Employee Absenteeism

Employee Absenteeism is the absence of an employee from work. Its a major problem faced by almost all employers of today. Employees are absent from work and thus the work suffers. Absenteeism of employees from work leads to back logs, piling of work and thus work delay. There are various laws been enacted for safeguarding the interest of both Employers and Employees but they too have various constraints.

Absenteeism is of two types -

1. Innocent Absenteeism

2. Culpable Absenteeism

1. Innocent absenteeism – Is one in which the employee is absent from work due to genuine cause or reason. It may be due to his illness or personal family problem or any other real reason

2. Culpable Absenteeism – is one in which a person is absent from work without any genuine reason or cause. He may be pretending to be ill or just wanted a holiday and stay at home.

The employers have got every right to enquire as to why an employee is absent from work. If an employee is absent because of illness he should be able to produce a doctor's letter as and when demanded.

There are various reasons for Employees to remain absent from work -

1. Lack of satisfaction from present work

2. Poor working conditions

3. Dominating Boss & Seniors

4. Non Cooperating peers

5. Higher expectation

6. No growth prospects in present Company

7. Work Stress

Its the duty of employer to find out as to why his employee is absent.

There are various measures an employer can take to reduce absenteeism -

1. Talk to employees who are absent and find out the problem

2. Take measures to protect the interest of employees

3. Check from time to time that no employee is treated badly by seniors.

Employee absenteeism is faced by each and every Company whether big or small and each one has got its own ways of reducing absenteeism. There is no one fit in formula for every Company.

The employers can bring few changes in working conditions and give incentives to employees to motivate them to work.

After taking all the measures if an employee is not motivated and still remains absent from work then matters have to be taken seriously.

Employers can confront the employees and give him warnings in verbal as well as in writing and at last dismiss the employee from work.

Absenteeism is a big problem and it really needs to be controlled. No company can prosper with non cooperating employees. An employee has to understand that when a company prospers he too gains in terms of salary and bonuses. An employee should always discuss his problem and try to sort it out before switching jobs. It may so happen that he may face the same problem again and again without finding any solution to it.