What influences levels of absenteeism, motivation & staff engagement?

In my last posting we looked at employee motivation factors. In this post we will look in more detail at the types of things that can impact on staff absenteeism as these clearly also influence motivation & staff engagement.

External influences - These would include home, family and carer commitments

Lifestyle issues - is there something in a persons life outside work that impacts? This could be things such as; alcohol consumption, drugs or sports.

Long term illness - is there any intervention that employers can take in conjunction with a staff member to help reduce a long term conditions impact?

The level of organisational sick pay - Does a generous sick pay structure encourage absenteeism or does it mean an employee feels valued and is more likely to return to work. When I teach attendance management a point that is often raised is if people are allowed or not penalised when they are off sick they get better and return to work in the right frame of mind. Whereas, an employee who looses pay and or benefits when off ill may come into work, perform poorly and 'infect' everyone else.

What type of work do they perform? - challenging rewarding jobs may show less absenteeism than, boring, repetitive ones. So, the role of delegation, coaching & mentoring would play a role in influencing here.

Work volume & di (stress) - if people feel swamped with work which is never ending and 'out of control' this need recognising and controlling. Time management, perform review and feedback are clearly crucial, as is an open leadership in which staff feel free to voice their concerns before a 'tipping point' is reached. You will note I have called this distress rather than stress which is present in most roles.

How big is your organisation & individual teams - in larger more anonymous organisations and teams staff may feel that their absence won't be noticed or won't impact on the rest of the organisation.
by showing staff that they are valued and given positive feedback this highlights the importance of everyones roles and contribution to the larger organisational picture.

Culture - You can t seem to read any leadership or management article or book without the idea of organisational culture being brought up. But here I think it is valid. If there is a culture of everyone doing off sick 'at the drop of a hat' or conversely everyone knowing and recognising their role and its importance than this will clearly play a role. The part played of organisational norms is huge when it comes to employee engagement, motivation and attendance.

For more details on our attendance management course please click here

Attendance Management Course

Attendance Management - 1 Day in-house Course 

• This course briefly comprises:
• What is absence from work?
• Types of absence 
• Classifying absence 
• Common misconceptions 
• Factors that influence absence 
• The role of motivation and employee engagement 
• Why keep records?
• Return to work  
• Approaches to controlling absence 
• Action Plan 

This can run with input from your HR and Occupational Health teams and can be tailored to include your policies, procedures and protocols for employee absence, making it truly bespoke. 

For more information please contact us through our website at www.dragontoothtraining.org.uk