Absenteeism

Absenteeism refers to the habitual failure to attend for work or other regular duty. It has been viewed as
an indicator of rich individual performance, as well as a breach of an implicit contract between an
employee and the employer. It was used to be seen as a management problem and was framed in
economic or quasi-economic terms. More recent research seeks to recognize absenteeism as an indicator
of psychological, medical or social adjustment to work.

Whereas, turnover is the word used to describe the rate at which an employer gains or loses its
employees. Turnover can be measured for an individual company or an industry as a whole. If an
employer is said to have a higher turnover than its competitors, it may mean that the employees of that
company might be having a shorter average tenure than other companies in the same industry. High
employee turnover may have negative effects like loss of productivity, low morale, strained
communications between management and the employee, or due to the increased costs of hiring and
training new employees.

a) The causes of absenteeism and high turnover can be due to:

1. Poor working environment the employees may not feel comfortable to work in an
environment where there is bad lighting, limited office space, noise, no ventilation,
etc. A poor working environment can lower their morale level thus leading to
absenteeism.

2. Poor pay If the salary or the wage paid to an employee is not adequate according to
his position in the company, the changes in the economy (e.g. Inflation) or according
to the amount of work he/she might be doing, etc then it might lead to a discontented
workforce and causing high employee turnover or absenteeism.


3. Stress It can take a toll on the employees when they are over burdened with work.
The pressure of completing the work within tight deadlines can result in increased
levels of stress. The employees then resort to excuses that can help them stay away
from work.

4. Work Routine - When an employee has to do the same job every day over again and
again, it can get monotonous. The employees might start finding the job functions
boring. They would rather choose time off to do something interesting than come to
work.

5. Transport problems If the employees are facing transport problems to go the firm
everyday and/or to get back to their home. It might lead them to choose the option of
not going instead of facing the problem.

6. Poor supervision when there is no one to look over the employees, they might start
taking advantage of the situation and might choose the option of spending more free
time at home rather than coming to work at the office.

7. Personal problems some employees may be facing personal problems like marital or
family problems, financial problems, health problems, child care problems especially
women who might consider their kids the first priority and might not think twice
before taking a leave or skipping work, etc.

8. Lack of job satisfaction When the employees do not find their job challenging,
interesting or motivating then job dissatisfaction creeps in. It then leads to more
absenteeism in the workplace.

9. Poor working conditions the employees may feel de-motivated to work in a firm
with long working hours, no holidays or breaks, no health and safety precautions etc. It
might then therefore lead to higher turnover and absenteeism.

10. No Appraisal system The employees may not feel motivated or contended when they
know that there is no appraisal system, they might develop an attitude of 'why to work
hard for nothing', this may also cause them to think to better to stay at home and rest
rather than to work at the office as they might not feel the part of the organization