There are many reasons employees use their provided PTO. Industrial jobs are generally physical and may cause strain or injury, leading to a need for recovery time. Factories and warehouses often have people working together closely, making it easier for illness to spread. But absenteeism is a problem deeper than just using sick leaves and vacation days.
How can you adopt modern solutions to reduce absenteeism in the workplace? There are ways to adjust your business culture and support system for this, but your best option may be working with a staffing agency.
What Is Absenteeism?
Normal absenteeism should be around 1.5 percent. However, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the absenteeism rate has increased to 3.2 percent in 2024 compared to 3.1 percent the previous year.¹ While taking a break is necessary for employees to recharge and allot time for their personal commitments, it’s worth noting that unhealthy absenteeism has negative impacts.
According to the Forbes, absenteeism can affect productivity and costs the US economy up to $600 billion every year.² This “bottom-line killer” can significantly affect business growth and efficiency through lesser workforce availability and the potential risk of impacting profitability.
Employee absenteeism is not about employees using their leaves – they’re entitled to that. However, if their days off become more frequent or outnumber the allowed PTO days, it will eventually affect the business negatively.
Excessive absenteeism doesn’t just include leaves and absences. Employees may also extend their breaks, leave work early, come late to the office, or reduce participation in work matters.
Why Does It Happen?
There is usually an underlying cause for employee absenteeism. People aren’t sick all the time – if an employee is constantly calling in sick, they need a doctor rather than a sick day.
Absenteeism can be rooted in a lack of engagement and reduced commitment. In the workplace, these could be caused by:
- Poor work environment
- Excessive conflict in the workplace
- Unfair treatment
- Lack of growth and development opportunities
- Unrealistic work demands and pressure
- Insufficient professional support and resources
- Burnout, fatigue, or overwork
- Workplace bullying and harassment
As a result, employees will feel burnt out, affecting their productivity and engagement. Unfortunately, the more companies impose strict employee attendance, the more the employees will feel burdened because the main reasons were not resolved.
Read more: Putting People First: Why Prioritizing the Employee Experience is Key to Long-Term Business Success
How to Reduce Employee Absenteeism?
The main goal in reducing absenteeism is to provide a healthy, collaborative, and fair environment for employees. Here are a few ways you can foster an ideal workplace culture to inspire employees to come to work:
1. Keep track of employee absences.
Don’t just say yes to all leave requests. Consider the patterns and identify if there are irregularities in their work. Maintain accurate records and track employee time schedules. Consider these as well:
- Is it flu season?
- Is there a new disease in the area?
- Are your employees engaged?
- Do your employees show disengagement in other areas?
- What are your workers’ personal circumstances?
Absence management is key to determining whether there’s a looming concern in your workplace.
2. Create and enforce an attendance policy.
Make sure that everyone on the team understands your policies clearly. Do you allow employees to run late? Do you have flexible work schedules? What are the implications? Remind them of the policies and how noncompliance can affect their work. Make sure the policies apply to every employee in the organization.
3. Address the issue.
Before strictly enforcing absence laws and procedures, opt for communication and address the root issue as much as possible. Your employee might be going through a lot, whether in or outside the office. Make sure to provide support and address your employees’ needs through open communication. This will help you identify why your employee is behaving this way.
4. Provide support.
Is your employee experiencing personal and familial problems? Maybe you can provide flexible working hours, especially if they’re struggling with child commitments, parental care, or financial constraints.
If your employee has mental health concerns, you can offer Employee Assistance Programs. Make sure to maintain communication and monitor their well-being along the way. This shows them you care about their mental and physical health, which could improve employee satisfaction.
Read more: The Science of Employee Well-Being: How to Promote Longevity and Satisfaction in the Workplace
5. Consider cultural change.
Many employees suffer from workplace bias and bullying, whether conscious or unconscious. If this is the case, you may want to address company culture to avoid conflicts.
Educate employees about equality and inclusion. This should include topics about age, gender, ethnicity, color, disability, and religion. To make it more effective, impose a zero-tolerance policy to encourage everyone to act professionally and treat each other equally in the workplace.
6. If needed, enforce disciplinary action.
There are times when you have to strictly adhere to disciplinary actions, especially if the employee has no good reason for their behavior. However, formal, documented steps should be taken to avoid penalties and violations. It would be best to exhaust all resources before imposing disciplinary action. Here are a few things you can consider for disciplinary process:
- Notify employees of the breach of policy.
- Conduct one-on-one meetings and address the issue.
- Align your records with the decision. Records might not show excessive absenteeism.
- Look for other signs, such as tardiness, quality of work, overall engagement, and refusal to change.
7. Encourage employees to take breaks.
Often, employees just need to take regular breaks to refresh their minds. Managing absenteeism should be proactive, so promote work-life balance from the onset.
- Remind employees of their paid leaves.
- Reward good attendance with more vacation days.
- Let your leaders and managers advocate for employee health and wellness by taking breaks and rest days themselves.
- Provide assurance that sick days won’t affect performance.
- Balance tasks and responsibilities to avoid overburdening employees.
Reduce Absenteeism Through Temporary Staffing Solutions
If you need an effective action plan for absenteeism at work, you may want to try temporary staffing. Staffing agencies like Horizon America don’t just provide talented workers for companies. We also help address many workplace challenges, including absenteeism. Working with a staffing firm gives these benefits:
1. Access qualified temp workers.
Temporary workers allow for quick responses to unexpected absences. Our goal is to provide staffing solutions to our employer partners. Whether you need quick staffing or permanent positions, we have the right people for you.
While it’s best to manage absenteeism internally, there’s always a chance that employees will need to take excessive leaves. Instead of racking your brain to solve this issue, we can provide quick solutions to your business, especially during peak seasons.
Read more: Hiring Top Performers: 7 Traits of a High-Impact Light Industrial Workforce
2. Manage seasonal changes.
Peak seasons are always busy, and when partnered with absenteeism, they can easily become chaotic. This could affect your productivity, team morale, brand image, and profitability. Staffing agencies help address peak demand to help reduce stress on full-time staff.
On the other hand, there are also lean seasons. Working with temporary employees makes it easier to downsize your workforce during slow months.
Read more: Maintaining Momentum: How to Tackle High-Volume Hiring with Efficiency
3. Reduce burnout and overwork.
One of the most common reasons for absenteeism is burnout. When employees are consistently overworked due to staff shortages, their productivity and well-being suffer. Temporary staffing can help reduce the workload for full-time employees. This allows your current employees to focus on their physical and mental health without sacrificing work quality.
Instead of piling tasks on your existing team members, why not consider the help of temporary staff?
4. Maintain business continuity.
Despite best efforts, absences are inevitable. Unfortunately, a single case of absenteeism can easily disrupt business operations, possibly delaying projects and affecting customer satisfaction. Having access to temporary workers ensures your workflow remains consistent and maintains high standards.
5. Lower costs associated with absenteeism.
Absenteeism can lead to financial strain. You may need present employees to work overtime, meaning overtime pay. Decreased efficiency and productivity are costly, and so is recruiting new employees for replacements. Temporary staffing can provide a cost-effective solution that allows you to fill gaps without committing to full-time employees.
Furthermore, staffing agencies also provide companies with the opportunity to test new employees before hiring them full-time. Instead of hiring permanent employees, you can test workers in a temp-to-hire arrangement, allowing you to thoroughly assess for overall fit.
6. Enjoy support during critical and short-term projects.
Staffing providers like Horizon America maintain a pool of expert workers in various fields, including hard-to-fill positions and critical roles. Unlike entry-level roles, these positions can be harder to find. With a staffing partner, you’re guaranteed to meet deadlines without lowering the morale of your existing workforce.
Maintain positive employee engagement with Horizon America.
Here at Horizon America, we provide fast and personalized staffing services from a pool of qualified workers. Our top priority is you. If you need access to warehouse managers, line leaders, produce workers, machine and forklift operators, and other light industrial positions, contact us today to learn more about our services.
References
- “Absences from work of employed full-time wage and salary workers by occupation and industry.” US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024, https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat47.htm
- Kelly, Jack. “Why Workplace Absenteeism Is On The Rise.” Forbes, 14 Jun. 2024, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2024/06/14/why-workplace-absenteeism-is-on-the-rise/
