An employer’s guide to tackling and preventing employee absenteeism
Insights.
As an employer, bringing the right people into your business can have a profound impact on your company culture, productivity and bottom line. While the recruitment process is important, it’s equally valuable to consider what you’re doing to retain new hires and ensure they’re able to bring their best selves to work every day.
Unfortunately, high workload demands, poor support and challenging workplace relationships can cause team members to become stressed, dissatisfied and disengaged. If less unaddressed for long periods of time, these psychosocial risks can cause a rise in employee absenteeism.
The causes of employee absenteeism are multifaceted and complex. However, employers have a powerful role to play in cultivating positive workplace cultures and providing the right support to proactively address and prevent absenteeism at work. And when it comes to fostering high-performing teams, preventing employee absenteeism is essential.
What causes employee absenteeism?
Employee absenteeism occurs when a staff member continually misses work without seeking prior approval. And while all employees are entitled to take approved time off, regularly calling in sick or failing to show up for work can be signs that your team is being impacted by employee absenteeism.
What distinguishes employee absenteeism from the occasional sick day is the frequency of non-attendance. Chronic non-shows and excessive unexplained absences from work are not only bad for business, but indicate an employee might be struggling in their personal or professional life.
There is no single cause for employee absenteeism. In fact, absenteeism is typically caused by multiple factors that can include:
- Mental health challenges: Studies have found that poor mental health (such as navigating conditions like anxiety and depression) is directly linked with a loss of productivity at work as well as a rise in employee absenteeism.
- Caring responsibilities (children or elders): Working parents may miss work due to unexpected caring responsibilities, such as an unwell child being unable to go to school. Plus, workers caring for elders or ageing parents may be impacted by the poor health of older loved ones, increasing their likelihood of absenteeism.
- Medical or physical health issues, such as injury and illness: An employee’s physical health has a direct impact on their ability to perform at work. If staff aren’t able to access timely, affordable medical care, health issues may go unaddressed—potentially leading to an increased risk of absenteeism.
- Psychosocial hazards at work: Exposure to situations that can increase work-related stress can have a significant impact on staff’s mental and physical health, increase the risk of burnout, and even lower their attendance rates. Common psychosocial risks at work can include:
- High and low job demands
- Low job control
- Poor support
- Poor workplace relationships (such as bullying)
- Low role clarity
- Poor organisational change management
- Low reward and recognition
- Poor organisational justice
- Poor environmental conditions
- Remote and isolated work
- Violence or traumatic events
The impact of absenteeism on your organisation
As an employer, letting absenteeism go unaddressed in your company can have a negative impact on your productivity, company culture and profitability.
At a macro level, the 2019 Absence Management and Wellbeing Survey found that absenteeism costs the Australian economy $35+ billion annually in wages and lost productivity. In Australian companies, absenteeism costs, on average, $3,500 per employee per annum, according to data from Direct Health Solutions.
Other research suggests that total productivity losses from absenteeism can range between 1.4 to 2.8 times the value of the impacted worker’s wage. Plus, absenteeism has been shown to put additional pressure on other employees, potentially increasing their workloads and broadening the risk of burnout.
While absenteeism can occur in any business, customer-facing roles tend to face unique challenges, particularly when it comes to the high prevalence of customer aggression.
Three-quarters of employees in customer-facing roles experience customer aggression, according to our recent Customer Aggression report. The survey also found that 29% of those workers didn’t receive any support from their employer and that people in customer-facing roles are more likely to take unplanned days off, indicating the toll this takes on the individual and the ripple effect on businesses.
Five practical strategies for preventing and reducing absenteeism in the workplace
While the impacts of employee absenteeism are clear, the path to solving this problem might seem complex and confusing. But with these five practical strategies, you can not only reduce absenteeism in the workplace but prevent it from occurring in the first place.
1. Understand the root causes of absenteeism
The most effective way to address absenteeism is to understand the causes that are driving employees to skip work on a regular basis.
Research tells us that almost half (49%) of Australian and New Zealand employees are experiencing feelings of ‘burnout or exhaustion’ according to our recent Battling Burnout Report. The same report found that burnout is often accompanied by other health and wellbeing concerns, from financial stress to sleep troubles and feelings of isolation.
The challenge here is that the causes of absenteeism are unique to each individual and often, multiple compounding factors are at play. That’s why high-performing organisations lean on digital care platforms that offer live dashboards and real-time health and wellbeing trends data that identify the unique needs of team members.
From there, the best care platforms will empower people leaders and managers to offer tailored resources that proactively address their unique concerns.
2. Help employees build healthy daily habits
While wellbeing support alone isn’t going to solve workplace absenteeism, it can be a powerful piece in a large puzzle towards creating happier, healthier teams.
In some cases, absenteeism results from poor employee health and wellbeing. But, if staff are given the resources and support to foster healthy habits, and encourage self-help behaviour, they’ll be in the best position to avoid the need to take unplanned time away from work.
For example, Sonder’s Wellbeing Library is packed with self-serve digital resources to help team members prioritise wellbeing throughout their everyday lives. These early intervention tools are discreet and on-demand, aligned with key health and wellbeing concerns staff might be facing. From guided meditations for better sleep to strategies for coping with stress, it’s important to empower team members with the support and guidance they need to stay well.
“I had a great experience with Sonder last night. I was struggling to get to sleep and was feeling some anxiety, so I jumped onto the Sonder app and went to the wellbeing tile. I found lots of resources around struggling to get to sleep, articles, videos, meditations etc. One article I read provided a list of podcasts to listen to if you can't sleep!”
Sonder member
3. Offer support tailored to each employee’s needs
Every employee’s needs are unique, meaning the support they’re offered should be personalised to their specific concerns.
Managers should be supported to have open and honest conversations with their direct reports about their health and wellbeing. However, research shows only 50% of managers agree that their employer has provided sufficient support and training to effectively support their team’s wellbeing.
A positive first step is for employers to provide access to digital care resources, ready for managers to share with their teams. Sonder’s Resource Library allows managers to refer employees to articles and assessments that empower individuals to take care of their own wellbeing.
There’s also an entire leadership section, with expert advice on topics such as ‘how to have conversations about mental health at work’ and ‘how to build resilient teams’. Managers can also call Sonder’s support centre for advice, before having challenging conversations with their employees.
4. Simplify the process of accessing health and medical support
Poor physical health is another key risk factor contributing to absenteeism. Importantly, absenteeism can result from staff members dealing with ill health among their immediate family members, such as partners or children.
If an employee is up all night with a sick child, for example, chances are they’ll be unable to perform at their best the next day at work—and may not be able to attend work at all. Plus, long wait lists at the local GP and high gap payments can be further barriers to accessing care.
Instead, employers can play a helpful role in improving accessibility to medical care. With access to preventative care platforms like Sonder, staff can speak with healthcare professionals 24/7 and receive tailored medical advice and support when they need it.
Crucially, this support is extended to immediate family members, meaning parents can gain reassurance and peace of mind if a partner or child becomes sick and needs medical attention late at night or on weekends.
5. Offer real-time safety resources and tools
An employee’s physical work environment can have a direct impact on their engagement, productivity levels and even their attendance rates.
The safer your staff feel, the more likely they will show up and perform at their best. That’s why it’s important to ensure team members have access to safety tools to help them avoid unsafe situations, both during and after business hours.
“It’s hard to perform at your best if you have concerns about your safety at work or at home.”
Craig Cowdrey, CEO and Co-Founder of Sonder
In practical terms, it’s important to provide access to digital safety tools that keep your people safe, such as:
- Sonder’s ‘Track my journey’ feature allows staff to share their location with our team so we can keep an eye on their progress and make sure they make it to their destination.
- Sonder’s ‘Check on me’ feature, giving team members peace of mind when they’re meeting someone new, travelling somewhere far or are out late at night.
While safety tools or wellbeing support alone aren’t a silver bullet to tackling absenteeism, rolling out access to digital care platforms like Sonder can play a positive role in improving staff engagement, productivity and team-wide morale.
Meet Sonder’s preventative care platform
Sonder is a technology company that helps organisations improve the wellbeing of their people so they perform at their best. Our mobile app provides immediate, 24/7 support from a team of safety, medical, and mental health professionals - plus onsite help for time-sensitive scenarios. Accredited by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), our platform gives leaders the insights they need to act on tomorrow's wellbeing challenges today.
Since July 2022 Best & Less, one of Australia’s biggest retailers, has been able to drop employee attrition from 25% to 19%, saw a 24% improvement in employee retention rate and a 30% drop in absenteeism. Read the case study here.
“Sonder has helped me navigate my personal life in so many ways which has meant that my work hasn't been affected at all. I haven't needed to take time off and I haven't brought my negative emotions into the workplace. The chat has also helped me vent when I've needed it, instead of putting that pressure on a colleague. Sonder has meant that I bring my best self to work.”
Sonder Member
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About Sonder
Sonder is a technology company that helps organisations improve the wellbeing of their people so they perform at their best. Our mobile app provides immediate, 24/7 support from a team of safety, medical, and mental health professionals - plus onsite help for time-sensitive scenarios. Sonder clinicians hold certifications across the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. This puts us alongside leading hospitals and healthcare institutions around the world.
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