To overcome the problem of absenteeism you need to look deeper than the surface of it. Common excuses such as stress and sickness tend to keep away from work only those employees who are not particularly motivated to be there anyway.
The first part of the solution is the training of |managers on how to build trusting relationships with employees so as to increase the likelihood of open communication. Then there must be a holding of regular one-on-one meetings to learn how workers regard their jobs and what is important to them. Focused attention like this in itself will create a good degree of loyalty.
Having done that managers need to find ways to make employees feel more committed. This can be achieved by the delegation of more responsibility, rotating tasks between employees, seeking their input and ideas and regularly praising their efforts. All such engagement must take place in regular meetings, both individually and in teams. Ad hoc attention will too easily drift into not at all.
Simple punishments are unlikely to work because employees normally find a way around them. Even if they might seem to work in some cases, workers coerced to go to work are mentally absent whilst there. It is a lose-lose strategy because such an approach produces a negative atmosphere which can make the workplace feel prison-like, thus even further motivating employees to seek ways of escaping.
To maximize results, efforts should be focused where there is the best chance of a positive return on time and effort. Therefore, employees should be placed in one of three categories, those with legitimate reasons to be absent, chronic problem employees and those most responsive to other changes in the past.
Employees who show themselves to be most responsive at the beginning of an anti-absenteeism campaign need to be shown most attention. As for those who do not respond at all, unless they are essential or very hard to replace, there will be no other option but to find replacements who are more committed. - 29942
The first part of the solution is the training of |managers on how to build trusting relationships with employees so as to increase the likelihood of open communication. Then there must be a holding of regular one-on-one meetings to learn how workers regard their jobs and what is important to them. Focused attention like this in itself will create a good degree of loyalty.
Having done that managers need to find ways to make employees feel more committed. This can be achieved by the delegation of more responsibility, rotating tasks between employees, seeking their input and ideas and regularly praising their efforts. All such engagement must take place in regular meetings, both individually and in teams. Ad hoc attention will too easily drift into not at all.
Simple punishments are unlikely to work because employees normally find a way around them. Even if they might seem to work in some cases, workers coerced to go to work are mentally absent whilst there. It is a lose-lose strategy because such an approach produces a negative atmosphere which can make the workplace feel prison-like, thus even further motivating employees to seek ways of escaping.
To maximize results, efforts should be focused where there is the best chance of a positive return on time and effort. Therefore, employees should be placed in one of three categories, those with legitimate reasons to be absent, chronic problem employees and those most responsive to other changes in the past.
Employees who show themselves to be most responsive at the beginning of an anti-absenteeism campaign need to be shown most attention. As for those who do not respond at all, unless they are essential or very hard to replace, there will be no other option but to find replacements who are more committed. - 29942
