Managing Absenteeism and Other Staff Problems

Prepared by: Eyad Barahmeh.

Mohammed Al-direya.Yousef Harahsha.

Maher Diab

Supervisor: Samah Shtayyeh.

Learning Objectives

After completing this presentation, students will be able to :

1-Explain absenteeism.2-Discuss ways to manage absenteeism.

3-Identify staff problems.4-Explain how to manage staff with problem

behaviors.5-Explain how to handle staff with a substance

abuse problem.

IntroductionHigh absenteeism in the workplace may be indicative of poor morale, but absences can also be caused by workplace hazards or sick building syndrome.

According to Nelson & Quick (2008) people who are dissatisfied

with their jobs are absent more frequently. They went on to say that the type of dissatisfaction that most often

leads employees to miss work is dissatisfaction with the work itself. The psychological model that discusses this is the "withdrawal

model", which assumes that absenteeism represents individual withdrawal from dissatisfying working conditions.

This finds empirical support in a negative association between absence and job satisfaction, especially satisfaction with the work itself.

what is Absenteeism?Absenteeism, which refers to frequent, short, unscheduled or unexpected absences due to sickness or other types of leaves, can negatively affect team productivity and morale.

Absenteeism is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation. Traditionally, absenteeism has been viewed as an indicator of poor 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 or quasi-economic terms.

Causes for absence

There are many reasons why people take time off work. These can be categorized as:

1) short-term sickness absence (uncertificated, self-certificated or covered by a doctor's certificate)

2) long-term sickness absence

3) unauthorized absence or persistent lateness

4) other authorized absences e.g. annual leave; maternity,

paternity, adoption, or parental leave; time off for public or trade union duties, or to care for dependents; compassionate leave; educational leave or authorized leave either paid or unpaid for other reasons.

This factsheet focuses on sickness absence issues.

Effects of absenteeism

Although the extent or the cost of nurse absenteeism is difficult to determine, it is well established that absenteeism in health care organizations is both pervasive and expensive. The cost of absenteesim,however,go beyond its effects on patient care and dollar costs.

Absenteeism can have detrimental effect on the work lives of the other staff nurses.

Effects ofabsenteeism

The effects of absenteeism are widespread. Absenteeism leads to:

•reduced employee productivity •reduced employee morale, and

•increased overhead costs.

Types of absences

To understand employee absenteeism ,its important to distinguish voluntary from involuntary absenteeism.

*Voluntary (absenteeism under the employees control).

For example: not coming to work in order to finish ones income taxes.

*Involuntary (beyond or outside their control).For example: Taking a sick day because of food poisoning.

Some organizations try to distinguish voluntary from involuntary absenteeism by the way they measure absenteeism. Traditionally ,health care organizations have measured absenteeism in terms of total time lost(the number of scheduled days an employee misses).

Total time lost is clearly not a perfect measure of voluntary absenteeism. In contrast ,absence frequency(the total number of distinct absence periods, regardless of their duration).In some what insensitive to one long illness. Therefore, absence frequency has been used as indirect estimate of voluntary absenteeism.

Costing absence Costing absence is comparatively simple, especially if you stick

to the direct wage costs, that is, the cost of paying employees off sick.

You could also include some other costs if known, for example, the cost of temporary replacements or additional overtime working – but these more indirect costs can require some subjective judgments.

How, for instance, can you measure in financial terms a reduced quality of service or poorer customer care, at least in the shorter term?

Model of employee attendance

According to the model of employee attendance at work is largely function of two variables: the individuals ability to attend and motivation to attend.

Employees to attend can be affected by such attendance barriers as:

1 - personal illness or injury.2 - Family responsibilities(sick child).

3 - Transportation problems(unreliable auto mobile)

Model of employee attendance

According to the attendance model, an employees motivation to attend is affected by several factors:

1 - The job it self.2 - Organizational practices.

3 - Supervision.4 - Labor market.

5 - Absence culture.

3 .Personal Characteristics- Education -Sex/Family- Org. tenure responsibility- Age (also depends -Family size

on sex) -Personality

2 .Recruitment + Selection Job expectations about

Attendance

7 .Ability to Attend- Health (Depression, pain cardio fitness, smoking, drug use)- Illness & accidents- Family responsibilities- Transportation problems- Travel distance1 .Job Situation

- Job autonomy- Job level- Work group size- Role Stress- Considerate leadership style- Coworker

relationships- Scheduling( flexible, rotating)

4 .Job Attitudes- Job satisfaction- Organ. Commitment- Job involvement

6 .Attendance Motivation 8.Employee

Absenteeism (Attendance)

5 .Pressures to Attend- Economic/market conditions- Human Resource Practices

( incentives, control policies)- Work group norms/culture- Profit sharing/employee

share ownership

Model of Employee Absenteeism

Managing employee absenteeismBefore considering ways to manage absenteeism ,we must understand its causes.

Absenteeism management strategies that a nurse manager might consider include:

1-Enriching the staff nurses job by increasing its responsibility,variety,or challenge.

2-Reducing job stress(e.g, by providing timely and more concrete information).

3-Creating a norm of excellent attendance(e.g, by emphasizing the negative impact of nurse not coming to work).

4-Enhancing advancement opportunities(e.g, by providing developmental experiences).

5-Improving coworkers relations.

6-Trying to select employees who will be satisfied with and committed to their jobs.

7-Being good role model by rarely taking sick days.

8-Discussing the employees attendandance during the performance appraisal interview.

9-Rewarding good attendance with salary increases and other rewards.

10-Enforcing absenteeism control policies.

Absenteeism policies

Effective absence policies must spell out employees’ rights and obligations when taking time off from work due to sickness. The policy should:

provide details of contractual sick pay terms and its relationship with statutory sick pay outline the process employees

must follow if taking time off sick covering when and whom employees should notify if they are not able to attend work include when (after how many days) employees need a self-certificate form contain when they require a medical certificate (sick-note)

• from their doctor to certify their Absence mention that the organization reserves the right to require employees to attend an examination by a company doctor and (with the worker’s consent) to request a report from the employee’s doctor or from other health professionals include provisions for return-to-work interviews as these have been identified as the most effective intervention to manage short-term absence state that employees who fail to follow the rules on notifying absence or who fail to provide doctor’s medical certificates will be subject to disciplinary action.

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States federal law requiring covered employers to provide employees job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. Qualified medical and family reasons include: personal or family illness, family military leave, pregnancy, adoption, or the foster care placement of a child.

 The FMLA is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor.

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

• The FMLA was intended "to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families.“

•  The Act allows eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period to attend to the serious health condition of the employee, parent, spouse or child, or for pregnancy or care of a newborn child, or for adoption or foster care of a child.

• In order to be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have been at the business at least 12 months, and worked at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

• The FMLA covers both public- and private-sector employees, but certain categories of employees are excluded, including elected officials and their personal staff members.

Work organization and job design

There is strong evidence that high absence levels are commonly linked to issues of employee commitment and motivation.

This in turn may be linked to factors such as low levels of job satisfaction, lack of job variety, or absence of employee involvement or empowerment.

So if there is an endemic absence problem in your organization or in a part of your organization that, on the basis of the available evidence, seems to be linked to these factors, you should consider issues of work design as part of the overall absence management policy. In practice, some care may be needed in this area.

Work organization and job design

• While there may be very good general reasons for restructuring roles or work activities, this may not necessarily be an initial priority in terms of absence management. If the key priority is to reduce absence levels, practical results are more likely to be achieved through investment in the quality of policies, procedures and individual management, rather than in large-scale re-engineering of activities.

• The potential benefits of such re-engineering may well be substantial, but they’re likely to be longer-term and more wide-ranging, and may well require relatively high levels of investment.

• Nevertheless, in the longer term, if problems of work design aren’t addressed, they’re likely to prove a continuing barrier to achieving the highest levels of performance – in attendance, as in other aspects of operational effectiveness.

• In parallel with the more targeted investment in improving absence management, therefore, it’s likely to be appropriate to consider factors such as:

Managing Employee Absenteeism

In times of plenty, organizations sometimes tolerate undesirable habits. Employee absenteeism may be one such case. The cost to organizations has been, and continues to be, high. Its effects are insidious and far reaching. In times of economic austerity, such as that which Trinidad and Tobago is currently experiencing, this will probably be considered a luxury that can no longer be afforded.

More and more, there is recognition that employee absenteeism is an area of concern that may have been neglected or ignored for a long time but which more than ever now, requires the attention of management because of its importance to the economic well-being of the organization.

• Employee absence from work is usually part of terms and conditions of employment.  In Trinidad and Tobago, it is embedded in the existing Minimum Wages Order in the form of vacation leave and sick leave and it is a normal part of Collective Agreements and individual contracts of employment. These provisions are generally accepted as good employment practice.

Managing Employee Absenteeism

the difference between employee absence from work and employee absenteeism, the difference between eligibility and entitlement to different types leave,  their use and the abuse of, acceptable and unacceptable levels of employee absenteeism and responsible behavior towards the use of employee benefits, such as sick leave and personal leave.

Recommendations for increased understanding of absenteeism

1- Use standardized measures and time frames

2. Study attendance

3.Examine how other HR practices affect absenteeism

4.Encourage health

5.Engage in more creative thought

(Summary)

Thank you