Analysing absenteeism and its effects in workplace

Absenteeism is defined as the failure to report to work. Absenteeism disruption and huge costs for the employer.

It is quite difficult for an organization to achieve its objective if employees failed to report to work, absenteeism can be considerably more than a disruption and it can result in quality of the output and in some cases it can bring a complete shut down for the production.

Why absenteeism?

Hypothesis

Do they have pride in their job

Is pay good

Do they have fun at work?

Do they know how to call in?

How is the training process?

Do they understand attendance policy?

Do they like their job?

Do they feel ok with their supervisor?

What prevent them coming to work?

Causes of absenteeism may include,

Serious accident and may be ill

Morale is low

Working condition are not suitable

Boredom at work place

Job satisfaction is low

Power leadership inadequate supervision

Personal problem ( financial, marital ,substance abuse, child care etc,)

physically not fit

transportation problem

benefit which continuous income during periods of illness or accident

stress

extra work

discontent with work environment

organizations have procedure to deal with the absence if it occurs and it is possible to step back and stop it from happening at the place, all the causes mention above could be the one which is reason for employees not coming to work, it strongly relate with the job satisfaction, motivation and environment at work place which affects people behavior to words the work.

Carrot and stick refers to a policy of a combination offering rewards and punishment to induce behavior. The positive carrot team will never get punish and always will win the rewards for doing well in an environment of gentle encouragement and leadership. The stick team will get an extreme training and they cannot be rewarded and will be punished for the failure. A very widely known motivational concept is the carrot and stick approach. However when put into practice this approach is found to be more difficult than it seems to change behavior, there are two ways to change behavior using the carrot and stick approach.

The stick or the fear is a good motivator and if it is used at the right time can be very helpful. The stick or fear can be stressful for employees. Fears are only use full for short term basis.

On the other hand employees are becoming more productive because of the incentive they are offered i.e. the carrot approach. The benefits of this approach are that it works very well if the incentive is good enough.

Case study:-

According to the recent report by the confederation of British industry, absence costs 12.5 billion pound in direct cost every year. This figure does not include the effect of absenteeism on management time, productivity low morale of employees and reduce quality standard. Some analysis this figures to be doubled in real term.

The health and safety executive have recently launched an initiative to reduce number of days lost from the work place by 30 percent by the year 2010. Effective management absence is one of the key challenges faced by the business today.

With Bradford factor tool absent management and planning integrates with payroll and time planning and attendance and self-service functionality, SMART absence management provides information for the managers and insight they need and staff flexibility and choices they expect.

Bradford factor:-

This is a configurable tool which enables analysis of absenteeism, lateness, overwork load, overtime, or any exception based time occurrence data according to Bradford factor principles.

Return to work:-

Return to work tells managers when employee come back to work after being absent from work, prompts post absence interviews and it helps identify causes of unplanned absence to promote trends of absence report.

Absence administration:-

This automatically identifies and alerts management for unplanned absences and managers the work flow around the absences requiring further authorization. It also integrates with the payroll and makes sure that staff a paid correctly with the absence accounted for. Staff can request their leave via PC, web device or and kiosk.

Absence self-service:-

Employees are provided with the web base self-service system to see their holiday entitlement and they can check which days their colleagues are absent. Managers than have an idea about the absence and they can approve the holiday via SMART system.

Absences planning:-

This helps managers in both planned and unplanned absences. By using the smart system and taking absence taking in to account changes can be made to suite business demand including changes in staffing and new holiday booking. Fully integrated with the time and attendant it tells managers about unauthorized absence and repeat absent such as their realize or training and it even identify when this training is necessary and the corresponding absence.

Liver pudian fire fighter has annual attendance rate of 100% are entered into a prize draw. The lucky winner of the draw 2010 will be awarded with 11000 pound Honda jazz car.

Royal mail have also reported the positive result saying that absenteeism has gone down from 6.1% to 4.8% for last three years just because they offered cars as prizes showing up. Since that scheme started 37 postmen have won new ford focus car for turning up at work every morning.

74 member of royal mail staff have won 2000 pound in holiday vouchers in a drsew for the employees who had perfect attendance report.

Workers in private sector take an annual average of 6.4 sick days. Public sector 10.7 sick Days government takes 13.5 sick days.

Minimizing absenteeism is to make an estimated 11 billion pound in efficiency saving.

Mr. BF Skinner feels that many workers work to maintain their living standard and he also believes that if there is strict supervision than its leads to absenteeism and poor morale among workers. Skinner says that the incentive scheme is not good enough to motivate workers, working condition are as important as well. An incentive scheme should have to objectives like getting the work done and making work as more fun and enjoyable environment.

Motivation theory:-

Punctuality of the worker is the major problem experience by the organization. This could be due to lack of self-responsibility in the indivisible regarding the organization and there is no unique recognition in the organization this problem and the other problem mention above for absenteeism can be hand hold by using the theory Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which would boost the confidence of the employees and make them more responsible at work place and which will reduce the absenteeism.

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:-

Abraham Maslow made is theory sufficiently bored to explain human behavior in all settings is theory was applied to narrow range of human behavior in organizational. This hierarchy of needs as shown below explains that we must satisfy each need in turn starting with the first one which deals with the most obvious needs for survival.

C:UsersnabeeDesktopmaslow’s_hierarchy_businessballs.jpgPhysiological needs air, shelter, food, sleep, drink etc.

Safety needs security or limits, law, stay ability etc.

Belongingness and love needs, work group, affection, relationship, family.

Esteem needs includes achievement, self-esteem, independent, status, prestige, managerial responsibility etc.

Self-actualization needs include self-fulfillment, seeking, personal growth and experiences personal potential.

Maslow explains that needs mention above must be satisfied in given order it always shifts to next higher needs. You can’t motivate people if they are going through a stress for example it’s hard to motivate someone who is having a problem with their marriage or having their house repossessed.

There is an old saying you can take a horse to the water but u can’t force it to drink. It will only drink if its thirsty_ so with people. They will do what they want to do or else they are motivated do so. If these motivators are full filled by the organization then there is no reason that there will be less absenteeism and job satisfaction which means low staff turnover and high productivity.

Douglas McGregor theory:-

Theory X:-

Douglas McGregor explains this theory as follows on individual behavior at work. Average human being has their this like of works and will avoided if they can, therefore most people must be forced with a threat of punishment to work towards the achievement of organizational objectives. And average human being prefers to be directed to avoid responsibility and wants security for their work. Theory x manager’s results driven and deadline driven

they don’t tolerate anything

issues threats ultimatum and deadline

they keep the distance

they are arrogant

they are short temper

they shouts

like to give instructions and directions

they always demand never ask

doesn’t participate

doesn’t build team

unconcerned with staff welfare

proud some time to a point of self-disruption

communicate one way

dose not thank or praise

take the criticism badly

delegation is poor

unhappy

Theory y:-

Theory y participate in problem solving like absenteeism, situation which it’s necessary to explain the objectives that employees can grasp the purpose of the action. The situations in which employees can be consulted where individual are positively motivated towards their work and the work responsibility is sufficient and allows flexibility where employees can see their position in management hierarchy. If all these condition are present than manager can apply participative approach towards the objectives for problem solving which Leeds towards batter results compare to alternative approach mentioned in theory x. staff will contribute better in organization if they are treated as a valued employee.

Equity theory:-

Now we discuss the process theories of motivation that help us to understand how employees decide to be motivated. Process theory explain decision making, elements of work environment and perception and available rewards. In equity imbalance happens when employees feel that their rewards are not fair according to their efforts or the rewards received by others for their contribution is not fair. Those people who feel underpaid or overwork often decrease both the quality and quantity of the work and it can result in absenteeism from work.

Expectancy theory:-

Expectancy theory has 2 different classes of outcome first level outcome result employees working in directed way. First level outcome can be performance at work, absenteeism or leaving from work. Second level outcome occur after first level outcome which includes getting a promotion receiving recognition.

Expectancy theory helps mangers to understand their employee’s behavior within the organization. If the achieving individual believes the organization rewards than is instrumentalities will be positive and high and if the employees believe that organization does not equitably reward performance than it can leads towards the absent seem or leave.

Self-esteem in Maslow hierarchy also explain expectancy theory, if employees have a positive self-image they believe that they good work lead to good performance and they experience high expectancies for their performance behavior and employees with negative self-image believe that their ability or inadequate and they will put less effort to work and which can cause absenteeism at work which Leeds towards more cost and less productivity.

Path goal theory:-

One of the main points for successful organizations a good leader. a leader should have ability to compete, aspiration and forward looking approach. Leaderships key to success in life.

Influencing others to achieve organization goals

Management and direction towards the change

Motivation and leading people towards the success

Creating an environment to achieve the goals

Creating a vision for the organization

Houses path goal theory explains that a leader can assist its employees in attaining goals by showing and directing along the path to their destination and success. There are four different leadership behavior linked with the path goal theory,

Directives:-

In this kind of leadership leader tells its employees what to do and when to do it. No employee usually participates in decision making.

Supportive:-

In this kind of leadership leader is friendly and supportive and he or she shows interest in employees.

Participative will ask for:-

In this leadership leader will ask for advice and suggestion from employees and involve them in decision making.

Achievement orientated:-

In this kind leader establish standards and challenges for its employees and shows his interest and trust to its employees in achieving the goals.

All these leadership styles can be used by mangers for achieving goals for organization depending on the situation. The leadership behavior requires following two factors to be considered,

Employee’s characteristics like locus of control, their experience and their perceived ability

Environmental factors

Proper accounting of these factors can increase employee motivation and job satisfaction by clear performance goals and the path to achieve these goals and if there is job satisfaction and motivation in the organization then there is less chance of absenteeism because people are enjoying their work environment and job satisfaction.

Job satisfaction:-

Job satisfaction is ones feelings or state of mind regarding the nature of their work, jo satisfaction can be influenced by a variety of factors

The relationship between the supervisor and its employees

The quality of physical environment in which they work etc.

High level of absenteeism and staff turnover can affect bottom line of the company as temps and recruitment take their control. Satisfied employees tend to be more productive committed and creative to their employers,

In 1950s Herzberg interviewed a group of employees for what made them satisfied and dissatisfied at work, he asked them two questions,

Tell me about when you felt good at work and why?

Tell me about when you felt bad at work and why?

After this interview with this group Herzberg developed his theory which explains that there are two factors i.e. motivation and hygiene for employee satisfaction. Hygiene can’t motivate employee according to Herzberg but can minimize dissatisfaction if it’s approached accordingly. In other words if these factors are absent then they can dissatisfy employees. Hygiene factor includes policies, salary, skills, relationship, working environment and supervision.

Motivator creates satisfaction by fulfilling individual needs for personal growth Factors like recognition, achievement, work itself, responsibility, and promotion or advancement. According to Herzberg once hygiene factors are addressed the motivators will promote the job satisfaction and more production. If job condition and environment is good then there is job satisfaction and employees are satisfied and managers believes that satisfied employees are more productive committed to work and perform well.

Employee turnover and absenteeism is depends on job satisfaction if job satisfaction is high then there is less turnover and absenteeism and there is less job satisfaction then its more turnover and employee absenteeism.

Measures to control absenteeism:-

Here are some tips on how to manage unscheduled absenteeism abuse cases:

Promotion of a high performance work culture and the importance of the employee fitting into organisation culture

Providing flexible work pattern that meet the needs of your business and your employees

Introducing a reward system for any improvement to absenteeism rates

Try to decrease boring or repetitive jobs

Give more job responsibilities

Promote more employees performing good

Recognize and reward your employees’ contribution towards their job

Improve the skills of supervisors

Facilities for training and development

Working with employees to develop strategies to reduce absenteeism

Detail look at annual leave and long service leave data to ensure your employees are taking adequate recreational breaks.

Communicating to employees who are abusing leave and see if their behaviour stems from a personal problem. Help them referrals if this is the case.

There are different types of absenteeism,

Physical absenteeism

Functional absenteeism

Physical absenteeism:-

Physical absenteeism happens when an employee doesn’t come to work when he is schedule to work. This is divided into two different sections

Voluntary absenteeism where it all depends on the employee to attend the office.

Involuntary absenteeism is out of employees immigrate control for example illness in the family and employee as no choice but to see the patient

Functional absenteeism:-

Functional absenteeism is when employees are coming to work butt not performing as productive as they should be for example arriving late, leaving early lengthy break etc,

Absenteeism is a complex behavior worldwide for following reasons

Organization can bear a heavy cost if employees are not productive.

Absenteeism consequences a potentially serious for the organization and employees.

There are two types of absenteeism and both need different type of approach in order to solve them

Innocent absenteeism:-

Innocent absenteeism is not under control of the employees like injury and illness so its cant is measured by disciplinary actions where as these kind of the employees can be consulted in order to get a clear view of the problem and help them employees out of this situation. The manager should keep close eye on his or her regularly and stay in touch with the employee when they need it. The procedure an employer should take for this kind of absenteeism is as follow

Initial counseling

Manager should meet with the employee as part of their attendance programs and should continuous to monitor effect their effort on their attendant if absence is prolong keep in touch with the employee in regular basis and assist them in anyways you can .ask employee to provide you with the medical assessment on regular basis which will enable to judge whether or not employee will provide regular attendance in future and this will give you a rough idea of what step an employee taking to seek medical assistance. Verbal warning should be given when necessary and should be documented if no improvement occurs than written warning is necessary.

Written counseling:-

If the absence is persistent than manager should meet with the employee and provide a letter of concern and if absenteeism still continuous they should be given another latter of concern and this latter should strongly be worded in a way that want the employee to improve is attendance and termination can be necessary.

Reducing hours:-

In between first and second latter for the employee with the option to reduce their hours to benefits their situation.

Discharge:-

When all the above situation is not working and employee still continue absenteeism than employee termination can be consider. Following point should be consider before the termination process

Has the employee put an effort to return to work?

Has the employer helped in every way possible?

Has the employer showed is concern of the unworkable situation resulting from absenteeism

Has employee been offered reduction of hours?

Has the employee been treated fairly by the employer?

Discharge should be considered when all above all condition are not satisfactory.

Culpable absenteeism:-

Culpable absenteeism is when employees can be at work but he chose not to come to work without authorization for example employee who is on sick leave can be prove that he was not sick.

Part 2 of the assignment

In a simple term organisational behaviour refers to the behaviour of persons in an organisation. Everybody Wants to understand others behaviour. Understanding others behaviour help the persons to influence them. As you must be aware that human behaviour is guided by the internal and external forces. The analysis of these forces provides an insight for understanding the behaviour. Moreover, managers have been grappling with the idea of the channelization of human energy towards the attainment of the organisational goals. The Understanding of human behaviour play very important role in this endeavour as well. Thus the study of Organisational behaviour provides guidelines for influencing the behaviour of the persons in the organisation.

The theories we have discussed above have different outcome variables, some of them are directed at explaining turnover and some of them directed towards productivity and absenteeism and motivation. The theories also differ in strengths. Need theories for example Maslow theory , McClelland needs, and Herzberg two factor theory none of these theories has found a widespread support but the strength of them is McClelland theory regarding the relationship between achievement and productivity. In general Need theories are not very valid explanation of motivation.

There is a dispute that clear and higher level of goals leads to higher productivity. This provides the strong application that goal setting theory provides the most powerful explanation of dependant variable. The theory itself however does not address absenteeism, job satisfaction or turnover.

Reinforcement theory has an impressive record for predicting factors such as quality and quantity at work persistent of effort absenteeism, tardiness and accident rates. It does not offer much insight into employee satisfaction or the decision to quit.

Equity theory deals with productivity and job satisfaction, absence, and turnover variables. However its strength probably is that it provides the spark for research on organisation justice.

Expectancy theory focuses on performance variable it has power to offer a relatively powerful explanation of employee, productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. But expectancy theory assumes that employee have few constraints on other decision discretion. It makes many of the same assumption that the rational model makes about individual decision making which limits its applicability. Expectancy theory has some validity because for much behaviour people consider expected outcomes. Whether an organization is for profit or not, motivating and utilizing the talent an organization has is vital in the business world today. Understanding organizational behaviour is a major factor for increased opportunity and success in the business world. Gaining an awareness of an organizations culture is necessary for continued diverse growth.

In order to attract the best talent to an organization, a culture of diversity and open communication is needed. Once an organization has the best talent it can find, the organization can improve efficiency and have more wide-spread viewpoints to learn from. Care must be taken though, to make sure the organizational culture is compatible with the strategic goals of an organization.