Employee Absence Essay -- Business, Absenteeism

Many organizations face employee absence issues daily. The level of absence varies among each working industry. Strategies to reduce absenteeism rate differs between each organization. My retail company currently has an attendance policy in place, but absenteeism continues to be a problem. To find the solution to reduce absenteeism, I would have to understand the common causes of absenteeism, and then find different solutions to fix the problem. Proper communication and documentation of employee absences will improve absenteeism, employee productivity, and customer service. "Absence management hit by substandard record-keeping." Occupational Health 61.8 (2009): 4. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. This article emphasizes that poor record-keeping by line managers was an issue. The article identifies a few difficulties that line managers faced in the healthcare industry. They were not willing to or not able to control employee absence in compliance with the policies and guidelines of the organization. Absences were reported late, not reported, or reported inconsistently. Most employers asked the employees to inform of their absence within the first day, but over a quarter of the employers did not have a procedure for employees to follow. The line managers were responsible for any absence notifications. Eighty five percent of employers documented absences on return-to-work interviews, yet only half of the employers required their employees to fill out a return-to-work form. The above article correlates to my thesis because it shows that line managers lack the proper procedure in documenting employee absences. Managers have the responsibility to correct the problem yet they are inconsistently following comp... ...nication and documentation of employee absences will improve absenteeism, employee productivity, and customer service. Improving communication between employees and managers is an important practice that improves employee attendance. Managers can decrease absenteeism by make enforcing clear attendance policies and have proper documentation of employee absences. Managers must keep accurate and consistent record keeping of absences. Employees must report absences immediately so managers can properly document in the records. Readings from the sources also indicate that absenteeism not only affects productivity and customer service, but absenteeism also affects employee morale. Employee morale will diminish if managers ignore the abuse of absenteeism among employees. Both absenteeism and employee morale can have a negative effect on productivity and customers service.