Do you ever wonder the reason behind employee absenteeism at your work place? Do you feel confused if it is your employee’s personal issues or something else which has made absenteeism a norm? There can be a variety of reasons behind it. It can be something entirely personal or can also be a fact that the employee is not happy at the workplace. The working environment is either too tensed for him or he is not driven. However, whatever the reason is, it is your job to reduce employee absenteeism in your organization.

Before going into the details of employee absenteeism, it is important to narrow down the most likely reasons behind this cause.

While, personal issues can be there, but if the issues lie with the management of your organization, then the issues are likely to be:

• Communication issues at the side of the management. If the management is not good at conveying the requirements to the employees, then the employees are not likely to perform well. This, in return, can also cause employee absenteeism.
• If the organization has not set a proper system of attendance for the employees, then the employees tend to take their job casually and thus may remain absent from work frequently.
• If the managers are not performing their duties properly and are not looking after their employees, then the employees are likely to lose their interest in the job.
• When an organization does not reward the employees for their good performance and focuses on just pointing out their mistakes, then employee absenteeism tends to increase. It is really important to buck your employees up, so that they take their work more seriously and improve their performance.
• If the managers or the supervisors are not good at communicating with the employees working under them, then employees become disinterested in their work. It is a managerial issue which can result in frequent employee absenteeism. Remember that how good or bad a supervisor is the main reason why most of the employees stay at or leave an organization.

Now that you are aware of the most common factors behind employee absenteeism, here is how you can reduce it:

1.     Provide a Good Working Environment

Everyone wants to work at a place which not just motivates them but also provides them with a safe environment. So, if your organization is full of chaos and tension and you keep your employees under stress, then you need to change the overall ambience. Provide your employees with a working area which is pleasant. The authority should be present there all the time, yet the employees should be praised and appreciated for their efforts. Too much strictness can lead to employees getting disappointed with the working environment and they tend to perform really bad under strenuous factors.

2.     Come Up with an Attendance Policy

Sometimes employee absenteeism is because of the lack of a proper attendance policy. If you are experiencing a lot of employees not coming to work regularly or coming late, then you need to come up with a proper attendance policy and make your employees aware of it. The attendance policy should also focus on the penalty for arriving late at the office without prior notice as well. In this way, the employees become more careful and avoid missing work or being late from it.

The policy should also include the clear terms and conditions of being late or missing work for a certain period of time in the form of deduction of the salary and eventual suspension as well.

3.     Convey What You Expect from the Employees

Once the organization has come up with an attendance policy, it is important to make sure that not only every employee should read it, but understand it as well. It is ideal to hold an orientation program for it and convey all the dos and don’ts to the employees properly. Introduce the Employee Attendance Appraisal Form and convey to the employees that those employees with full attendance will be compensated at the end of the year for that.

4.     Reward the Employees

Everyone loves to be praised and rewarded. So, if you have a certain employee who has not taken any unplanned holiday within a year’s time, then reward him with paid time off, and even some bonus. If not paid, then you can even think of any non financial incentive like ” most regular employee of the year /month award” etc.

5.     Understand Your Employees Personal Issues

If it is a personal issue at your employee’s end due to which he is being frequently absent from work, then do provide him with as much support as possible. Many employees face highly challenging situations once in a while, so the key to an increased employee attendance is to make sure that the organization helps them out in whatever manner possible. In this way, you not just only help your employee, but gain a sincere worker as well.

Employee absenteeism can be reduced with a proper organizational system. Identify the issues clearly, and then work on them to achieve a good turnout of your employees at work.