{"id":3517,"date":"2023-02-08T23:03:17","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T23:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/business\/?p=3517"},"modified":"2023-02-08T23:03:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T23:03:17","slug":"absenteeism-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/business\/absenteeism-in-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Absenteeism in the Workplace: What It Is and How to Reduce Unplanned Absences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Life happens. It\u2019s normal for an employee to miss a day of work here or there. An employee (or their kids) could get sick. The car might break down, or a winter storm may make the road unpassable. Despite an employee\u2019s best intentions sometimes life just gets in the way. But when an occasional day of missed work turns into a regular occurrence, employers start to pay the cost of employee absenteeism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absenteeism is a pattern of missed work and unplanned absences beyond what employers consider acceptable. Absenteeism<\/a> is described as absences due to issues like illness, transportation, or family caregiving. Seventy-three percent of employees<\/a> have caregiving responsibilities, which means a lack of access to care can have a significant impact on work attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be clear, absenteeism doesn\u2019t include missed days for legitimate reasons, such as a family emergency, occasional illness, or a planned vacation. Missed work is considered absenteeism when an employee demonstrates a pattern of multiple missed days, typically with no advance notice to the employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An employee with frequent absences may be seen as unreliable, and might lead to an employer considering disciplinary action, up to and including firing the worker. However, it\u2019s important to know that some absences from work are excused or legally protected absences<\/a>, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n These types of employee absences cannot be used as grounds for termination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may be best to part ways with employees with frequent unexcused absences who don\u2019t seem engaged at work. But for employees with health or family care issues it would benefit employers to look for ways to better support them on the job. This can help reduce employee absenteeism and also boost retention efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Absenteeism doesn\u2019t mean employees are just taking a day off \u00e0 la Ferris Bueller. There are several causes of absenteeism. Some of the biggest reasons behind missed work days include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n While all of these factors can lead to employee absenteeism, it\u2019s no secret that issues with access to child care<\/a> and elder care is one of the leading causes. Finding affordable child care remains a challenge for many working families, and the pandemic only made it worse. And when that care falls through, absenteeism rises. Employers who incorporate care into their benefits package can better support employees and decrease absenteeism. Care benefits can also boost retention numbers. Eighty-three percent of women and 81% of men<\/a> with children aged five or under said that child care benefits are either very or somewhat important when it comes to deciding to stay with a company or switch jobs. That\u2019s roughly four out of every five employees<\/strong> with young children who are saying they want care benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result of lack of access to care, 45% of mothers with children<\/a> five or under left the workforce during COVID-19, and an additional 24% said they considered reducing their hours or only working part time. In addition, 70% of working caregivers<\/a> report suffering work-related issues due to the need to provide care, with 7% saying they received a warning about their work performance and\/or attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cost of absenteeism can be measured in terms of both lost revenue and lost productivity. The most recently available statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (which predates the pandemic) found that productivity losses due to absenteeism cost U.S. employers $225.8 billion every year<\/a> in the U.S. That works out to $1,685 per employee. Absentee rates<\/a> and costs have no doubt only risen given the challenges posted by COVID-19, especially when employers are required to still pay absent employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of those productivity losses, almost a quarter can be attributed to issues with child care. It\u2019s estimated that child care issues cost the U.S. $57 billion annually<\/a> in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue. That\u2019s a number that\u2019s hard to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frequent absence from work has ripple effects across the organization, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n While harder to measure, employee morale can also take a hit among those who are asked to pick up the slack for frequently absent coworkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way to improve employee attendance is for employers to establish guidelines and resources to help prevent and solve for absenteeism in their workforce, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n By creating and enforcing absenteeism policies, and treating caregiving employees with compassion and understanding, employers can not only reduce absenteeism, but potentially also boost retention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life happens. It\u2019s normal for an employee to miss a day of work here or there. An employee (or their kids) could get sick. The car might break down, or a winter storm may make the road unpassable. Despite an employee\u2019s best intentions sometimes life just gets in the way. But when an occasional day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1390,"featured_media":3523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"enable_toc":false,"care_post_updated_flag":false,"care_updated_date":"","last_update":"2023-02-08","content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[7,6,39],"member-type":[],"vertical":[],"platform":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Causes of Absenteeism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Effects of Absenteeism in the Workplace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How to Reduce Absenteeism in the Workplace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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