Employee Absenteeism: Key Causes, Business Impact, and Proven Ways to Reduce It

Absenteeism isn’t about the occasional sickness, but rather a pattern of excessive, unreasonable absence. Whether it’s unexcused leave, constant lateness and leaving early, absenteeism affects the individual’s productivity, leading to lower morale and overall performance of the rest of the team, who have to cover the workload. Eventually, the cost of absenteeism will create lasting damage to your business as a whole. Admin costs of managing work loads for employees, and the time spent for management and payroll all add up causing financial and operational strain across the organisation.

The main causes of absenteeism are:

• Stressful environments without adequate support
• Repeated or chronic health issues, both mental and physical.
• Disengagement from work found to be uninteresting or unfulfilling 
• Personal responsibilities such as unforeseen family issues.

How can your business combat absenteeism?

Sometimes combating nonattendance can feel like an overwhelming task. But implementing a simple but effective strategy can help alleviate and prevent the taking of unnecessary absences, while improving their happiness in the workplace. Create a holistic and balanced approach to your employee benefits package that is uniquely tailored to the needs of your teams:

Offer flexibility

Implementing flexible working, such as hybrid/remote work, or flexible hours will help your team balance work with personal commitments or illness. Check in with individuals regularly to make sure their current schedules work for both themselves and the company. Out-of-office employees may feel a disconnection from themselves and their onsite colleagues. Add engaging benefits like peer to peer recognition, to inspire colleagues to celebrate each other’s achievements, establishing a culture of togetherness and solidarity.

Support wellbeing 

Offering wellbeing benefits supplies preventative care that will combat absenteeism before it can begin. From understanding mental health, improving physical health and bypassing GP waiting times, your staff can return to work quickly and with the guidance they need to recover. Build on this with helpful and honest conversations after absences to understand issues, identify potential long-term issues and make adjustments where necessary.  Launching a robust Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) will offer your staff the ability and confidence to reach out for support. From reading materials to self guide their wellness journey to constructive and personal counselling to improve mental health and build skills to manage stress, low mood and other issues your team may be facing. 

Establish clear policies and assistance

Put together a transparent attendance policy which will outline what people are expected to do, how to report absence, and the consequences of misuse, whilst creating transparency and understanding for those  who may suffer from chronic illness or underlying medical conditions. During the onboarding of new employees, highlight your policy during the process to ensure it is established as early as possible. For those who are genuinely unwell, including Private Medical Insurance (PMI), Health Cash Plans or Cancer Insurance – either company-paid or via employee contributions can help relieve any anxiety or pressure surrounding health. Cash plans offer payments for medical expenses such as prescriptions and dental procedures, so that your team can reduce the impact of healthcare costs. Adding these plans to your benefits strategy will increase your company’s reputation as a caring place to work – attracting and retaining the best talent. 

Improve engagement and culture

If your team is feeling demoraised and unmotivated, grow your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Offering incentives such as wellness bonuses, long service awards and general discounts and savings will help to boost overall happiness, and demonstrate your commitment to the health of your team.  A great workplace culture is built on trust. If you trust the people you employ with flexibility in their work hours or where they work, they will in turn trust you to know what is best for the improvement and future of the organisation.

Want to create your business’s holistic approach to benefits? Contact us today to find out how we can help across a wide range of services.