Turnover and Absenteeism Have Similar Effects Upon Organizational Productivity and Costs

Turnover and absenteeism have similar effects upon organizational productivity and costs.
In the former case, the employee has left and there is no other person to perform the job.
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In the case of absence, the employee is still in service but is not around to do the job.
The adverse effect on organizational overheads has the potential of crippling your
operations.
Employee turnover requires that you need to recruit a new employee of similar qualification,
skills and knowledge, if not better. Having lost valuable expertise, there is no assurance
that you can find a suitable replacement. This costs money to your organization.
Absenteeism will cost your organization in terms of valuable work-hours lost and increased
administrative overheads. There is also the numerous hours spent by management in
resolving absenteeism problems among employees.
An employee who habitually absents himself or herself is within the category of difficult
employees.
Labor Turnover and Absenteeism's Effect on Productivity

These two events have direct effect on organizational productivity. This is a factor to
consider under Human Resource Performance Management.
Failure to manage employee turnover results in loss of knowledge, skills and capability.
Your organization will fall short of its targets stated under the business plan. There is the
risk of losing your competitive advantage due to loss of capable employees in critical sectors
or positions.
If absenteeism in not managed properly and effectively controlled, it can affect the entire
workforce. It is contagious and can affect even good employees.
Some people differentiate between attendance problems form absenteeism problems.

However, both have similar effects.
An attendance problem is a short-term disruptive event such as regular late arrivals at the
workplace and unilaterally extending lunch breaks.
Absenteeism refers to unexpected absence of an employee for a day or longer.
Reasons for Employee Turnover and Absenteeism Problems

It has been argued that the most probable reason is poor control by organizations.
However, see below for the reasons given by Leigh Branham.
Your organization may not have established clear guidelines on turnover and absenteeism.
Supervisors may misinterpret policies whereby they verbally allow subordinates to go on

leave without written approval or using vague words that have more than one
interpretation.
Superiors may allow subordinates to have extended lunch breaks, for example, or to go
home before the scheduled time without any reasonable excuse.
In addition, managers may allow employees who had been absent without permission to
offset the days of absence from the annual leave.
This shows that policies are either non-existent or vague and poorly enforced.
Apart from poor management of turnover and absenteeism, other reasons include:
 jobs dissatisfaction
 low personal motivation and drive
 alcoholism and substance abuse
 relationships problems with supervisors and / or other employees
 work pressure
 influence from other problem employees
 personal and / or family problems
 personality problems
Effectively manage these and you can minimize turnover and absenteeism problems.
However, it is not possible to eliminate them altogether.
Managing Turnover and Absenteeism

Employee Turnover
Employees leave due to a number of reasons that are related to their career, personal
problems and especially due to the work environment.
Leigh Branham in his book "The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How To
Recognize The Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late" (2005), he puts down the
following as the reasons why employees leave.
1. Poor management demonstrated by uncaring and unprofessional managers,

overworking staff, giving no respect, not listening, putting people in wrong jobs,
valuing speed over quality,and poor manager selection processes.
2. Lack of career growth and advancement opportunities demonstrated by actions such
as the absence of job openings or filling from within and favoritism or unfair
promotions.
3. Poor communication between management and employees, and between
departments
4. Pay being under-market standards, pay inequities, favoritism for bonuses or pay
raises and ineffective appraisals.
5. Lack of recognition
6. Poor senior management leadership including failure to listen, invest in employees,
unresponsiveness and mixed messages.
7. Non-existent, superficial or lack of training
8. Excessive workload, overworked
9. Insufficient or lack of good and up-to-date tools and resources
10. Lack of teamwork and inter-departmental coordination.
A survey conducted by the Saratoga Institute found that employees leave for reasons other
than money.
It is important to take steps to rectify the problems before they become too difficult to
resolve.
Absenteeism
Attendance is a pre-requisite of performance.
In absenteeism which is sometimes referred to as "job abandonment", the employee fails to

turn up for work usually failing to give notification to the employer.
Absenteeism also occurs when the employee fails to report back for duty after the end of his
or her approved leave of absence.
Where an employee fails to turn up for work, your organization through the manager to
whom the employee reports to needs to make attempts to contact the employee.
If provided by your absenteeism policy and disciplinary rules, you can put up an
advertisement in a local newspaper requiring the absent employee to report for duty with
immediate effect and that failure to do so may result in termination with cause.
Control of Absenteeism
Your HR policy on attendance and absenteeism together with your disciplinary rules must
make it very clear what will happen in the case of absence without permission or reasonable
excuse that is verifiable.
1. Find out whether the absenteeism of an employee is above the "acceptable" average
2. Identify the pattern of absenteeism problems
3. Thoroughly investigate and document
Find out whether the problem is due to a medical condition requiring long-term
medical attention
4. Verify whether it is likely that the employee will improve his / her attendance record
in future
5. Check whether your policies are clear and the employee had been informed
6. Ensure that you had given counselling to the employee and had given him or her an
adequate opportunity to improve attendance
Keep in mind the some employees will provide excuse for their non-attendance or absence
on their health problems. These employees will misuse medical leave if given the
opportunity. Medical leave is usually the most misused benefit.
Steps you can take
1. Establish clear attendance and absenteeism policies

2. Ensure a reliable attendance monitoring system is in place and used effectively by
supervisors
3. Implement positive and negative controls
For example, give value to good attendance and penalize inexcusable absence.
Prepare Your Plan to Control Turnover and Absenteeism

Whether you are dealing with turnover or absenteeism, you need a well-thought out plan to
limit the disruption to your activities and to control costs resulting from the absenteeism.

Turnover and Absenteeism Have Similar Effects Upon Organizational Productivity and Costs

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Turnover and Absenteeism Have Similar Effects Upon Organizational Productivity and Costs

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Turnover and absenteeism have similar effects upon organizational productivity and costs.

Labor Turnover and Absenteeism's Effect on Productivity

Some people differentiate between attendance problems form absenteeism problems.

Reasons for Employee Turnover and Absenteeism Problems

However, see below for the reasons given by Leigh Branham.

Supervisors may misinterpret policies whereby they verbally allow subordinates to go on

Managing Turnover and Absenteeism

1. Poor management demonstrated by uncaring and unprofessional managers,

In absenteeism which is sometimes referred to as "job abandonment", the employee fails to

Steps you can take

1. Establish clear attendance and absenteeism policies

Prepare Your Plan to Control Turnover and Absenteeism

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