Managing Employee Performance: Strategies to Reduce Absenteeism - Essay Example

?Managing Employee Performance: Strategies to Reduce Absenteeism Introduction Absenteeism refers to an individual’s regular pattern of absence from his/her duty or obligation. In other words, it is one’s non attendance at work with or without valid a reason. Traditionally, absenteeism constitutes breach of a contract that was implicitly formed between employer and employee. It is considered as a management problem which also reflects poor individual performance. As Armstrong (2000, pp.14-17) points out, researchers opine that frequent absence from duty or obligation is a direct indication of poor workplace morale. ‘Withdrawal model’, a psychological model, describes absenteeism as employee’s abstention from dissatisfying working conditions. At the same time, medical science connects absenteeism with alcoholism, smoking, low back pains, and migraines. Although majority employers have designed specific policies to mitigate absenteeism issues, none of them makes clear distinction between absences for avoidable reasons and unavoidable reasons. Many of such policies only consider frequency of absences but not the kind of absence. This paper will critically assess three strategies that organisations normally use to curtail absenteeism. Absenteeism Generally, absenteeism can be classified into two categories such as innocent absenteeism and culpable absenteeism, each of which needs different type of prevention approach. 1. Innocent absenteeism When employees are frequently absent from their duty or obligation for unavoidable reasons such as sickness and injury, it represents innocent absenteeism (Attendance awareness program, 2004). This type absenteeism is scrupulous as it occurs for reasons beyond the control of individuals and cannot be remedied by disciplinary measures. 2. Culpable absenteeism Foreman (n.d.) states that frequent absence of employees from their duty or obligation for avoidable reasons or reasons within their control is called culpable absenteeism. For instance, when an employee takes leave by deceptively claiming that he/she is sick, it constitutes culpable absenteeism. According to Armstrong and Baron (2005, p.138), disciplinary measures can be applied only to persons who are guilty of culpable absenteeism. Identification of excessive absenteeism An organisation keeps accurate attendance records for every employee in order to check whether an employee’s leave days are excessive or not as equal to others (Human resources). If worksite manager suspects that an employee is frequently and excessively absent from his duty, the regular attendance records would assist the manger to verify his suspicion. If attendance records show that the manager’s suspicion is true, then he gathers as much details as possible so as to clearly understand the situation. In addition, the manager documents all available information on the work history of the particular employee. As the next step, organisations usually practice three strategies according to the nature of absenteeism. They are: 1. Individual communication 2. Counseling innocent absenteeism 3. Corrective action for culpable absenteeism 1. Individual communication As Babu and Venkatramaraju (2011) point out, once the supervisor has gathered and documented all available information, he individually meets the employee who has been identified of having questionable absences. In the first meeting session, manager brings concerns regarding excessive absences to the respective employee’s attention. This meeting is also an opportunity for the manger to discuss the reasons for excessive absences and possible measures to address the issue. The manager would carefully listen to the employee’s responses. One of the major purposes of this meeting, as Terzo (2011) notes is to inform the employee that management considers attendance as a vital element of overall work performance. Usually, mangers provide the employee a copy of his/her attendance report with highlighted absence columns so that the employee gets a clear picture regarding his continuous misbehavior. This meeting session may act as a common platform for both the manger and employee to discuss the current issues in depth. In this stage, the manager would offer all the assistances to the employees including counseling to deal themselves with their specific cause of absence. It has been observed that employees’ attendance normally increases after this initial meeting session. The managers closely monitor the employee’s absenteeism until it is reduced to acceptable levels (the corporation of…). In most times, the manger commends the employee if a notable improvement is shown in his attendance rates. Finally, the manager documents the details of the meeting and places a copy in the employee’ file. In the view of Bratton and Gold (2000, p.140), a series of issues such as serious accidents and illness, poor working conditions, lack of job satisfaction, conflicts with co-workers, transportation problems, worksite stress, and boredom on the job may lead to absenteeism. Absenteeism issues can be resolved to a large extent if the managers get a clear view on the causes of absenteeism. Therefore, counseling is a very helpful strategy for the management as it helps them to inquire the actual reasons for one’s absenteeism. However, as Wong (1999) reminds, the extent to which a manager inquires into the reasons for an employee’s absenteeism is a delicate issue. It would lead to further difficulties including severe workplace conflicts if the manger does not keep a reasonable distance between employees’ privacy and the need for information relating to workplace. The conflict between the management and employees become more difficult to resolve if the issue involves medical claims. As per the prevailing privacy rights of the employees, employers cannot intrude into the personal affairs of an employee (employment guide). However, it is the duty of an employee to notify his employer regarding the cause and the expected duration of an intended absence. In total, any intrusion by an employer into the employee’s privacy must be reflected reasonable with regard to the employer’s business operations. If notable improvements are not shown in an employee’s absenteeism even after interview and other counseling efforts, further actions become inevitable. The manger determines the type of further actions to be taken by analysing whether employee’s absences are innocent or culpable. 2. Counseling innocent absenteeism Evidently, innocent absenteeism is not blameworthy and hence disciplinary action is not recommendable. However, absenteeism ultimately causes loss to the employer regardless of it s actual reason or nature. “There is a point at which the employer’s right to expect the employee to attend regularly and fulfill the employment contract will outweigh the employee’s right to be sick” (Charles, 2009, p.10). At this juncture, the termination of the employee would be justifiable; and its systematical procedures involve Initial counseling(s) Written counseling(s) Reduction(s) of hours and/or job reclassification Discharge Initial counseling As discussed above, the manager identifies the excessive absenteeism and interacts with the employee who is frequently absent from his duty or obligation. If this attendance program does not produce any positive effect on the employee’s absenteeism, the manager regularly keeps in touch with the employee to convince them of the management’s willingness to assist and protect the employee. During this phase, manger requires the employee to submit regular medical assessments as it would help the manager to evaluate what steps the employee is taking to improve his/her health condition. Verbal warning would be necessary if no improvement is found from the part of the employee. Written counseling If the absence continues, manger meets the employee formally and delivers a letter of concern to him/her. If the issue still persist, it is essential to issue a second letter of concern to the employee during the next formal meeting. This letter would be strong worded than the first letter with the clear indication of the employee’s chance of getting terminated. Reduction(s) of hours and/or job reclassification Some organisations give the employee a chance to improve his/her attendance rates by reducing the individual’s working hours in a way that better fits with his/her personal circumstances. However, this practice is not an ultimatum because a reduction in working hours indicates that a reduction in basic payment; hence this policy is indeed a disciplinary action. In some cases, the nature of the illness or injury would not permit the employee to continue in his current job position. Under such conditions, the manager may modify or reclassify the employee’s work so that he gets benefit from the modified work. Discharge A manger can practice discharge or termination if he has given enough chances for the employee to correct himself/herself. In an innocent absenteeism termination case, an arbitrator examines a series of questions such as; if the employee has sincerely tried to return to work if the employer has offered all possible assistance, and if the employer has taken a biased decision Based on this evaluation, arbitrator substantiates or disproves the employer’s discharge decision. 3. Corrective action for culpable absenteeism Culpable absenteeism indicates a situation where a manager can prove that the employee is intentionally acting as ill in order to be absent from his/her duty or obligation. Disciplinary action is necessary under this situation if attendance programs do not produce any positive effect on the employee’s absenteeism. In the words of Kirila (2010), same disciplinary actions are applied both to corrective and progressive disciplines that would improve the situation of culpable absenteeism. The general procedures are briefly described below. Initial warning(s) Written warning(s) Suspension Discharge Initial warning(s) Under the initial warning or verbal warning procedure, the manager formally meets the employee and informs that the income protection would not serve employees if they are having a sound health. In addition, manger advises the employee that he/she must maintain his/her attendance rates at an improved level to avoid further disciplinary actions. The manager may also give guidance or further verbal warnings to the employee if necessary. In addition, manger periodically examines the employee’s income protection records in order to analyse whether a remarkable improvement is found in the attendance rates of the employee. If such a marked improvement is observed, the manger commends the employee; and if not, issues a written warning to the employee. Written warning In this phase, the manager again arranges a meeting with the employee with intent to notify that there has been no considerable improvement in his/her attendance statistics. The manager documents all details of the interview and decides the type of action to be taken and when it would be implemented if the employee does not reduce his absenteeism. After this meeting, the employee is personally given a written document and the manager places a copy of the warning in the employee’s file. Usually, the written warning clearly identifies all remarkable patterns. If the employee’s misbehavior still continues, the management enters the next step in the progressive discipline. Under this stage, the employee is given second and stronger written warning. This step is an effective alternative to a higher level of discipline like suspension. The management’s decision to whether or not to issue a second written warning as an alternative to suspension would depend upon a number of elements such as severity of the problem, the employee’s work experience and efficiency, and the credibility of the employee’s explanations. Suspension If the employee continues to be absent from duty even after the second level warning, the manger interviews the employee and informs him/her that he/she would be suspended (suspension, 1998). The length of the suspension may depend again on the same above mentioned factors. However, the employee would be suspended only after the consultation with authoritative superiors. Dismissal The managers considers an employee’s dismissal only when all the above described criteria and procedures have been met. When the employee continues to display unsatisfactory attendance rates, he/she would be dismissed on the ground of his/her unwillingness to reduce absenteeism (Policy on Managing Sickness Absence). The management’s employee dismissal decision has to be approved by responsible officials. Conclusion Absenteeism is a major managerial concern that almost every organisation confronts with. Firms generally practice certain strategies to address the issues related to employee absenteeism. Evidently, managers practice ‘individual communication’ as an effective tool to reduce absenteeism. Similarly, firms adopt a liberal approach towards innocent absentees, since the cause of innocent absenteeism is beyond individual control. However, mangers take a strong approach to culpable absentees because the cause of such absenteeism is within one’s control. References Armstrong, M & Baron, A 2005, Managing Performance: Performance Management in Action, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Publishing, London. 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