Current School Finance Issues Paper - Essay Example

Detroit Public Schools had more than 120,000 teacher days lost to absences in 1980-81. These absences cost more than 6.2 million dollars.” (Woods, Robert C., Montagno, Ray V., Winter 1997) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3673/is_199701/ai_n8747732 Identifying various factors contributing to absenteeism is not easy and considering economic loss faced by the government it is essential to find solution through concerted efforts involving Government agencies, employers, and employees with the help of evaluation and research tools.

According to the 2007 CCH Unscheduled absence Survey “ personal illness accounts for 34 per cent or unscheduled absences, while 66 percent of absences are due to other reasons, including Family issues(22 percent); Personal needs (18 percent), Entitlement mentality (13 percent)and stress (13 percent) http://hr.cch.com/press/releases/20071010h.asp. Absence may be defined as the failure of an employee to attend for fork at the scheduled time and measured as the total hours lost compared to the hours they would normally be available for work.

While personal illness remains the single most common reason for unscheduled absence, other reasons may be linked with weather or transportation problems. Working environment, mental and health condition of employees, financial benefits and career advancement opportunities, and hazards associated with occupation are other deciding factors of absenteeism. Morale and emotional reasons of an employee also influences in his/her decision to call in sick at the last minute and absence from duty. Lost manpower due to illness and hospital bills of a work force with poor health condition will definitely create a dent in the budget of their employers.

Hence, more attention is needed in maintaining good health of employees of an organization. Regular medical screening of employees as well as family members and calisthenics, before commencing duty everyday, will pave way for reducing absenteeism