Employers spend about 36 percent of their base payroll on employee absences. Direct costs include wages and benefits paid to the employee during the absence, overtime paid to other employees, and temporary staffing.

Employees have the statutory right to be absent from work for a number of reasons including illness, injury, civic duty, and family obligations. Even though their absence often presents a challenge to the employer, they are usually not begrudged for needing to take time off. It’s the employees who call in sick when they are not sick that present a problem.

In the Harris Interactive survey “Working in America: Absent Workforce,” nearly 40 percent of the respondents said they called in sick last year for reasons other than being sick, such as taking a mental health day or running personal errands. Nine percent said they called in sick because they were too tired from staying up late watching a sporting event, awards show, or presidential election.

Culpable absenteeism is the term used for when employees are absent without authorization for reasons that are within their control. These unplanned employee absences cost about 9 percent of the employer’s base payroll. However, because productivity, morale of the co-workers who have to cover for employees playing hooky, and customer service suffers as a result of unplanned absences, the indirect costs often exceed the direct costs.

Besides illness, injury, and obligations, why don’t employees show up for work? According to the article “Introduction to Attendance Management,” it’s because of:
• Low morale
• Poor working conditions
• Boredom on the job
• Lack of job satisfaction
• Inadequate leadership and poor supervision
• Stress
• Excessive workload
• Discontent

It’s tempting as an employer to discipline employees who misuse sick leave. However, it’s difficult to prove that employees have called in sick when they’re not, and research has shown that traditional methods of absenteeism control that focus on disciplinary actions are ineffective.

Employers should know that employees do show up for work when:
• They identify with the goals of the organization and care what happens to it.
• They find their jobs meaningful.
• They like working for the organization.
• They feel free to discuss their on-the-job problems with their immediate supervisor.
• They feel confident and have supportive relationships at work.

Then employers can do the following:
• Create an attendance policy that clearly communicates the expectation of attendance.
• Monitor attendance and talk to employees about the purpose of sick leave and the impact their absence has on the organization and their co-workers.
• Provide supervisory training. Management styles that are too authoritarian tend to promote high levels of absenteeism.
• Provide conflict resolution and teambuilding training for all employees. Employees frequently say they do not go to work because they are angry with other employees.
• Provide personal time off (PTO) instead of vacation and sick leave, which gives employees a set amount of days off to be used at their discretion.
• Provide incentives such as cashing in unused sick leave and rewards for perfect attendance.
• Provide flexibility if possible, such as working from home.

Employees who are committed to the company show up for work. Employers who foster that commitment end up paying people to work instead of paying them to stay home.