Reducing Absenteeism in Your Business

Image credit: Polina Zimmerman from Pexels

Employee absenteeism is really bad for business. It can cost you dearly in terms of productivity and your bottom line, and it can cause disgruntlement amongst your employees who will often have to pick up the slack.

The good news is, there are lots of things you can do to reduce absenteeism in your business. Including the following:

Be more flexible
If you want to cut down on the number of absent employees, then being more flexible in your approach to work and working hours is a good idea. Many people who take a day off do so because they have an appointment with the doctor, dentist or their child’s school, that will only actually take up a small part of the day.

By letting them take just a few hours off, or even better, allowing the to work from home or choose their own flexible working hours, then, you can encourage them to only take out the hour or so they need, and work for the rest of the day, instead of booking whole days off for a[ppointments as they may be right now.

Schedule employee MOTs
Scheduling an annual employee health check is a good way to reduce employee sickness as trained health professionals will come in and give them a once over, checking for things like high blood pressure and excess weight, which could cause ill health down the line, and support you and your employees in getting on top of them, so that they are likely to take fewer sick days in the future.

Reward attendance
When it comes to dealing with employee absenteeism, it is often better to use the carrot approach. Rewarding good attendance can be a very effective way to reduce the amount of time each employee takes, providing that the incentive for good attendance is desirable enough.

Monetary bonuses are probably the most effective, and will likely save you more money in the long term when fewer sick days are logged, but they are not the only option so it is just a matter of thinking about what your business can afford and what kind of incentives your employees would actually value.

Foster a positive workplace culture
Fostering a positive workplace culture, where every member of staff feels safe, secure and valued, and where teamwork is encouraged, is another good way to tackle absenteeism because, when employees feel happy at work, they are less likely to feel stressed or worried, and take a day off.

Not only that, but when teamwork is encouraged and valued, employees will think twice about taking time off because they will feel like letting they are letting their team down, which means they will only stay home when they really are sick enough to warrant doing so.

You are never going to be able to prevent all absences from your business, but as you can see, there are lots of simple things you can do to reduce them and bolster your business. It’s just a matter of putting the above suggestions into action.