It’s a serious issue if employees stay on leave for anunnecessary longer duration. It affects the office environment as well as work productivity. As an employer or the boss, you have to manage things on your own in the absence of workers. Sometimes, there is an urgent task that requires short deadline. It has to be completed within the target time duration. Lack of available employees may cause disturbance and a failure to meet deadline. It can even have an adverse impact on the client. Especially, when a customer support representative is absent often, people making calls will not be attended. It can affect the image of the company to some extent.
Effects of Absenteeism
Taking unnecessary leaves can have negative effect in many ways. These are mentioned below:
Lower morale
Frequent absenteeism affects available workers. They have to cover the tasks for the absent colleagues. It adds to their workload which causes moralelower down.
Inefficiency
When colleagues are going to do the tasks for absent co-workers, they are likely to make mistakes. They may not fully understand how to continue the work that is at halt. Or, their designation and expertise mismatch the task.
Less productivity
When employees are on sick leaves often, it can delay projects. Team consistency gets disrupted, which causes low productivity. If colleagues are absent, present employees can have low motivation because of their absence. If absent workers are part of a team, the entire team can suffer.
Experts suggest ways totackle the issue of absenteeism:
Fit notes
When an employee is absent for more than seven days consecutively, including official holidays, he must give a Fit Note. When doctors fill a Fit Note, it reveals whether the employee is fit to work or not. The note will help get employees back to work and give these four options:
- Amended duties
- Phased return to work
- Altered hours
- Workplace adaptations
Flexible working policy
It allows employees to work from home or shift their working hours according to their suitability. It will help them attain better work-life balance. It will also reduce the chances of getting stress-related illness. According to statistics, 43 percent employees like working in flexible hours as it keeps them healthy.
Stress management training
It is good to give training about managing stress, mental health issues and other wellbeing problems. It can have a positive impact on absence levels. Management courses discourage employees to get absent. So, it’s a nice way to reduce absenteeism.
Promote healthy lifestyle
Encourage employees to follow a healthy lifestyle. Offer free gym membership or sports facilities to give them an opportunity to exercise. It will keep them motivated as well as physically fit.
Incentives
Many companies offer staff incentives to encourage higher attendance levels. It also helps them avoid unnecessary absence. It can be a cash reward or an extra holiday for those with 100 percent attendance throughout a month.
These strategies will surely work if properly implemented.