Organizational Behaviour (Absenteeism)
1. Introduction to Absenteeism
AbsenteeismabsenteeismUnscheduled absences from work. refers to unscheduled absences from work. Absenteeism is expensive to companies because of its fickle nature. When an employee has an unscheduled absence from work, companies effort to find substitution workers at the last minute. This may involve hiring conditional workers, having other employees work overtime, or scrambling to cover for an absent colleague. The cost of absenteeism to organizations is estimated at $74 billion. According to a Mercer LLC human resource consulting study, 15% of the money spent on payroll is associated to absenteeism.
Some absenteeism is noticeable and is related to health reasons. For example, reasons such as lower back pain, migraines, accidents on or off the job, or acute stress are significant reasons for absenteeism. Health-related absenteeism is expensive, but dealing with such absenteeism by using organizational policies disciplining absenteeism is both unreasonable and unfair. A sick employee who shows up at work will infect co-workers and will not be productive. Instead, companies are finding that programs aimed at keeping workers healthy are effective in dealing with this type of absenteeism.
Absenteeism can be divided into three main broad categories as follows;
- Sickness / Illness Absence
- Excused / Scheduled Absence
- Unexcused / Unscheduled Absence
Online article: Work Behaviour, further detail available at: http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/principles-management-and-orga/32703 (Accessed April 20, 2010)
Chicago: Work Behaviours | Flat World Knowledge, http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/organizational-behavior/37238 (Accessed April 20, 2010).
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/organizational-behavior/37238 (Accessed April 20, 2010).
2. Common Reasons behind Absenteeism
Some of the common reasons behind absenteeism are as under;
* Serious accidents and illness
* Low morale
* Workload
* Employee discontent with the work environment
* Remuneration which continue returns during periods of illness or accident
* The continuation of income shield plans (collective agreement )
* Poor working conditions
* Boredom on the job
* Insufficient leadership and poor management
* Personal problems (financial, marital, substance abuse, child care etc.)
* Poor bodily fitness
* The existence of income protection plans (collective agreement )
* Transportation trouble
* Stress
3. Cost Associated with Absenteeism
Employer face cost due to the absence of their employees and these costs can be categorised as follows;
* Payroll costs for temporary staff
* Administrative costs associated with rescheduling staff or hiring staff
* Overtime may have to be scheduled to fill positions left by absent staff.
* Added cost of training supervisors in the cost of absenteeism.
* Many organizations average the total number of absent days and schedule extra staff to cover – overstaffing to compensate for the lost productivity.
* Costs associated with statutory sick pay and the increasing administrative work faced by payroll drive up costs.
* Cost of time – how much does it cost the company every time an employee is away from their desk due to dentist / doctor appointments.
* Reduced productivity – managers may have to shut down departments or reduce operations to compensate for a reduction in staffing levels.
Online article: Cost of Employer, details available at: http://superfriends13.tripod.com/cost_with_absent.htm (Accessed on April 20, 2010).
4. Consequences of Absenteeism
| Positive | Negative | |
| Individual | Reduction of job related stress
Benefit from compensatory non work activities |
Loss of pay
Discipline, formal and informal Altered job perception |
| Co-worker | Job variety
Skill development Overtime Pay |
Increased work load
Undesired overtime Increased accidents Conflict with absent worker |
| Work Group | Work group’s knowledge of multiple jobs
Greater flexibility in responding to absenteeism and to production problems |
Increased accidents
Decreased productivity |
| Union Officer | Power position is strengthened as they are often seen by management as a means to get employees back to work | Where absence is high, lose credibility for being unable to control their members
Increased costs in processing grievances |
| Family | Opportunity to deal with health or illness problems, marital, child and other family related issues | Less earnings
Decline in work reputation |
| Society | Reduction of job stress and mental health problems
Participation in community political processes |
Loss of productivity |
| Source: Goodman and Atkin (1984) as cited by Winfield (1991, p. 25) http://etd.uwc.ac.za/usrfiles/modules/etd/docs/etd_init_6525_1175242441.pdf (Accessed April 22, 2010). | ||
5. Organizational Behaviour Theories and Absenteeism
5.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
If motivation is driven by the continuation of unsatisfied needs, then it is meaningful for a manager to understand which needs are the more significant for individual employees. In this regard, Abraham Maslow developed a model in which basic, low-level needs such as physiological requirements and safety must be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self-fulfilment are pursued.
Implications for Management
Maslow’s theory holds, there are some important implications for administration. There are opportunities to motivate employees through management style, job design, company events, and compensation packages, which can motivate employees and give them inner satisfaction. When employees needs are met as shown in diagram above, they will more likely to attend their work according to their scheduled.
5.2 Herzberg’s Motivation Hygiene Theory (Two Factor Theory)
To better know employee attitudes and motivation, Frederick Herzberg performed studies to conclude which factors in an employee’s work environment caused satisfaction or dissatisfaction. He published his findings in the 1959 book The Motivation to Work.
The studies included interviews in which employees where asked what contented and discontented them about their work. Herzberg found that the factors causing job satisfaction (and presumably motivation) were different from that causing job dissatisfaction. He developed the motivation-hygiene theory to explain these results. He called the satisfiers motivators and the dissatisfier’s hygiene factors, using the term “hygiene” in the sense that they are considered maintenance factors that are necessary to avoid dissatisfaction but that by themselves do not provide satisfaction.
Details available at: http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/mcclelland/ (Accessed on April 24, 2010)
Factors Affecting Job Attitude
| Leading to Satisfaction | Leading to Dissatisfaction |
| * Success | * Organization policy |
| * Identification | * Administration |
| * Work itself | * Relationship |
| * Duty | * Work situation |
| * Advancement | * Income |
| * Growth | * Affiliation |
Implication for Management
Herzberg argued that job enrichment is required for intrinsic motivation, and that it is a continuous management process. According to Herzberg: If employees are more satisfied than they will show more work motivation. He also identifies that employees should be provided with all relevant facilities that can help to finish job.
Critics of Herzberg’s theory argue that the two-factor result is pragmatic because it is natural for people to take credit for satisfaction and to guilt dissatisfaction on external factors. Furthermore, job satisfaction does not essentially involve a high level of motivation or productivity.
Details available at: http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/mcclelland/ (Accessed on April 25, 2010).
All organizational behaviour theories stress that if employees are satisfied than they will contribute as much as they can in the success of an organization. Organizations can use various methods in order to keep their worker happy and if staff is happy and like to come on work regularly it mean that there are less chances of absenteeism and it can save the huge cost associated with the absence of employees.
So it is the responsibility of organizations to manage and make sure that they have adequate system that can bring their workforce normal to work. Details analysis on these approaches will be later on discussed in this article.
6. How to Measure Absenteeism
Different organizations use different methods to measure the absenteeism of their employees. Some of the common methods used by most organizations are as under;
6.1 The Gross Absence Rate (GAR)
The formula for gross absence rate is as follows;
GAR = Total days lost through absenceTotal possible man days ? 100
This gross absence rate formula is widely used in most of organizations and it determines total days lost through absence of employees. This can then be further utilized to find out the cost associated with these absences. It also gives the percentage of employees not joining the work according to the schedule.
6.2 The Absence Frequency Rate (AFR)
Formula for absence frequency rate is as under;
GAR = Total number of absence incidents over periodAverage in employement for that period
Van der Merwe and Miller (1988, p. 12) note that “when computing the AFR, each absence, irrespective of the length, is counted as one incident.” The AFR is expressed as a ratio, and normally it is given per month, i.e. the absence incidents per person per month.
6.3 Bradford Factor
The Bradford Factor identifies persistent short-term absence for persons, by measuring the number of spells of absence, and is therefore a helpful measure of the interruption caused by this sort of absence. It is calculated using the formula shown as under;
S x S x D
S = number of spells of absence in 52 weeks taken by an individual
D = number of days of absence in 52 weeks taken by that individual
For example:
10 one-day absences: 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000
1 ten-day absence: 1 x 1 x 10 = 10
5 two-day absences: 5 x 5 x 10 = 250
2 five-day absences: 2 x 2 x 10 = 40
The set off points will differ between organisations. As for all unofficial absence, the underlying causes will need to be identified.
All the above discussed methods can help to calculate and measure absenteeism in any organizations. Organizations can use these methods in order to find the percentage of employees’ absence from work and also measure any cost involved in absenteeism.
Details available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/absence/absncman.htm (Accessed on April 27, 2101)
7. Strategies to Manage Absenteeism
There are numbers of strategies and approaches that can be adapted by organizations in order to reduce the level of absenteeism in their companies.
According to Johnson et al. (2003), successful absenteeism management strategies begin with the belief that something can actually be done to reduce absenteeism. Managers need to keep in mind that there is no “one-size-fits” all solution that is appropriate for all organisations. Every organisation is unique and absenteeism reduction strategies should be customised to the particular work environment.
Harris (2005) states that employers should distinguish between short- and long-term absence when dealing with the problem of absence. The author mentions that for short-term absence, an effective sickness absence policy should be implemented. This policy should indicate the procedure to be followed as well as the possible consequences of unacceptable sick leave levels. For long term absences, an employer should keep record of these events as well as ensuring that medical certificates are supplied. In cases where employees’ health is not improving and they are unable to perform their work, a fair incapacity process should be followed (Harris, 2005).
Some of the methods and approaches adapted by most organizations are as under;
7.1 Record Keeping
According to Robinson (2002), organisations need to have a system in place where they can effectively capture and track absence data. This is key to the success of any absence management programme. Moreover, Bydawell (2000) states that most organisations fail to track attendance adequately. The result is – what does not get measured, is not managed. If this happens, “excessive absenteeism escalates to the point that it directly affects productivity, quality and morale and employing people is eventually seen as a liability” (Bydawell, 2000, p. 14). If proper records are kept, management can establish the problem areas and take the necessary remedial action. The information is necessary in order to convey the scope of the problem and to identify the sources of highest risk (Robinson, 2002).
According to Aamodt (1996, p. 515), “….absenteeism can also be decreased by setting attendance goals and providing feedback on how well the employees are reaching those goals and how it compares to their co-workers.” A study by Harrison and Shaffer (1994) as cited by Aamodt (1996) found that almost 90 % of employees think that their attendance is above average and they estimate their colleagues’ absenteeism as two times higher than it actually is. Thus, one reason why employees miss work is that they incorrectly believe their attendance level to be lower than their team mates at work. Hence, proper solutions to absenteeism can only be devised if management knows the extent of the problem.
7.2 Attendance Oriented Culture
Organisations should have policies in place that create a work environment where employees want to work in, including flexible working arrangements and rewards for good attendance, as such policies have been found to reduce sickness absence (Evans & Walters, 2002 as quoted by Johnson et al., 2003; O’Reilly, 2003). Rhodes and Steers (1990, p. 99) advance two general strategies that can be employed to develop a work environment that is more conducive to attendance. First, efforts can be made to create a more inviting workplace which relates more to the physical environment. Secondly, attention can be given to create a work culture that fosters attendance rather than absence.
7.3 Flexible Work Practice
Many employees care for children or elderly relatives and these responsibilities are a frequent cause of absence (Gragg, 2004; O’Reilly, 2003). Family-friendly initiatives by organisations could be an effective way of cutting absence. This may mean providing more flexible working hours, child care facilities and time off for school events that may help employees strike a balance between their work and personal lives (Johnson et al., 2003).
Telecommuting is another strategy employed by some organisations as it gives employees freedom to work in an environment that fits their personal needs, without jeopardising the outputs expected by the employer (Gragg, 2004). With telecommuting, employees can schedule their personal appointments to fit into their work schedules. This could help to reduce the number of unscheduled absence. Gragg (2004) however, also cautions against telecommuting as there could be employees who abuse this privilege.
7.4 Employee Incentives Programmes
According to Woolnough (2004) as cited by Koen-Muller (2005, p. 43), the following Points are crucial for the success of any incentive programme:
� Employers should communicate the goals of the programme and the rewards for achieving those goals.
� Employees need to understand how the incentive programme can improve the absenteeism rate.
� Employees should be involved from the beginning so that the rewards can be relevant to them and
� The success of the programme needs to be measured and monitored to determine whether there is a reduction in absence levels and this needs to be shared with the employees.
7.5 Develop an Attendance Policy
Every business should have an attendance policy. An attendance policy allows a supervisor to mediate with an employee who is regularly absent. Besides stress as a primary reason for employee absenteeism, other causes relate to alcoholism, domestic violence, and family problems. If you tackle an employee about his or her regular absenteeism, and they inform you it is due to personal problems, consider referring the employee to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
Early identification of these employees will get them back to work as fast as possible. Lastly, make sure that you have an advocate review your attendance policy to make sure it does not breach any State or Federal labour laws. By incorporating the above four strategies into your company you will not only reduce absenteeism you will reduce employee burnout, turnover, poor morale, and workplace negativism.
7.6 Change Management Style
We are all aware of the fact that when employees call in ill, it does not mean they are actually too physically ill to work. One reason, outside of illness, that employees are absent is stress, and the number one reason employees are stressed has to do with their relationship with their manager/supervisor.
Supervision styles that are too demanding tend to promote high levels of absenteeism among employees. Authoritarian managers are managers who have poor listening skills, set inaccessible goals, have poor communication skills, and are inflexible. In other words, they yell too much, blame others for problems, and make others feel that it must be their way or the “highway.” dictatorial managers tend to produce high absenteeism rates. By identifying managers who use an dictatorial style, and providing them with management training, you will be taking a positive step not only toward falling absenteeism level, but also reducing turnover, job burnout, and employee health problems such as backaches and headaches.
7.7 Change Working Conditions
The employees an organization probably work in a well-lighted climate controlled building. The working conditions I am referring to relate to co-worker contact. Not only does relationship stress occur between the employee and manager, but it also exists between employees. Often employees say they did not go to work because they are afraid of or angry with another employee. These employees usually report they just could not deal with “so and so” today, so they called in ill. Organizations that adopted policies and values that promote employee respect and professionalism, and promote an internal conflict resolution procedure, are companies that reduce employee stress. A reduction in employee stress reduces employee absenteeism.
Details available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/absence/absncman.htm
http://etd.uwc.ac.za/usrfiles/modules/etd/docs/etd_init_6525_1175242441.pdf
http://www.employer-employee.com/absent.html (Accessed on April 27, 2101)
8. Organization Behaviour Theory in General Practice (Part II)
Organization behaviour theories reflect the employee performance on every day practice in organization, there are number of different theories that discuss the employee in different way.
Abraham Maslow believed that the motivation could be explained by human needs into five levels(lower level physiological , safety , belongingness and higher level esteem and self actualization) ,Maslow say if employees the low level of need are fulfil then employees are satisfied and motivated and produce high level of perforce, if employees basic need are not fulfil then employees are de-motivated and will not gave full consideration to work and they got illness through the stress and the start absence. Organization should consider the employee basic need and gave incentive to employee on their performance to reduce the absenteeism.
Herzberg two factor theory Herzberg’s work has influenced thinking in organizational behaviour and management. Its most enduring benefit is the attention it focuses on the effects of company systems and job design on employees’ job satisfaction. Here, job design refers to how work is arranged and how much employees control their work. Before Herzberg’s theory, employee job satisfaction was thought of only in extrinsic terms (satisfaction was only a function of pay). He pointed out that the origins of job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction were different. We now know that concentration on hygiene factors will not ensure that organizations have creative, involved, productive and motivated employees.
Stacy Adams, developed equity theory: equity theory makes a contribution to understanding
How employees react to incentives and outcomes in the work setting. In the context of the performance-job satisfaction relationship, equity theory shows how employees react to the available rewards from work in terms of their experienced levels of job satisfaction. In its own right, equity theory is a prominent process theory of motivation.
Employees always comparison their pay and rewards with their collogue, if employee unfairness in any stage then employee get de-motivated and stress. Employee reduces their performance and start absenteeism.
Expectancy theory is a powerful tool for managers. It can help managers to have a better understanding of their subordinates and the organization in which they work. Employee believes the higher level of performance to first level of outcome and he is willing to expand much effort on the job, if it represents a challenge to his skills and abilities.
If the achieving individual believes the organization rewards performance instead of effort, then his instrumentalities will be high and positive. If the achieving employee believes the organization does not equitably reward performance, then he will probably leave. Remember, every frustrated employee with a high need for achievement is a potential entrepreneur!
By using Goal setting theory:
* Employees perform better when they know what is expected of them and how they contribute to the effectiveness of the organization.
* Most employees prefer self-determination at work.
* Employees can be motivated further by well-timed formal and informal feedback about their work methods and results.
* Employees prefer intrinsic
Finally it is the important for all organizations to develop and implements such programmes that provide equal opportunities to all its employees and also reward them equally for their work. If the employees are satisfied and feeling satisfaction towards their work than probably they will not be absent from work. Organization also needs to provide counselling to its employees in order to solve their problems and reduce the level of absenteeism in their organization. By doing that organizations not only get regular employees on work but also reduce its costs associated with absenteeism.
9. References / Bibliographies
Books:
* Aamodt, M.G. (1996). Applied Industrial/Organisational Psychology (2nd ed.). USA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
* Aamodt, M.G. (2004). Applied Industrial/Organisational Psychology (4th ed). USA: Thomson/Wadsworth.
* Alavi, H.R., & Askaripur, M.R. (2003). The relationship between self-esteem and job satisfaction of personnel in government organisations. Public Personnel
* Management 32 (4) : 591-599.
* Anderson, A.E. (2004). What’s absent in absence management. Employee Benefits
* Journal 29 (1) : 25-30.
* Anderson, N., Ones, D.S., Sinangil, H.K, & Viswesvaran, C. (2001). Handbook of
* Industrial, Work and Organisational Psychology- Volume 2 London : SAGE
* Publications.
* Anthony, W.P., Perrewe, P.L., & Kacmar, K.M. (1999). Human Resource Management-
* A strategic approach (3rd ed.). Publishers: Harcourt Brace College.
* 148
* Armstrong, M. (1996). Personnel management practice (6th ed.). London : Kogan
* Atchison, T. (1999). They myths of employee satisfaction. Healthcare Executive 14 (2) :18-23.
* Bajpai, N., & Srivastava, D. (2004). Sectorial comparison of factors influencing job
* satisfaction in Indian banking sector. Singapore Management Review
* 26 (2) : 89-99.
* Berkowitz, L. (1987). Pay, equity, job gratifications and comparisons in pay satisfaction.
* Journal of Applied Psychology 72 (4) : 544-551.
* Bless, C., & Higson-Smith, C. (1995). Fundamentals of social research methods. An
* African perspective. (2nd ed.). South Africa : Juta and Co, Ltd.
* Brief, A.P. (1998). Attitudes in and around organisations USA : SAGE Publications.
* Butler, J. (1994). To conduct an investigation into absenteeism in Cape Town
* organisations. Unpublished masters thesis, University of Cape Town.
* Buitendach, J.H., & De Witte, H. (2005). Job insecurity, extrinsic and intrinsic job
* satisfaction and affective organisation commitment of maintenance workers in a
* parastatal. South African Journal of Business Management 36 (2) : 27-33.
Websites
* Online article: Work Behaviour, further detail available at: http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/principles-management-and-orga/32703 (Accessed April 20, 2010)
* Chicago: Work Behaviours | Flat World Knowledge, http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/organizational-behavior/37238 (Accessed April 20, 2010).
* http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/organizational-behavior/37238 (Accessed April 20, 2010).
* Source: Goodman and Atkin (1984) as cited by Winfield (1991, p. 25) http://etd.uwc.ac.za/usrfiles/modules/etd/docs/etd_init_6525_1175242441.pdf (Accessed April 22, 2010).
* Details available at: http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/mcclelland/ (Accessed on April 24, 2010)
* Details available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/absence/absncman.htm (Accessed on April 27, 2101)
* Details available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/absence/absncman.htm
* http://etd.uwc.ac.za/usrfiles/modules/etd/docs/etd_init_6525_1175242441.pdf
* http://www.employer-employee.com/absent.html (Accessed on April 27, 2101)