Absenteeism hits productivity, efficiency at work place

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Sharan Sandhu

17 April, 2011

While the excuses are entertaining, absenteeism is no laughing matter for the employers and co-workers. Absenteeism annually costs companies millions of dollars in payroll expenses and lost productivity, not to mention the loss in workplace morale.

AN ANNUAL survey on absenteeism has showed that 33 per cent of workers have shown absence from work without permission from the office, calling in sick when they were well at least once.

While the majority of employers said they typically don’t question the reason for the absence, 31 per cent reported they have checked up on an employee who called in sick and 18 per cent said they have fired a worker for missing work without a legitimate excuse. The nationwide survey included more than 6,800 workers and 3,300 employers.

Nearly one-in-ten workers (9 per cent) who missed work admitted to calling in sick because they wanted to miss a meeting, buy some time to work on a project that was already due or avoid the wrath of a boss or a colleague.

Others missed work because they just needed to relax and recharge (30 per cent), go to a doctor’s appointment (27 per cent), catch up on sleep (22 per cent), run personal errands (14 per cent), catch up on housework (11 per cent) or spend time with family and friends (11 per cent).

Of the 31 per cent of employers who checked up on an employee who called in sick, 71 per cent said they required the employee to show them a doctor’s note. Fifty-six per cent called the employee at home, 18 per cent had another worker call the employee, and 17 per cent drove by the employee’s house or apartment.

The most unusual excuses employees gave for missing work in the year 2008:

? Employee didn’t want to lose the parking space in front of his house;
? Employee hit a turkey while riding a bike;
? Employee said he had a heart attack early that morning, but that he was “all better now”
? Employee donated too much blood;
? Employee’s dog was stressed out after a family reunion;
? Employee was kicked by a deer;
? Employee’s wife burned all his clothes and he had nothing to wear to work;
? Employee’s toe was injured when a soda can fell out of the refrigerator;
? Employee was up all night because the police were investigating the death of someone discovered behind her house.