Leaves are an essential part of working as they provide necessary motivation to the employee to function as per their capabilities. Every individual faces unplanned situations that force him to apply for an un-planned leave such as wedding or illness. The companies employing them also cater for such urgent situations but the cost of absenteeism falls heavily on the organization. What is absenteeism? It is unwanted leaves for personal gain that the employees take justifying them as sick leaves. These leaves disrupt the business and affect the morale of other employees.

Most of the employers use incentives or disciplinary actions to reduce the damages inflicted by it but it is highly essential to analyze the problem before solving it.

Cost of absenteeism to the company

The major outcomes of absenteeism can be:

  1. Low productivity for the company is one of the major concerns as each employee has a charter of duties assigned to him. In case of unwanted leaves the duties are left unattended and hence those jobs are either not done completely or done with lesser interest leading to unsatisfactory results.
  2. Compensatory cost for the absentee for his medical expenses or for his family commitments fall heavily on the shoulders of the employer. In today’s world all amenities that a person avails are not free of cost. They in fact cost a huge sum of money which the companies are liable to pay. This often affects the overall budget of the company as these amounts are mostly accounted for in the planning of budget.
  3. Low morale among other employees as they are made to do the work that was assigned to the absentee, leading to frustration and anger among the employees. The other employees feel pressurized by the work that was not theirs causing low morale among them affecting the overall productivity of the organization.
  4. Overtime wages that needs to be paid to the other employees as they would be attending to the work assigned to them because of the absentee. The work beyond office hours has to be compensated by the organization in terms of money so as to maintain the loyalty and productivity of the over timing employee.

Causes of absenteeism

The main causes of absenteeism could be summed up in the following points:

  1. Personal commitments such as weddings or other engagements are one of the major reasons for absenteeism.
  2. Illnesses are unavoidable but sick leaves cost the companies huge amount of money.
  3. Stress or low morale caused by long working hour without the desired benefits or outcomes lead to increased absenteeism.
  4. Child/elder care is one of the important obstacles that each employee faces, especially women. They are unable to find satisfactory help to take care of the elders and children in the family thus, reducing their productivity in general.
  5. Dissatisfaction towards the job often forces a person to search out for new avenues and thus, ignore his responsibilities at the employed organization.
  6. Terminating the shifts early to tend to personal commitments is another cause of absenteeism. Over extended lunch breaks or coffee breaks reduce the working hours affecting the functioning of the company.

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