Minimize Employee Absenteeism with Time & Attendance Software

If you did a head count around your workplace, how many absences would you notice? Maybe one or two every day? Perhaps a handful each week?

According to 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics, the absence rate for full-time employees is 2.9%. That means if your company has 100 employees, on average, about 3 people per workday would be out. Overall, it’s a pretty small number. Still, some reports suggest that employee absenteeism has risen to its highest rate in nearly two decades.

People miss work for any number of legitimate reasons. They’re sick. They have to handle a family issue, a childcare need, car trouble, or a sudden emergency. These types of absences are a given.

When Employee Absenteeism Isn’t About Being Sick

But plenty of employees still call in sick when they’re not, according to a 2016 CareerBuilder survey—as many as 35%. Perhaps they’re having issues with a manager or coworker and want to avoid confrontation. Maybe they feel slighted about getting passed over for a promotion, and want to get even. Or perhaps they’re so disengaged that they’re taking time off to interview for a new job.

Regardless of the reasons behind an employee’s unexpected absences, missed work can impact your company at multiple levels.

Employee Absenteeism Has a Ripple Effect

For starters, absenteeism can affect how productive your teams are.

  • When someone misses work, they’re liable to fall behind on their own responsibilities. This can create bottlenecks elsewhere, especially when work groups are waiting on each other.
  • Other employees might feel the need to pick up the slack. This can create stress, cause morale issues, and result in other employees getting behind in their own work.

The ripple of absenteeism can extend to your company’s bottom line and overall productivity.

  • As cited in Forbes, “unscheduled absenteeism costs roughly $3,600 per year for each hourly worker and $2,650 each year for salaried employees.”
  • When hourly employees pick up the slack, it can cause them to have to work overtime. According to research from SHRM, overtime is used to cover 47% of employee absences.
  • Meanwhile, from the same SHRM report, co-workers are perceived to be nearly 30% less productive when covering for absent employees.

What many companies are discovering is that their time & attendance software can actually play a role in keeping their employees engaged.

Employee absences are bound to happen. Having a time & attendance solution that empowers your people is one way to help curb absences that happen when employees feel disengaged. Our most recent report, “Always On the Clock,” explores a number of issues related to employee engagement. Read it today, and discover ways you can give your employees more to look forward to than just a paycheck.

Download “Always On the Clock” here

 

Minimize Employee Absenteeism with Time & Attendance Software

 How can your time & attendance software help improve employee engagement, and minimize employee absenteeism?

 Many professionals see automated time & attendance solutions as operational tools designed to gather timesheets, help process payroll, and help companies in their efforts to comply with state and federal wage & hour laws. These facts are true, but they don’t tell the whole story.

When your time & attendance software is flexible, and puts control in the hands of your people, the benefits can extend to the way employees engage with their work.

For instance:

  • When employees actively track their time in a way that’s mobile and convenient, they stay more accountable for their time on and off the clock.
  • Being able to view the schedules of their coworkers, request time off, and even swap shifts on their phones empowers them to be more in control and plugged in to what’s happening. Many workers begin to see a stronger connection between their work and their lives.
  • When they know that their time off requests are seen and approved quickly, this creates a dialogue between them and their managers. This inspires many employees to keep the dialogue going, rather than skip work unannounced and send a negative ripple.

Remember, employee absenteeism can be a sneaky issue. The more that your employees are aware of how absences affect the company, the more likely they are to consider the way they take time off.

Therefore, beyond exploring your time & attendance software, here are three additional tips that can help you manage unscheduled absences:

  1. Be sure to communicate your company’s absence policy early and often.
    • Make it a part of the onboarding process.
    • Bring it up during employee reviews.
    • Share it in your employee handbook, on your company’s Intranet, or even as a printed pamphlet in the breakroom.
  2. Be proactive in the way you communicate with managers and employees when it comes to attendance issues. Let them know how a series of unplanned absences can affect coworkers and the company as a whole.
  3. Be consistent in how you enforce your attendance policy. For instance, if an employee feels that management shows favoritism one way or the other, you may actually make things worse if they’re already feeling disengaged.

What is your company doing to keep employees engaged? As more employees use mobile devices for everyday needs, it makes sense for them to be able to clock in and out of work, and even swap shifts, on their smartphones. Discover how stratustime’s employee-friendly features can help team members engage with work in new ways. Give us a call today. We’ll put stratustime on the clock for you.

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