Employee absenteeism is a serious issue for most companies, however it can be handled well by employers if they are given enough information to work with. There can be a number of reasons why absenteeism occurs; sickness, accidents, really anything that can impede an employee going to work.
As an employer, it’s your responsibility to keep the well-being of your staff, not just because it will help your business.
Here are the three common reasons why your employees won’t show up to work:
The Problem: Office dynamics
Office dynamics play a large part in making a workplace something your employees will want to keep coming back to. When that office environment is less than optimal, your employees may just start calling in sick to work simply because they don’t like the workplace.
The biggest difficulty in catching this problem is even knowing it exists. Employees may be scared to speak up or simply just can’t be bothered to report issues with office dynamics, leading to a potential boiling pot of office tension. Another factor that can also play a part in making this difficult to detect is that employees may not want to speak up due to fear of losing their jobs.
The Solution: Office dynamics
To detect and solve these issues, it’s important to keep in touch with the people in your company. Hosting team meetings, company outings, anonymous surveys, as well as promoting good team dynamics around the office can be of great help.
The Problem: Personal Issues
With today’s modern adage of keeping work separate from your personal life, issues that come up outside the workplace are often set aside or ignored to simply make it to the next paycheck. Unfortunately, these issues are often severe: self-esteem, depression, failing relationships and personal ennui are all possible reasons why your employee simply aren’t showing up to work anymore.
The difficulty in tackling this, is the issue of separation of work and personal life. A stigma still exists against bringing in family issues or personal issues at the workplace, promoting a cold atmosphere and a dissonance with your employee’s everyday life. This dissonance can grow or fester for weeks or months, severely crippling their ability to produce quality work, which can aggravate their condition even more.
The Solution: Personal Issues
The best way to solve this would be to closely work with your company’s team leader or HR personnel. Take care to remind your employees that you care more than just the hours they log or the work they put in everyday, and make sure to look after their well-being and allow for days where they just need to rest.
The Problem: Poor leadership
Poor leadership can be the death of most companies, and therefore should be handled with extreme care and efficiency. Warning signs are few and far in between - but the most likely one is if morale and productivity are low across the board.
The “superior” dynamic makes diagnosing this issue difficult. Most people are usually unaware if they’re doing something wrong until it is too late to matter - and some are simply too stubborn to admit it. The challenge with poor leadership comes in two parts: one is to identify why they’re failing, and the other is what to do with them.
The Solution: Poor Leadership
The solutions to this problem are often drastic. Sometimes a personnel shift or termination can be the only outcome if the charges are proven and they continue to mishandle their team. However, the risk of losing too many employees due to the incompetence of one is too big of a loss for most companies to take.
Sometimes, an absence can’t just be explained with a note or a permit - and that’s the time that companies should start looking closely into how their environment helps or hinders their employees. With a keen eye for warning signs and a tactful way to defuse heated situations, you’ll be able to avoid most situations that would spell disaster otherwise.
People are complex beings to understand - so we’re here to give you a little help. Contact myCEO’s team today to let us know how we can create a better working environment for you and your employees.
