Absenteeism

A topic that it is critical for some, a non-issue for others

Absenteeism “Facts”Paid absences are not universal

● 39% of U.S. employees do not receive paid sick leave (2009); few small businesses offer

● 1/3 of FT Iowa employees have no paid sick leave (81% of part-timers).

Financial cost estimates are highly variable ● Absenteeism costs are about 9% of payroll (Kuzmits & Adams 2009 article give you more statistics)

Can necessitate temporary or surplus employees,

can affect customer service

Shareholders/Boards of Directors expect control

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

Tends to be lower in bad economic times, higher in good times; higher in public sector (4%) than in private sector (3%). > 3% usually viewed as excessive

ABSENTEEISM COSTS (lower level employee)

1. Salary ($13.49/hour) $107.86

2. Benefits 30.42

3. Replacement employee (cross-training, temp help, supervision, overtime)

11.08

4. Unabsorbed burden (unused equipment, rent, light, in-efficient use of materials)

73.30

5. Loss profit contribution (value added) 88.51

$311.16

Focus: Managing Voluntary Absenteeism • Determining what % of

absence is voluntary (avoidable/motivational) and what is non-voluntary (due to inability) is tricky

• Experts believe ~40% is voluntary and ~ 60% is non-voluntary*

• 40% may be the “max” managers can affect (a restriction in range)

• Managers disagree as to what is a valid excuse

*Navarro & Bass (2006) report 35% of absence due to personal illness, 21% family issues

Summarizing: What is an Excused Absence?

• May be contingent on empowerment (discretion) of supervisors

•Absence policies remain ambiguous a. Personal/dependent illness

b. Gray areas: relative illness, business affairs,lack of transportation, “domestic maintenance”

c. Truly discretionary: take a day off, wedding, special event

Summarizing: What is an Excused Absence?

•Explains popularity of PTO (Paid Time Off) and “no fault” absence policies. SHRM: 33% of firms in 1997, 51% of firms in 2012

Generous plan: 10 sick days, 3 personal days, 5 holidays, 10 vacation days for a total of 28 days.

• Recordkeeping time frames dependent on magnitude of the problem (from no tracking to yearly, to quarterly, to monthly)

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 > 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 1415 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 28

March

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1415 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 2829 30 31

April 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1112 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 2526 27 28 29 30

3. Personal Characteristics -Education -Sex/Family -Org. tenure responsibility -Age (also depends -Family size on sex) -Personality

2. Recruitment + Selection Job expectations about Attendance

7. Ability to Attend -Health (Depression, pain cardio fitness, smoking, drug use) -Illness & accidents -Family responsibilities -Transportation problems -Travel distance1. 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

6. Attendance Motivation

8.Employee Absenteeism (Attendance)

5. Pressures to Attend -Economic/market conditions -Human Resource Practices (incentives, control policies) -Work group norms/culture -Profit sharing/employee share ownership

Model of Employee Absenteeism

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)

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

Personality(Box 3)

• ↑ Conscientiousness → ↓ Absenteeism

• ↑ Extroversion → ↑ Absenteeism

• ↑ Anxiety/depression → ↑ Absenteeism

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

Human Resource Practices for Managing Absenteeism (Box 5 continued)

• Work group norms and culture

• Profit sharing; employee ownership

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 employee’s dependent, referral services to caregivers and nursing homes, providing extended leaves of absence.

Be “employee need specific”: Japanese heartache leave

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

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 ?? ???

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.

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?

Readings

• Navarro & Bass

• Kuzmits & Adams

• Johns

• Judge et al.

Readings

• What were your “take-aways” from Navarro & Bass?

Kuzmits & Adams (2009)

• What were the key parts of a no-fault absence system?

• Summarize the study setting and research design

• What were the major findings?

• How generalizable are these results?

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

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

Mean 9Days 8.83 School TeachersAbsent 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 MeasureFigure 1. Mean days absent (estimated or actual) for three samples.

Results: Hyp. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 & 8 and Partial Replication

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?

Research Model: Judge et al. 1997

PersonalityTraits

AbsenceProneness

Absenteeism

T1 “Mediator”T2

T3

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 you use this information in the selection process?