When absenteeism within your organization is high, you are dealing with lost production. This brings with it costs and an increased workload for colleagues who are working. In practice, we often find that employers are concerned about the cost of sick leave. This is understandable, but at the same time it is good to realize that, precisely in the preventive side, you can already do a lot to reduce absenteeism in the first place. When you look at this issue that way, you are already working on the front end to avoid costs. And to reducing human suffering, because nobody wants to be sick. Especially not if it is long-term because of a serious condition or because of mental symptoms.
Hidden absenteeism costs your organization huge money unnoticed: complaints, but no absenteeism (yet). Potentially a huge risk.
The incentive is missing (and that costs money)
Logical, you might think. So why doesn’t every company work on the front end to prevent absenteeism? From conversations we have had in the field, it seems that this is mainly due to the lack of incentive. Look, once someone is home sick, action has to be taken. Because of legislation. Because of loss of production. Because of increasing workload et cetera. But on the front end, when someone is still working, that incentive is not there.
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See the signals
And therein lies a piece of the solution, because signals are often enough. We see it so often in our cases: people who call in sick for a long time, especially if they have burnout-related complaints, have often not been feeling well for a long time. This manifests itself in a variety of symptoms, such as looking less groomed, having a shorter fuse, being less productive, making more mistakes and disengaging from the team. But hidden addiction problems, problems in relationships, poor sleep, experiencing continuous stress and financial problems are also regularly part of the run-up to becoming ill. As an employer, you can notice this even before someone calls in sick. And that makes a lot of sense, because the sooner you are there, the sooner a colleague will be fully and moreover permanently employable again.
‘I do not recognize the national rise in absenteeism so much at Sdu, we have had a low absenteeism rate for years: it fluctuates around 4%. Part of this has to do with maintaining an intensive protocol around absence management. Ultimately, attention is the key word.
Ingrid Gödecke, HR consultant at Sdu, read here the complete article .
This is what a sick employee costs you
As an employer, when you realize that a sick employee costs you between €250 and €400 per day, depending on his or her role in your organization, you should really feel the incentive to work with early warning. Simple arithmetic tells you that if you have a 10% absenteeism rate (which is not unusual in today’s market, especially that of highly educated people) absenteeism costs you enórmuch money as an organization. And we’re not just talking about direct costs but also lost productivity and increased workload among other team members. If this goes on for too long, there is a good chance that they too will drop out for a long or short time. Or they may look for another job in which they do not experience as much stress because of structural team breakdowns. And then the work comes down to even fewer people who then experience more pressure again. Anyway, so the vicious circle quickly comes full circle.
Work to be done
In short, work to do if your absenteeism also remains on the high side. By the way, you don’t have to do it alone. Just calling to discuss a case, without obligation and anonymously if desired, is always allowed. You are welcome, we look forward to your message.
