Management Strategies to Curb Absenteeism |
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Absenteeism in Indian industries is not a new phenomenon.
It is the manifestation of a decision by employees not to present
themselves at their place of work, at a time when it is planned by the
management that they should be in attendance. Many research reports reveal
that there has been a phenomenal increase in absenteeism in some
industrial sectors. The absenteeism becomes a problem to organizational
management particularly when employees absent from their work environment
without giving sufficient notice and by justifying their stand by
furnishing fake reasons.
The reasons for absenteeism are many. The factors
contributing to absenteeism from work includes individual and
environmental factors. These consists of sickness, accidents, occupational
diseases, poor production planning (flow of work), bad working conditions
and inadequate welfare conditions, lack of trained laborers, insecurity in
employment, collective bargaining process, rigid control system, lack of
supervisory support, lack of interest, lack of cohesive and cordial
culture and so on. The individual reasons may vary from organization to
organization depending upon the organizational climate, employee's
attitude and influence of external organizational factors (market forces,
social activities that influence the industrial culture prevailing in
geographical zone etc.).
The problem
High rate of absenteeism is neither desirable to employers nor good for
the employees. In majority of organizations, high rate of absenteeism has
an adverse effect on quality and quantity of production, efficiency of
workers and organization, organizational discipline and more importantly
on the organization's intention to fulfill the new market demands. The
absenteeism develops a considerable loss to organization because work
schedules gets upset and delayed and management has to provide overtime
wages to meet the delivery dates.
The causes of absenteeism, its effect on productivity
and cost in terms of finance and administrative effectiveness are quite
clear, but what is unclear is how to take affirmative action to control
absenteeism. This should be done in such a way as not to develop mistrust,
costly administration and system avoidance. Traditional methods of
absenteeism control based on disciplinary procedure have proven to be
ineffective and have failed to motivate the work force to meet
organizational demands to compete at a global level. Unless management
identifies and addresses the actual factors that influence employees to
remain absent from work, it will be difficult for the organization to
remain competitive at national and international levels. It is therefore
imperative to probe into micro and macro aspects of organizational
absenteeism to meet organizations long term cherished goals.
The levels of absenteeism and reasons for its occurrence are dependent
on many variables in an organizational environment. This particular
research identifies seven key factors that affect the absence rate for
employees. These seven factors can be detailed as follows; Absenteeism has the potential to cause numerous impacts upon an
organization; these include lost productivity, poorer quality of product /
service, decreased customer satisfaction, and a negative effect on the
performance/morale of other employees. Other operational consequences of
absenteeism include greater financial costs to the employer, as well as a
greater employee workload. Each of these impacts has the potential to
cripple an organization's operational ability, and seriously undermine its
efforts to stay competitive or viable. Hence it is necessary to develop
effective strategies to curb the absenteeism in Indian organisations. Conclusion
It is reported that these strategies got effective feed back from the
employees and employer's part in order to curb the absenteeism. It is
reported that the rate of absenteeism reduced from 34% to 20 % within a
period of 6- 10 months. The requirement here is the committed management
force with single task to carry forward this strategic function with
fidelity and accuracy. Many strategies like community intervention
programs and industrial counseling strategies have major impact on the
behaviour of absented employees. It is envisaged that a culture of open
communication and collaboration can reduce the level of absenteeism
through strategic interventions. |