Absenteeism

1
Absenteeism Facts

• Paid absences are not universal
• ? 39 of U.S. employees do not receive paid
  sick leave (2009)
• ? 1/3 of FT Iowa employees have no paid sick
  leave (81) of part-timers (2010)
• Financial cost estimates are highly variable
  ?660/employee/year in 2005
• ? Absenteeism costs are about 9 of payroll
• Can necessitate temporary or surplus employees
• Can affect customer service
• Shareholders/Boards of Directors expect control

2

• Absenteeism Issues
• What is excessive? Multiple metrics
• Number of sick days used
• - Dept of Labor Mean is 8 days
• - Iowa data suggests people use half
• Changes in absence rates (paid unscheduled
• absence hours/paid productive hours)
• Range 1.9 in 2003 to 3.1 in 2008
• Lower in bad economic times, higher in good
  times
• Other data 2.5 in 2006, 2.3 in 2007,
  3.1 in 2008

3

• Absenteeism Issues
• What is excessive? Multiple metrics
• Percent of working hours lost to
• absenteeism (gt 3 excessive)
• worker days lost per month
• (Avg employees) X ( work days)
• ?Need industry/ region comparatives

4
ABSENTEEISM COSTS (lower level employee,
2010)
1. Salary (12.88/hour)
103.07 2.
Benefits 29.07 3.
Replacement employee
10.58 (cross-training, temp
help, supervision, overtime) 4. Unabsorbed
burden (unused capital
70.04 equipment, rent, light, in-efficient
use of materials) 5. Loss profit
contribution (value added)
84.58 297.34
5
Focus Managing Voluntary Absenteeism

• Determining what percent of absence is voluntary
  (avoidable) and what is non-voluntary is tricky
• Experts believe 40 is voluntary and 60 is
  non-voluntary (e.g., personal or family illness)
• 40 may be the max managers can affect

6
Summarizing Separating Voluntary Nonvoluntary
Absence

• Contingent on empowerment (discretion) of
  supervisors
• Absence policies remain ambiguous
• a. Truly discretionarytake a day off,
  wedding,
• special event
• b. Gray areas relative illness, business
  affairs, lack
• of transportation, domestic
  maintenance
• c. Mental health days??? (Generational
  cultural
• differences may exist as value
  differences)

7
Summarizing Separating Voluntary Nonvoluntary
Absence

• Explains popularity of PTO (Paid Time Off) and
  no fault absence policies. SHRM 33 of
  firms in 1997, 47 of firms in 2010
• Generous plan 10 sick days, 3 personal days, 5
  holidays, 10 vacation days for a total of 28
  days.
• Failure to distinguish between absences and PTO
  impedes absence research as voluntary
  nonvoluntary absence behaviors are not separated
  record-keeping also impeded by use of different
  measures and time frames (see next slide)

8
Absenteeism Measures 1. Frequency Measure
total of times/period absent ( 4) 2.
Severity Measure total of days/period
( 7)
(most common) 3. Attitudinal Measure
Frequency of 1 day absences (2) 4.
Medical Measure Frequency of gt 3 day
absences (1) 5. Worst Day
people absent on any given
day (e.g., Monday)
February S M T W TH F
S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
March 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
April 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
9
Model of Employee Absenteeism
3. Personal Characteristics -Education
-Sex/Family -Org. tenure
responsibility -Age
(also depends -Family size on
sex) -Personality
7. Ability to Attend -Health (Depression,
pain cardio fitness, smoking, drug
use) -Illness accidents -Family
responsibilities -Transportation problems
-Travel distance
2. Recruitment Selection Job expectations
about Attendance
1. Job Situation -Job autonomy -Job
level -Work group size -Role Stress
-Considerate leadership style
-Coworker relationships -Scheduling
(flexible, rotating)
4. Job Attitudes -Job satisfaction
-Organ.commitment -Job involvement
8.Employee Absenteeism (Attendance)
6. Attendance Motivation
5. Pressures to Attend -Economic/market
conditions -Human Resource Practices
(incentives, control policies) -Work group
norms/culture -Profit sharing/employee
share ownership
10
Review of Absenteeism Model

• Box 8 Employee Absenteeism or Attendance
• Box 1 Job Situation
• ? Job autonomy ? ? Absenteeism
• Box 2 Recruitment and Selection
• Box 3 Personal Characteristics
• Box 4 Job Attitudes
• Box 5 Pressures to Attend (next slide)

11
Personal Characteristics (Box 3)

• Education No consistent pattern.
• Org tenure ? Tenure ? ? Absenteeism
• Age Younger more short term older more long
  term.
• Age/sex Men ? Age ? ? Absenteeism
• Women No relationship
• Family responsibility Parental status and elder
  care issues (by 2020 1 in 3 will have the latter
  boxes 3 7)
• Family Size ? Size ? ? Absenteeism

12
Personality(Box 3)

• ? Conscientiousness ? ? Absenteeism
• ? Extroversion ? ? Absenteeism
• ? Anxiety/depression ? ? Absenteeism

13
Human Resource Practices for Managing Absenteeism
(Box 5)

• Review incentive systems like lotteries (nurse
  example)
• Be willing to modify practices over time
• Determine whether cost/benefit of incentives are
  consistent with organizational culture

14
Human Resource Practices for Managing Absenteeism
(Box 5 continued)

• Work group norms and culture
• Profit sharing employee ownership

15
Family Responsibilities Examples of Costs
Associated with Eldercare

• ? Absenteeism ? Workday
  interruptions
• ? Going part-time ? Eldercare
  crisis
• ? Supervisor time ? Taking unpaid leave
• ? Replacing the 9 of workers who quit
• Solutions subsidizing in-home care for
  employees dependent, referral services to
  caregivers and nursing homes, providing extended
  leaves of absence.

Be employee need specific Japanese heartache
leave
16
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INCREASEDUNDERSTANDING OF
ABSENTEEISM
1. Use standardized measures and time frames 2.
Study attendance 3. Study white collar
absenteeism 4. Examine how other HR practices
affect absenteeism (next 2 slides) 5.
Encourage health 6. Engage in more creative
thought
17
Effects of Various Human Resource Practices on
Reducing Absenteeism
Method of Studies Effect
Well Pay (unused sick leave) 4 High Flextime
10 High Compressed work schedules
5 Medium Discipline
12 Medium Recognition 6 Medium Wellness
programs 6 Low Other financial incentives
(bonus) 7 Low Games 6 Low Profit
sharing/employee ownership 3 Medium Team/group
reward systems ?? ??? PTOs, time-off
banks ?? ???
18
Effects of Various Human Resource Practices on
Reducing Absenteeism HR Professionals
Method of Companies
Effectiveness
using in 2007
(1-5 very effective)
Well Pay (Buy back unused sick leave)
53 3.4 Verification of illness
74 3.2 No-fault
59 2.9 Disciplinary action
89 3.4 Personal recognition 57 2.6 Part of
yearly performance review
82 2.9 Bonus 51 3.3 Paid-leave banks (PTO)
60 3.6 Adapted from CCH,
www,cch.coom/preess/news/2007
PTO may not decrease absenteeism, just make it
more planned.
19
PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FORREDUCING ABSENTEEISM
1. Increase job satisfaction/autonomy via
a. Job redesign c. Decreased stress b.
Supervision d. Flexible schedules 2.
Use motivation strategies more frequently and
creatively a. Operant conditioning b.
Goal setting 3. Use work group dynamics a.
Small groups b. Promote attendance norm
tie to rewards? 4. Consider time lags of
interventions (next slide)
20
Based on Harrison Martocchio, 1998, Journal of
Management 24 (3) 305-350.
21
Readings

• Navarro Bass
• Kuzmits Adams
• Johns
• Judge et al.

22
Johns Article

• Employees managers estimate absenteeism
  inaccurately. Why?
• Under-reporting tendency noted in 9 hypotheses,
  suggesting bias extends to group level
• What was the sample and attendance policy?
• Review Table 1 to understand why there are two
  sets of data and Hyp. 4

23
Johns Article

• What did the partial replication show?
• Implications People under-report absenteeism
  extensively. Are they deliberately lying? How
  can the under-reporting tendency be addressed?
• Is self-serving bias evident in non-western
  societies?
• Though no actual absence data, yes. Stronger at
  group level among Chinese managers

24
Results Hyp. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 8 and Partial
Replication
Mean 9 Days
8.83 School
Teachers Absent 8 8.36
7
7.47
7.31
6.21 6
H1
Utility Employees 5
H6 5.91
H3
H7
H2 4
3.65
3.22
3
H8 (ns)
3.31
Utility Managers 2
1 Occupa-
Group Self
Actual tional
Norm Estimates Report
Absence Absence
Measure Figure 1. Mean days
absent (estimated or actual) for three samples.
25
Judge et al. (1997)

• Relates Big Five to absenteeism. Move beyond
  situational causes of absenteeism to
  dispositional one which might be usable at the
  time of selection
• How is each trait hypothesized to be related to
  absence behavior?
• What does Hyp. 4, stating that absence history
  will mediate the relationship between personality
  and absence mean?

26
Research Model Judge et al. 1997
27
Judge et al. (1997)

• What was the sample and response rate?
• How were personality, absence proneness, and
  absence behavior measured?
• Were Hypotheses 1-3 supported? Table 2
• Was Hypothesis 4 supported? Table 3
• In what ways, if any, could use this
  information in the selection process?