The 7 common causes of work absenteeism

The work environment of a company greatly affects the motivation of workers and results. However, there are other external influences that can significantly influence the productivity of the team. The company is responsible for controlling these factors and being prepared to react to the unexpected.

Even a single day of absence can cause significant stress for co-workers, management, and of course, the absent employee. However, according to the latest statistics, more than a million people do not go to their post every day in Spain.

Unusual absences are always a complex situation to manage. At times, employees may have more than legitimate reasons for not coming to work, or in some cases they may have somewhat unsubstantiated reasons. It can also be the fault of the company and the working conditions or the lack of incentives. Likewise, we must remember the lack of conciliation that exists in our society.

But... How to know what is the reason and how to respond? In this article we present the most frequent causes of work absenteeism.

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What do we understand by work absenteeism?

Of course, all employees are regularly absent from work, this includes: vacations, maternity or paternity leave, illness or personal reasons. Absenteeism does not refer to these absences, but to those that are not marked on the calendar, whether justified or not.

Absenteeism is defined as the absence, with or without specific reason or prior notice, of an employee. work absenteeism occurs when the worker does not go to his job or leaves without having completed the schedule, and absenteeism can also be considered failure to perform duties. Therefore, it can be understood as the absence of a worker from his job during working hours or the failure to perform his duties.

The following types of work absenteeism are recognized, depending on whether the absence is justified or not:

1. excused absence

In case of excused absence, the employee must notify that he cannot go to his job or fulfill his job duties during his working hours, in the cases that he is teleworking or his employment is remote. A concrete example of an event that could take place during working hours would be a move. According to the Workers' Statute in the Spanish context, “salaried workers have the right to a paid day off for moving”. In this case, a 14-day notice is recommended.

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2. face-to-face absenteeism

This type of work absenteeism is also known as presenteeism. In this case, the employee if he goes to his job, but does not perform the functions that he has assigned. He simply does other things or wastes time on unproductive tasks.

Therefore, presenteeism can be understood as the fact of showing up for work but not performing the required tasks. This situation can be due to many different reasons and it is a mistake to think that it is the product of laziness or a conscious attitude. Thus, frequent reasons for face-to-face absenteeism can be considered: lack of motivation, stress, work overload and lack of organization or effective communication.

3. emotional absenteeism

We talk about emotional absenteeism when the employee goes to his job, is able to perform his tasks, but is not involved. Due to a non-physical cause, usually a lack of motivation, the employee does not perform well and gets poor results.

This type of absenteeism is the most difficult to detect, since the person is physically present at their job, but emotionally they are in another place. Normally, emotional absenteeism occurs when the worker does not identify with the company culture or for some external reason does not have enough motivation.

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4. unexcused absenteeism

We are talking about unjustified absenteeism when the worker does not go to his place of work or does not perform the functions assigned to him within his working hours, without there being a justification or reason that explains such absence.

Absenteeism is a frequent cause of problems in companies for various reasons. First, taking more vacation time than other employees can cause conflict within the team: it can lower morale and frustrate co-workers. It also causes direct economic losses to the company due to lower productivity.

The most frequent causes of work absenteeism

If an employee is absent from his job without prior notice, his duties must be assumed by the other colleagues. This first of all affects the work environment and work dynamics, and, ultimately, decreases the productivity of the company and has a negative impact on the direct results economic.

However, it is wrong to believe that absenteeism is always the employee's fault and attributable to laziness. There are different causes motivated by the company that frequently underlie work absences.

1. Justified causes of work absenteeism by the worker

The main reasons for work absenteeism are related to professional dissatisfaction. This it happens in places where employees do not feel identified with the company culture or are not adequately incentivized.

Thus, there are also justified causes of absenteeism, such as illness; however, they also need to be properly managed by the company so as not to cause more problems than necessary.

Justified causes of absenteeism include illness, family reasons or causes of force majeure.

1.1. medical reasons

There are many medical reasons why workers may be absent from work, including minor illnesses such as colds or asthma. Others may be more serious and chronic conditions such as cancer or diabetes. Also, time to recover from surgery is included as a medical reason.

Reasons also include discomfort and physical injury, which can occur inside and outside the workplace. Suffering back pain is one of the most common causes of work absenteeism.

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1.2. Mental health and work absenteeism

Excessive stress or fatigue They can cause a lack of motivation or difficulty in performing the required tasks. The underlying causes of these health conditions may be work related, due to overload or poor working conditions. Or, alternatively, they can be personal.

1.3. Family reasons and emergencies

Family reasons for absence from work, such as maternity or paternity leave, require advance planning. Unplanned absences due to unexpected events, such as the death of a family member, are more difficult to manage.

However, the presence of good communication between co-workers can help you not suffer so much from unforeseen absences. For example, having frequent meetings where everyone shares their roles and responsibilities is a good strategy.

1.3. Reasons of force majeure

The reasons for force majeure are varied and do not only group natural incidents such as strong storms, also a breakdown in public transport, traffic accidents are considered causes of force majeure.

2. Causes of work absenteeism motivated by the company

Increasingly, companies prioritize developing and establishing incentives to attract and retain talent as part of their business strategy. They attend to criteria such as satisfaction, growth and recognition in the workplace. This change in focus places the company as the first person responsible for the performance of its employees, this also includes absenteeism.

Employees who don't know your company culture don't know how to grow and develop. This results in them not reaching their full potential and not feeling motivated, which can lead to absenteeism at work. In addition, the lack of knowledge of the company culture, the poor working conditions, the lack of monitoring of growth and the general poor organization… they can also cause a person to be absent from their job more frequently.

He mobbing It's a major problem, not just in schools. Bullied or harassed employees may feel too uncomfortable to come to work. Just as bullied children may not attend school, this is one of the reasons for absenteeism from work. Harassment is a sign that something more serious is going on and the company needs to address the root of the problem.

By encouraging employees to report harassment and establishing an open door policy, hidden problems in the work environment can be identified. In addition, it is advisable to participate in the work environment instead of locking yourself in an office. In this way, you can identify any potential problems that other co-workers may be experiencing.

2.1. Lack of compromise

Compromise is necessary to achieve a win-win result. Employees who do not feel engaged in their work often present reasons for not showing up for work.. The disconnection can be caused by several different issues; including disrespect from management, unfair treatment, lack of feedback or perceived lack of flexibility and freedom.

Tools that recognize and empower employees can solve many engagement issues that arise from putting the wrong people in the wrong jobs.

2.2. Lack of sources of motivation

Good employee morale and motivation is essential in any workplace. Any company where conflict prevails is not a place where people want to work. Give employees the freedom to make decisions, and show them respect and appreciation it is crucial to maintaining a healthy work environment.

By discussing ideas on how to improve team motivation with employees, new work standards can be discovered. This can lead to implementing new ideas, such as casual days at work or even paid training.

23. Little capacity to promote conciliation

Unfortunately, as a society we are far from facilitating conciliation. Employees who are caring for children or the elderly may have difficulty getting to work. They may also experience difficulties communicating with Human Resources when they need to take time off to care for their loved ones.

It is essential to help these workers by establishing flexible work hours, or making it easier to work from home. Another effective measure is to implement a system that makes it easy to communicate schedules to Human Resources and everyone else involved.

2.4. lack of flexibility

If employees don't have flexibility, they may rebel against their schedules by taking longer breaks than allowed or being late on purpose. According to some research, the implementation of flexible hours can drastically reduce absenteeism numbers.

Conclusion

Human capital is one of the main competitive advantages with which a company can count; however, it requires constant care. As we have seen, focusing on people, their motivations and needs leads to a reduction in absenteeism.

Absenteeism costs companies time and money. Identifying the reasons why workers are absent from their jobs can help create a healthier work environment and happier employees.