To understand work absenteeism, we should first understand what it means to be absent. Absence at work is a time or event when you are not at work. People aren’t at work because they are sick, sick from workplace stress, or for other reasons.
Employee absence may not seem to be a big deal at first look. After all, crises do arise. Finding one or two empty chairs in your company is common for you as an HR staff or a manager.
Shifts get switched around, and it can be nice to see your team help a sick colleague. But things get worse when people leave work without a good reason more often, like at least once a month or even once a week.
Every once in a while, it turns into a pattern. And it’s even scarier when the same group of employees starts to miss work a lot without a good reason.
Before we talk about what causes work absenteeism, here we will go into the definition and types of it.
What is work absenteeism?
First, let’s talk about what work absenteeism or not coming to work means. Work absenteeism occurs when an employee repeatedly fails to arrive at work on time. This is actually the truth for both full-time and part-time workers.
Absenteeism usually happens by accident, like when someone gets sick, but it can also be planned during a strike or on purpose. This definition depends on the fact that the person was supposed to work.
This means that vacation, personal leave, jury duty, and other absences are not counted as absences. Absenteeism is often referred to as being absent, sick, skipping, or taking leave.
Even though it’s normal to miss work once in a while because of illness or an emergency, it’s a problem when it happens repeatedly. Besides that, when it affects more than just one employee.
Types of work absenteeism
There are three types of absenteeism in work. Let’s find them out below:
- Authorized Absences
These absences include holiday leave, appointments, personal leave, paternity or maternity leave, compassionate leave, and any other time off that has been agreed upon by the employee and their boss.
Once an employee has asked for time off and had it approved, their absence shouldn’t be a problem. All work and responsibilities may be arranged around the employee’s allowed absence with proper preparation from the individual and their team.
- Actual, unplanned absences
Still, you can’t always plan for a half-day, a full day, or more than one day off from work. Unplanned, real absences are just a part of life, even though they can cause problems at work. These include being sick, having a family emergency, or having an accident.
- Unauthorized Absences
This is where employee absenteeism becomes a problem. Unauthorized and dishonest absences are often the most frustrating for those who have to do the employee’s work and manage the absence overall. Examples are participating in a work strike or deciding not to go to work without a genuine or approved reason.
What causes absenteeism?
When absence becomes excessive and threatens your company’s productivity, it’s important to understand the top causes of work absenteeism in your workplace. Let’s explore some key points of causes below:
- Sickness or Injuries
Often, absenteeism is unavoidable due to illnesses or injuries. The problem arises when employees don’t tell their bosses that they can’t make their shift due to their sickness.
Though they tell you about their absence hours after their shift has started or not at all, it’s important to know that this is often a simple problem to solve.
By using a system where employees can easily tell the HR team that they will be late or absent, employees will be more likely to report their status as soon as they know. This lets your HR team fill holes and cover shifts quickly.
- Commuting problems
If you drive to work every day, you already know a lot of things could go wrong on your way to work. Employees often miss work hours due to bad weather, late public transportation, construction, car trouble, or accidents.
- Mental Health Problems
Every year, over 11 million workdays are lost because of employee stress, which can be caused by burnout, overwork, family, finances, or personal problems. Along with occupational stress, mental health problems like depression, anxiety, or other disorders can often make workers feel so bad that they may leave work.
- Major diseases and long-term conditions
When an employee has a serious illness, they usually need a lot of time off work to get better, as well as a clear plan for how to get back to work in their role.
When dealing with a long-term medical condition, an employee may need a customized work environment or more flexibility in their schedule to make space for regular medical appointments.
- Personal Problems
Some bosses tell their workers to leave their personal problems at the door, but it’s not always easy. Difficult situations and circumstances, like a divorce, an urgent matter at a child’s school, a family member getting sick, or not having enough help with childcare, can lead to emergencies that employees have to leave work to take care of.
- Granted Leave
Granted, leave is included in the Approved and Planned Absences category and is often more simple to handle. This includes paid time off for paid holidays, maternity leave, paternity leave, and bereavement leave. This is also considered as a great cause of work absenteeism.
- Management and Team Issues
When an employee doesn’t respect or agree with their management team, gets angry after a bad experience with leadership, or doesn’t agree with the decisions their company makes, they may stop caring and skip work to avoid the situation or stress that comes with it. This is a major cause of work absenteeism.
Conclusion
We got a clear idea about work absenteeism, types of it, and what causes it from the above discussion. Absenteeism is always an issue, but it peaks in particular seasons of the year.
This might result from bad weather, seasonal stress, or rising financial demands. In any instance, you must investigate the underlying causes of absence.
QuestionPro Workforce is a tool for managing the employee experience. It helps you to understand your data, employee demographics, and habits. This is a great way to learn how to get regular employee feedback and start helping your company.
QuestionPro workforce will allow you to identify issues and take strategic action to improve employee well-being while decreasing work absenteeism. So, let’s get started with QuestionPreo now!
