HRM and absence Management - Essay Example

?Absence management is a controversial issue as the employers have a duty to care for their employees when they phone in sick. No employer would force the workers to attend work when they are genuinely sick. However, the controversy arises because it is believed that not all cases of absenteeism are related to genuine sickness. In fact in some organizations a culture of absence exists, contends Hayton (2010). It has been found that regular illness occurs on a Monday or a Friday although Monday is a better option for an extended weekend with absenteeism being recorded at 35% against 3 percent on Fridays (Gray, 2010). However, the Office for National Statistics finds that that days lost to sickness were fairly evenly spread across the weekdays (Barham & Begum, 2005). Employers are becoming aware of the direct and indirect cost to organization due to high levels of absenteeism. If absenteeism is left unchecked it impacts organizational morale and productivity (HRM Guide, 2001). Organizations now do have absence management policies but these policies must examine the causes of absence and take remedial action. While devising the policies it must be recognized that employees can be genuinely ill also. Hayday (2006) contends that a certain amount of absence is a part of working life and any absent management policy must provide support to those who are legitimately absent. At the same time non-legitimate absence has to be discouraged because absenteeism is proving to be costly for both private and public organizations. The cost of sick-notes in the UK has reached GBP 750 million in lost working days (Macnab, 2011). The number of workers facing disciplinary action has doubled since 2010 and thousands of workers have been dismissed because of poor attendance. More than 17 million days have been lost as a result of workers reporting sick over the last five years. The situation is the same in both the private and the public sector, says Macnab but Thomas (2010) contends that the absence costs are higher in the public sector at ?685 per head for 2009 against ?455 in the private sector services and ?545 in manufacturing and production. NHS Lothian faced a loss of GBP 17 million due to absenteeism in the past five years. Unscheduled worker absenteeism results in about 2 to 4 percent loss of working time (Bridges & Mumford, 2001). A study of absenteesim across genders reveals that women with dependents are less likely to be absent but those with children below the age of 2 years would frequently absent from work. One of the most respected surveys of UK absence conducted by CBI/Pfizer Absence and workplace health survey revealed that the economy lost 190 million working days to absence in 2010 with each employee taking about 6.4 days of sick on an average (Paton, 2011). This results in direct cost of ?17 billion to the economy while it does not include the indirect cost such as lower customer service and reduced productivity. Another survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers argues that the average UK salary stands at ?25,000 which means the absenteeism was costing the economy approximately ?32 billion per year based on the finding that an average worker took about ten days of unscheduled absence. This figure too does not take into account the potential replacement costs and the lost productivity. The survey results may differ on the figures but what is evident is that unscheduled absenteeism is taking a toll on businesses and demands immediate attention. One in three workers in the UK abuse sick days at work costing the UK economy some ?32 billion (Clarke, 2011). However, handovers and good weather are cited as reasons for absenteeism. Some even plan their vacations in advance and fake symptoms by appearing for work with props to justify their sickness. This report by PwC suggests that a large part of this loss is preventable. One of the ways is to introduce flexible working hours. Hayday (2006) divides the causes of absence under four clusters – health and lifestyle, attitude and stress, workplace, and domestic and kinship. As far as general health and lifestyle is concerned, there is a clear link between increased smoking and absence, says Hayday. While some may be genuinely ill but others can control their illness through change in their lifestyle. Employers can promote healthier lifestyle through different health programmes such as providing healthy meals at work or encouraging exercise or even helping those who really wish to quit smoking. The attitudinal and stress factors include depression and the feeling that they are undervalued or stressed at work also drives absenteeism (Clarke, 2011). How employees feel about their working lives has an influence over attendance (Hayday, 2006). Organizational commitment can reduce absence and this can be handled well if the line managers can maintain quality relationship with their subordinates. Change management can lead to deterioration of employees’ health and the line manager should be accountable for efficiently handling change within the organization. Uncertainty, lack of control, role ambiguity and job insecurity can directly impact physical and mental health. Career satisfaction is also a predictor of absence. The ground for absenteeism could be reported as sickness but job satisfaction plays a critical role in employee’s decision to be absent. Job satisfaction is also linked to employee commitment. Both commitment and job satisfaction are work attitudes which impact performance. The word absenteeism is used either to avoid work because of low job satisfaction or to perform non-work activities by using voluntary absenteeism. Other factors according to Hayton that is responsible for high level of absenteeism include low level of motivation which arises from the scope and role of the job, the leadership style of the boss, and the relationship with co-workers. In addition there could be family problems, repeated health issues and difficult journey to the workplace that act as deterrent to be regular at work. Some organizations use software to predict absence based on past absence. This has been found to have both positive and negative outcome. In one instance, when an employee’s late records and absences were observed, it was found that he was caring for a sick mother (Gray, 2010). The HR then agreed to different working hours which led to reduced absenteeism. The working environment also affects the well-being of the staff (Hayday, 2006). Absence is lower in environments where teams work in collaboration. When certain aspects of work are emotionally demanding and stressful absence becomes a way of avoiding it. This occurs mostly when work is unpleasant or there is risk from injury from equipments or people. Long-hours working culture also has an impact on absence. If people work more than the contracted hours it can increase both psychological and physical sickness levels. Other factors that influence absenteeism are outside the scope of an organization and include personal characteristics of the worker concerned (Hayton, 2010). The age, sex, education, tenure at the role and family size could all influence absenteeism. People with few family ties have lower incidences of absenteeism than younger people with small children below the age of six years. Such situations have prompted many organizations to introduce Family Friendly Policies to fight absenteeism in addition to flexible working hours. Many even prefer to employ older workers to attain higher attendance and loyalty. Most of the absence appears to be short-term as long-term absence accounts for just 5.7% of absence cases but long-term absence represents almost 70% of the total time lost at work due to absenteeism (HRM Guide, 2004). Most of the long-term absence has been due to stress of mental health related illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Long-term absence is also responsible for non-work related injuries, heart problems and work-related injuries. Long-term absence can be disruptive and costly to business. Paton (2011b) reports that most of the absenteeism appears to be on grounds of sickness. The Government reviewed sickness absence and committed to spend ?12 million on health and fitness programmes. The idea is to explore how the system can be changed radically to help people stay at work and reduce costs. Health and fitness programmes have proved successful in providing support to both workers and the employers in the early stages of sickness absence. The recommendations for change are meant to promote private sector growth and minimize burdens on businesses. The number of dismissals and disciplinary actions taken suggest the rising incidences of absenteeism. The managers are turning a blind eye to the growing levels of absenteeism and sickness (Macnab, 2011). However, when the causes of absence are identified it becomes easier for organizations to suggest options to reduce absence. There are several approaches to managing absence although not all have the desired benefits. The punitive approach is the most widely used approach which involves the use of disciplinary procedures that are consistent, reasonable and lawful in dealing with employees who frequently report absent. Punitive action is taken in the form of salary deductions, refusal to pay statutory sick pay or even dismissal. However, such actions have a negative impact as employee commitment wanes, even by those who are not regularly absent. Attendance incentive approach provides incentives such as bonuses, extra holiday or profit-sharing schemes. The purpose is to keep the employees motivated but this requires a range of incentives to appeal to diverse employees. It can even be unfair to those employees who are genuinely sick. Moreover, it can force the really sick workers to report for work so that they do not miss out on benefits or offers. Hayton suggests that the best alternative is the prevention approach which advocates investigating and addressing the root cause of absence and not just the symptoms. This takes into account individual workers and their needs like providing better job roles or job enrichment when job satisfaction is an issue. The answer to reducing absenteeism lies in having a skilled, motivated, and healthy workforce. Sometimes strong disciplinary actions can become counter-productive. Job losses due to ill-health or injury also highlight the failure of the employers to provide occupational health support. Staff not turning up for work not only exerts extra pressure on the remaining employees, it also costs taxpayers money (Barnes, 2011). Unauthorised absences need to be handled in a way that this could be reduced. Laying off employees on grounds of unjustifiable sick days is not the solution. Thomas (2010) suggests that high attendance should be encouraged rather than talking about high attendance. Non-monetary rewards should be linked to high attendance. The managers should be accountable for absence reduction and it should be made a part of performance review. Frequent short-term absences should be dealt with first. In addition, return-to-work (RTW) interviews have been found to be the most effective method of reducing absence. The managers should be trained to be assertive so that they treat it as their own problem. Preece (2011) argues that RTW is not without difficulties. RTWs take time especially if they are formally recorded. Moreover, there is little evidence that such interviews have improved attendance. Management time has to be invested over such interview of employees who are ultimately dismissed for poor attendance. In addition, the RTWs are costly to conduct. Initiating discussion about improved attendance with employees can distort priorities. Short-term absences are as disruptive as long-term absences. Some organizations even legitimize absence among peers and set a benchmark which means workers can expect even longer periods of absence when they have serious health issues. According to the Chartered Institute of Health Development (CIPD) involvement of occupational health in attendance management has significantly reduced long-term absences while insignificant impact was observed in short-term absences. Work-life balance and the ability to manage the stress levels could help employees reduce absenteeism and enhance productivity (Paton, 2011a). Flexible working hours and help with child care can help reduce stress provided there is positive endorsement by the managers. According to Managing Attendance, the industrial society’s survey on absence demonstrates that absence rates fell from an average of 8 days per employee to 6.5 days in the past 18 months among the 300 firms surveyed (HRM Guide, 2001). This improvement has been linked to various factors such as the flexibility to work from home, flexible annual leave and flexible working hours. Absence management at Intercontinental London Park is all-encompassing (Thomas, 2010). The management ensures that the associates discuss their plans in advance so that the management can assist them in maintaining work-life balance wherever possible. At Tesco if more than five unplanned absence occurs in a three-month rolling period, the workers are invited to meet with the HR and is offered an employee assistance programme. Overall, health awareness programmes, employee engagement and employee development programmes are all effective in promoting improved attendance. The organizational culture should be such that it supports work-life balance and have a better approach to tackling long hours at work (Paton, 2011a). Presenteeism can be increased if the managers lead by example. This could have a ‘top-down’ effect on improving staff attitude towards employees that take time-off for personal or family reasons. Again when absenteeism is high workloads on remaining employees increase and hence there should be some form of compensation provided to these employees in terms of additional vacation days or some such incentive. This would also help to reduce the co-worker sentiment towards those struggling to balance home and work demands. It is more effective for employers to try and prevent stress rather than cure it. There should be emphasis on senior management commitment and the policy objectives should be clearly defined (Hayday, 2006). Role clarity can enhance line manager-subordinate relationship and the line managers should be made responsible for implementing policy (Hayday, 2006). He should also be responsible to monitor sickness patterns but the approach towards the staff should be sympathetic and caring. Absence policy should be applied with discretion so that genuinely sick employees are not affected. In addition to the line managers accepting responsibility, the process should be clear to all employees. They should be aware how the absence will be handled if they are absent from work. It thus becomes clear that absence is an inevitable part of work life and both legitimate and not-so legitimate cases might occur. Absence management policies are available in most organizations but the effective implementation lies in the hands of the line managers. The line managers may need to be trained in handling absence so that the genuinely sick people are not affected adversely. The entire process requires top management support which would serve to encourage the line managers to handle absence effectively. Managing absence effectively is important not just to reduce the costs involved in absenteeism but it is also essential to ensure that really sick people are not punished. Thus, the cause has to be first identified and then suitable action taken which might differ across individuals. Work-life balance and a flexible approach to HR policies can effectively reduce absenteeism. Job and career satisfaction are the key to motivation which would keep the employees committed thereby reducing absenteeism. References Barham, C. & Begum, S. (2005) Sickness absence from work in the UK, Labour Market Division, Office for National Statistics, online 16 August 2011, from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/labour_market_trends/sick_absence_Apr05.pdf Barnes, J. (Jun 29, 2011) NHS struggling to cut absenteeism; Boards failing to hit targets as staff go off sick [Scot Region], Daily Mail. London (UK): pg. 2 Bridges, S. & Mumford, K. (2001) ABSENTEEISM IN THE UK: A COMPARISON ACROSS GENDERS, The Manchester School, 69 (3), pp. 276-284 Clarke, M. (2011) ‘Sickies’ cost UK economy ?32bn, online 16 August 2011, from http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/news.php?NID=9341&Title=%91Sickies% 92+cost+UK+economy+%A332bn Gray, R. (2010) Absence management: Can new technology predict when employees are going to be off? HR Magazine, online 16 August 2011, from http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hr/features/1015155/absence-management-can-technology-predict-employees Hayday, S. (2006) Managing Absence Effectively, Institute for Employment Studies, online 16 August 2011, from http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pdflibrary/op2.pdf Hayton, C. (2010) Absence Management - Overcoming the "sickie" culture in Britain, MSB Insights, online 16 August 2011, from http://www.msbconsultancy.com/assets/file_uploads/m_documents_upfile/MSB%20Insight%20-%20Absence%20Management%20-%20Carrie%20Hayton_1.pdf HRM Guide. (2001) Flexible working reduces absenteeism, online 16 August 2011, from http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/flexibility/flexibility_absenteeism.htm HRM Guide. (2004) Tackling long-term absenteeism, online 16 August 2011, from http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/flexibility/henley-report.htm Macnab, S. (July 12, 2011) taxpayers foot GBP 750 million bill for cost of public-sector staff sick leave, The Scotsman, Edinburgh, pp. 12 Patone, N. (2011) Sickness absence surveys reveal conflicting results, Occupational Health, 63 (6), pp. 5 Paton, N. (2011a) Managers should increase focus on employee well-being, Occupational Health, 63 (7), pp. 5 Paton, N. (2011b) Sickness absence system may experience radical change, Occupational Health, 63 (3), pp. 5 Preece, R. (2011) The long and the short of it, Occupational Health, Jul 2011; 63 (7), pp. 12 Thomas, D. (2010) Absence costs under the spotlight, Personnel Today, Jun 8, 2010 pp. 12 Read More