Gestione delle risorse umane / Human Resources Management (cod
20040 - 06/07)
Essay Absenteeism
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Absenteeism
The term of absenteeism is generally used to describe unscheduled employee
absences from the workplace. But there are two different categories. Either
valid absenteeism: refers to employees who are absent for reasons beyond
their control; like sickness and injury. In a labour relations context this means
that it can not be remedied or treated by disciplinary measures.
invalid absenteeism:refers to employees who are absent without authorization
for reasons which are within their control. For instance, an employee who is on
sick leave even though he/she is not sick, and it can be proven that the
employee was not sick, is guilty of culpable absenteeism. In a labour relations
context this means that progressive discipline can be applied.
or more elaborated
white absenteeism: In the case of white absenteeism, the employee is
obviously ill. For example if he or she has high fever or a broken leg.
grey absenteeism: Illnesses which are psychological or psychosomatic, such
as headache, stomachache or tiredness can lead to grey absenteeism
because in these cases, diagnoses are hard to make.
black absenteeism: it is spoken about black absenteeism if someone who is
not ill has reported himself/herself as sick. This black variant of absenteeism is
often also called illegal absenteeism. In the cases of black and grey
absenteeism exists a degree of freedom to absenteeism.
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Costs of Absenteeism
"Absence from work costs ca. 70 billion annually in Germany." says Prof. Dr. Bernd
Siegemund
1
.
The costs for one day of absenteeism per employee range between 103 and 410.
According to the 2006 CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey the rate of unscheduled
absenteeism in the USA climbed to its highest level since 1999, and costs some
large company about $ 850,000 p. a. in direct payroll costs
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. The absenteeism rate in
2006 was 2.5% comparred to 2.3% last year and the highest since 1999, when the
rate was 2.7%.
Absenteeism takes a financial influence on a company in several different respects.
The most obvious costs are sick leave benefits-- in Germany for example the
employer has to pay for a period of six weeks 100% of the wage while the employee
is on sick leave. This costs ca. 30 billion p.a. for the employers in Germany. But
there are also significant hidden costs:
lost productivity of the absent employee
overtime for other employees to fill in
decreased
overall
productivity of those employees
costs of temporary help
possible loss of business or dissatisfied customers
If absences become excessive they can have a seriously adverse impact on a
business's operations and its profitability.
Reasons for absenteeism
The causes for abusive absenteeism are multiple and can have their reasons in
factors from outside (for example changed moral concepts in the society) as well as
in in-house circumstances. "Research shows that absenteeism of employees within
an organization is influenced by many factors
[...]
: in a meta-analysis of 318 studies,
it was found that 32 factors effect the absentee rates of employees. In addition to
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B.A.D Gesundheitsvorsorge und Sicherheitstechnik
GmbH association of commercial and
industrial workers`compensation insurance carriers
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2006 CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey
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demographic factors, such as age, education [...] and sex [...], qualities of the job,
such as characteristics of the task, responsibility, autonomy, task variation, working
conditions, salary, promotion opportunities, working hours, and even economic
factors such as reorganization [...] and imminent bankruptcy [...], influence the
absenteeism within an organization."
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.
Very often absenteeism is caused by poor work environment or workers who are not
committed to their jobs. Particularly important are the employee´s position in the
company, the employee´s contentedness at the workplace and the work climate.
Apart from that also personal circumstances as family problems have influence on
the employee´s approach to work.
Reasons for unscheduld absence:
Resource: 2006 CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey
According to the CCH survey in 2006 it continues to be of most concern to employers
that almost two out of three employees who fail to show up for work are not
physically ill. The survey found that out thet personal illness accounts for only 35% of
unscheduled absences, while 65% of absences are due to other reasons, including
family issues (24%), personal needs (18%), stress (12%) and entitlement mentality
(11%).
These family issues or personal needs can seem to be very "small" issues thet are
not worth to worry about by the employer. But they create a great effect on the
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Sanders, Hoekstra 1998
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