Absenteeism at work is and will continue to be relevant to most businesses in North America. Moreover, most employers will agree that this phenomenon is very costly for a company and, as a result, has a negative impact on the organization. Indeed, in 2013 the costs related to absenteeism in the country amounted to $16.6 billion according to the Conference Board of Canada, which represents 2.4% of gross payroll. Therefore, we believe it is important that we become aware of some practices that can be adopted to counter this scourge.
Understanding the Causes of Absenteeism
To be able to manage repeated absences, we must first try to understand the reasons why they are happening. The causes for the absence of an employee can come from many sources such as stress, work incidents, occupational diseases, family constraints, and so on. Moreover, it should be noted that too drastic practices on punctuality can also be found to be a cause of absenteeism as same as the policies of presence too severe that can lead to presenteeism. Indeed, employees in this case come to work even if they are sick and in addition to being unproductive, they contaminate their colleges thereafter.
Determining Long-term Solutions
When we understand the reasons why employees do not report for work, it is much simpler to put in place the means to reduce the number of days of absence. Here are some solutions that could be applied to your business and that works best according to several specialists.
- Providing flexible schedules if your activities allow you would be a very effective solution since you leave it up to the worker to choose his or her own schedule.
- Putting forward teamwork on a daily basis as people feel more concerned about the impact of their absence on their colleagues.
- Develop a work-life or work-family reconciliation program that meets the real needs of employees.
- Communicate through the various hierarchical levels and involving employees in organizational decisions helps to raise workers’ awareness of their importance in the company.
- Encourage your employees to get in shape and to take care of them through workplace health programs tailored to their needs.
- Raise employees’ awareness of workplace health and safety and provide them ongoing training that meets their respective roles.
- Motivate your staff with challenges that match their skills and give them more autonomy so they can feel the impact they have on the business.
Finally, it is necessary to manage your staff absences to try to identify the most problematic employees or workstations and to adapt your solutions. Moreover, Maerix has developed software for health management, security, environmental and absenteeism that makes it easy to achieve this task. Do as our customers and opt for the Maerix platforms that make your business more competitive and leading in your industry.
For more information, please feel free to contact us.
info@maerix.com
1-866-866-2228