by Nigel Holmes

Created on: November 04, 2009

Unplanned absences create problems for a business. When someone goes missing other employees have to step in to cover the gap, work doesn't get done, deadlines are missed, and quality suffers. So what can an employer do to prevent this from happening?

First, recognize that not all absences are bad. For example, you don't want sick employees coming to work. They will only spread their illness, resulting in more lost time. In fact you might want to reconsider the value of that Continuous Service award and instead encourage the contagious to stay away!

Second, employees should be encouraged to take their allowed vacation days everyone needs time away from work to relax and recharge but there must be a system for requesting time off that imposes some rules to ensure business continuity. In fact all absences, planned and unplanned, should be recorded. This makes it possible to identify trends or patterns and provides a basis for any disciplinary action, up to and including termination, that might become necessary.

Remember though that even the best employees will have the occasional personal issue family bereavement is probably the most serious example and a good employer will always try to be flexible in such circumstances. This is where those absence records can be useful: an employee with an excellent attendance record might be given more leeway when a domestic crisis does arise. Bear in mind also that an employee who is stressed or worried isn't going to give one hundred percent to the job and could make some expensive mistakes.

Employers need to understand what triggers unplanned absence and try to address the root causes. Genuine sickness is unavoidable but sometimes people will take time off because there are things about their job that they don't like. One powerful tool for investigating these absences is the Return to Work interview. The purpose of this is not to interrogate the employee but rather to verify that they are in fact fit for work, to determine the cause of the absence, and to let the employee know how their absence affected the work of the business group or team.

Research into motivation has revealed two components to job satisfaction: hygiene factors and satisfiers. Hygiene factors are things about the work environment that create dissatisfaction, for example, poor working conditions, inadequate tools and abrasive or hostile relationships with peers and supervisors. If problems like these are uncovered the employer should take action quickly.

Satisfiers on the other hand are those aspects of the actual work that make the job more enjoyable. Unfortunately many jobs lack variety and challenge and are sometimes boring. Employers can however enrich jobs to make them more interesting and involving. The best way to do this is by giving employees more autonomy in their work and letting them make decisions about how the work should be done. An employee who actively enjoys his or her work is much less likely to take the occasional day off.

In summary, managing employee absence is a complicated issue. A good employer shows compassion but at the same time puts the needs of the business first. Punishment may be necessary on occasion but usually the most productive approach is to determine and remove the root causes of unplanned absence, which can be either environmental factors or aspects of the work itself.

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