues, for example—but

absenteeism also can often be traced to other

factors such as a poor work environment or

workers who are not committed to their jobs.

If such absences become excessive, they can have

a seriously adverse impact on a business's

operations and, ultimately, its profitability.

The Causes of Absenteeism

Serious accidents and illness

low morale

poor working conditions

boredom on the job

lack of job satisfaction

inadequate leadership and poor supervision

personal problems (financial, marital, substance abuse, child care etc.)

poor physical fitness transportation problems the existence of income protection plans

(collective agreement )benefits which continue income during

periods of illness or accident.) stress workload employee discontent with the work

environment

Costs of Absenteeism

Lost productivity of the absent employee

Overtime for other employees to fill in

Decreased overall productivity of those employees

Any temporary help costs incurred

Possible loss of business or dissatisfied customers

Problems with employee morale

Establishing a System for Tracking Absences

Absenteeism policies are useless if the business does not also implement and maintain an effective system for tracking employee attendance. Some companies are able to track absenteeism through existing payroll systems (Clock In or out), but for those who do not have this option, they need to make certain that they put together a system that can:

1) keep an accurate count of individual employee absences;

2) tabulate company wide absenteeism totals;

3) calculate the financial impact that these

absences have on the business;

4) detect periods when absences are

particularly high; and

5) differentiate between various types of

absences.

Types of absenteeismThere are two types of absenteeism, each of which

requires a different type of approach. 1. Innocent Absenteeism Innocent absenteeism refers to employees who are

absent for reasons beyond their control; like sickness and injury. Innocent absenteeism is not culpable which means that it is blameless.

2. Culpable Absenteeism Culpable absenteeism refers to employees who are

absent without authorization for reasons which are within their control. For instance, an employee who is on sick leave even though he/she is not sick, and it can be proven that the employee was not sick, is guilty of culpable absenteeism.

Steps to deal with AbsenteeismIndividual Communication :

After all available information has been gathered, the administrator or supervisor should individually meet with each employee whom has been identified as having higher than average or questionable (or pattern) absences.

This first meeting should be used to bring concerns regarding attendance to the employee's attention.

It is also an opportunity to discuss with the employee, in some depth, the causes of his or her attendance problem and possible steps he or she can take to remedy or control the absences.

Listen carefully to the employee's responses.

Proof of Illness

Sometimes it is helpful in counseling employees with

excessive innocent or culpable absenteeism to inquire

or verify the nature and reasons of their absence.

After the Initial Interview

If after the initial interview, enough time and

counselling efforts, as appropriate, have passed and

the employee's absenteeism has not improved, it may

be necessary to take further action. Further action

must be handled with extreme caution - a mistake in

approach, timing

Counseling Innocent Absenteeism:Innocent absenteeism is not blameworthy and

therefore disciplinary action is not justified. It is obviously unfair to punish someone for conduct which is beyond his/her control.

The procedure an employer may take for innocent absenteeism is as follows: Initial counselling(s) Written counselling(s) Reduction(s) of hours and/or job reclassification Discharge

Initial Counseling Presuming you have communicated attendance expectations generally and have already identified an employee as a problem, you will have met with him or her as part of your attendance program and you should now continue to monitor the effect of these efforts on his or her attendance.

Written Counseling If the absences persist, you should meet with the employee formally and provide him/her with a letter of concern. If the absenteeism still continues to persist then the employee should be given a second letter of concern during another formal meeting. This letter would be stronger worded in that it would warn the employee that unless attendance improves, termination may be necessary.

Reduction(s) of hours and or job reclassification

In between the first and second letters the employee

may be given the option to reduce his/her hours to

better fit his/her personal circumstances. This option

must be voluntarily accepted by the employee and

cannot be offered as an ultimatum, as a reduction in

hours is a reduction in pay and therefore can be

looked upon as discipline.

Discharge: it is the last level of punishmentinnocent absenteeism dismissal case.

Has the employee done everything possible to regain their health and return to work?

Has the employer provided every assistance possible? (i.e. counseling, support, time off.)

Has the employer informed the employee of the unworkable situation resulting from their sickness?

Has the employer attempted to accommodate the employee by offering a more suitable position (if available) or a reduction of hours?

Has enough time elapsed to allow for every possible chance of recovery?

Has the employer treated the employee prejudicially in any way?

Corrective Action for Culpable Absenteeismculpable absenteeism consists of absences where

it can be demonstrated that the employee is not actually ill and is able to improve his/her attendance.

The general procedure is as follows:Initial Warning(s) Written Warning(s) Suspension(s) Discharge

Verbal Warning Formally meet with the employee and explain that income protection is to be used only when an employee is legitimately ill. Advise the employee that his/her attendance record must improve and be maintained at an improved level or further disciplinary action will result.

Written Warning Interview the employee again. Show him/her the statistics and point out that there has been no noticeable (or sufficient) improvement. Listen to the employee to see if there is a valid reason and offer any assistance you can. If no satisfactory explanation is given, advise the employee that he/she will be given a written warning.

Suspension (only after consultation with the

appropriate superiors)

If the problem of culpable absenteeism persists,

following the next interview period and

immediately following an absence, the employee

should be interviewed and advised that he/she is

to be suspended. The length of the suspension

will depend again on the severity of the problem,

the credibility of the employee's explanation, the

employee's general work performance and

length of service.

Dismissal (only after consultation with the

appropriate superiors)

Dismissals should only be considered when

all of the above conditions and procedures

have been met. The employee, upon

displaying no satisfactory improvement,

would be dismissed on the grounds of

his/her unwillingness to correct his/her

absence record.

How to Deal with Employee AbsenteeismPositive disciplinePunitive discipline.Change Management StyleChange Working ConditionsProvide IncentivesPAID TIME OFF SYSTEM :Some companies have

approached similar problems by eliminating sick leave altogether. Instead of vacation time and sick leave, the companies have developed "paid-leave banks

Develop an Attendance Policy Employee Assistance Program (EAP). American's with Disability Act (ADA) or the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA

Absentee Management MetricsMany approaches exist to measuring and gathering

statistics related to absentee management & employee attendance tracking.  A quick online search will reveal a multitude of Absentee Management System(AMS)  software: such as employee attendance tracking software, timekeeping software, employee time clock software, and employee time and attendance software.  All these attendance tracking software will help to automate most employee attendance metrics & chart the absenteeism progression accordingly.  However, regardless of what tracking software is selected or even what employee attendance metrics are ultimately chosen, vital to all absentee management programs are that those metrics be:

properly communicated;systematically reviewed with all employees; and,applied consistently across the employee base.To give you sense of the ‘types’ of employee

attendance policy measures utilized in the field of absenteeism management, below are a few example employee attendance metrics a typical company might employ.

Employee Attendance RecordThere are three important statistics relative to

any employee absenteeism calendar or employee attendance record system:  Number of days absentNumber of incidentsPattern of absences

few steps of keeping absenteeism to a minimum.Communicate your attendance policy across

all levels in the organization clearly    Measure and thereby monitor the rate of

absenteeism in your company on a regular basis

Initiate periodic health checkups to avoid absences resulting out of illness

  Implement reward schemes for those employees who are regular

Create a favorable and peaceful work environment where relationship between workers and supervisors are professional and devoid of conflict.

Provide adequate training to managers

particularly authoritative ones to curb

absenteeism

  Engage supervisors to speak to employees

who were absent and have returned to work

Educate and engage your employees

actively in the organization. Disciplinary action

to correct absentees should mostly be avoided.

However counseling sessions can prove useful.

Keep your employees motivated and try

making the organization a fun place to work

TurnoverIn a human resources context, turnover or labor

turnover is the rate at which an employer gains and loses employees.

Simple ways to describe it are "how long employees tend to stay“

Turnover is measured for individual companies and for their industry as a whole. If an employer is said to have a high turnover relative to its competitors, it means that employees of that company have a shorter average tenure than those of other companies in the same industry.

High turnover can be harmful to a company's productivity if skilled workers are often leaving and the worker population contains a high percentage of novice workers

Definition:“According to Pigors and Myer’s

labour turnover costs not only human values but also in money.” It includes,Costs incurred in hiring and training

each new employees.Cost of overtime, work required from

regular workers in order to maintain the requited level of production until the new employee can do his share.

Loss of production in the interval between

separation of the former employee and time

when his replacement is fully broken.

Expense in equipment or facilitates not being

fully utilized during the training period

Costs

There are two types of cost:

Direct costs relate to the leaving costs,

replacement costs and transitions costs.

Indirect costs relate to the loss of production,

reduced performance levels, unnecessary overtime

and low morale

HR Supply Forecast It is process of estimating future quantity and

quality of manpower available internally &

externally to an organization.

Supply Analysis

Existing Human Resources

Internal Sources of Supply

External Sources of Supply

Existing Human Resources Capability / Skills Inventory using HR Information

System Internal Supply

Inflows & Outflows - The number of losses & gains of staff is estimated.

Turnover Rate - refers to rate of employees leaving.

= ( No. of separations in a year / Avg no. of employees during the year ) x 100

Absenteeism - unauthorized absence from work. = ( total absentees in a year / Avg no. of employees x No.

of working days) x 100 Productivity Level - = Output / Input. Change in productivity affects no. of persons per unit of output.

External Supply External recruitment, selection & placement -

Advertisements, Manpower Consultants, Campus Recruitment, Unsolicited Applications, Employee Referrals

Measurement of labour turnoverTurnover can be computed for each type of

movement in and out of the company.

Following formulas are generally used to

measure the extent of labour turnover:

1.Accession Formula

2.Separation Formula

3.Replacement formula

4.Comprise formula

Accession FormulaLabour turnover ratio according to this

formula is arrived at by dividing the total accessories unit during a specified period by the average labour force that until during the same period.

Total accessories are all permanent and temporary additions to the employment roll whether new or retired employee.

Transfer from other establishment of the company are also counted

The average labour force of a specified period may be calculating by dividing the total no. of employees on the payroll at the beginning & at the period under consideration by 2.

Another measure which is occasionally used to calculate this average is the no. of employees on the payroll on the middle day of the specified period given month is 600 (585 at the beginning + 615 at the end/2) and if during the same period it has taken on 50 employees then,

585+615/2 = 600Turnover arte = 50/600*100 = 8.33 %

Separation Formula

In this formula total separation during a

specified period are taken in to account.

Total separation means all the terminations of

the employment of the persons who have quit or

have been taken off the rolls for reasons such as

lay off,discharge,retirement,death,physical

disabilities etc..

Transfer of employee to the other

establishment of the same company are also

included.

If 20 employee were separated from the

payroll during the same period in the above

example, then the turnover ration rate

according to this formula will be, See as follow

585+615/2 = 600

Turnover arte = 20/600*100 = 3.33 %

Replacement formula & Comprise formulaReplacement formula: It also known as the net

turnover rate or wastage rat e.This formula uses for the total separation which

ever is lower.(No. of employees joined/ Number of

employees).100

Comprise Formula: To minimizing the cyclical

effects upon turnover calculations some companies

average the separation & succession figure and then

divided by the average working force based upon

both separation and succession figure. See as follow

((50+20) /2/600*100 = 5.83%

Practical questionIn 2010,The Mc-Grown company have 20

workers who leave the company and 20

people are newly recruited. The number of

replacements are 10. The company

employees an average number of 200

workers in the year. Find the labour turnover

ratio for the year 2010?

SolutionNo of separation + no of replacements + no of

recruitments X 100

Average no of workers

= 20 + 10 + 20 x 100

200

= 20%

How to reduce Labour turnoverPay problem:

1.Increasing pay levels to meet competition.

2.Improving pay structure to remove inequities.

3.Altering the pay system to reduce excessive

fluctuation.

4.Introducing procedure for relating rewards

more performance

Employees learning for further their career

Providing better career opportunities and ensuring

that employees are aware of them.

Extending the opportunities for training.

Adopting and implementing promotion from within

policies and introducing more systematic and

equitable promotion procedure.

Deliberately selecting employees who are not likely

to wait move much higher than their initial jobs.

Employees leave due to conflict:Introducing more effective procedures for

consultations, participation and handling the grievance.

Improving communication by such means as briefing groups.

Using the conflict resolution and teambuilding techniques of organization development.

Reorganizing work and arrangement of offices or workshops to increase group cohesiveness

Educating 7 training management in approaches to improving their relationship with employees.

The Induction crises:

Improving the recruitment and selection

procedures to ensure that job requirements

are specified accurately and that the people

who are selected fit the specification.

Ensuring that candidates are given a realistic

picture of the job, pay and working conditions.

Developing better induction & initial training

programmes

Shortage of labour:

Improving recruitment, selection & training

for the people required

Introducing better methods of planning and

scheduling work to smooth out peack loads.

Changes in working requirements:

Ensuring the selection and promotion

procedures match the capacities of individuals

to the demand of the work.

They have to do

Provide adequate training & adjustments

period when working condition change.

Adopting payment by result systems to ensure

that unindividuals are not unduly penalized

when they are engaged in short runs