Absenteeism Facts

Paid absences are not universal

22% of FT and 74% of PT U.S. employees do not

receive paid sick leave (2015). ~50% of small businesses

Iowa: 33% of FT and 81% of PT employees have no
paid sick leave

However, new state & city laws suggest change

Firms > 50, CT, DC and CA require 5-6 paid sick
days.
Cities mandating: San Francisco, Seattle, Portland,
New York City

Absenteeism Facts
Financial cost estimates are highly variable as
paid leave costs can entail vacation
Absenteeism costs range from 1% of payroll (U.S.
Dept. of Labor, 2015) to 15% (Kuzmits & Adams
2009). Health care higher due to higher absences.

Can necessitate temporary or surplus employees,

affect customer service
Shareholders/Boards of Directors expect control

Absenteeism Issues
What is excessive? Multiple metrics:
Number of sick days used
- Dept. of Labor: Mean is 8 days
- Iowa data suggests people use half
Changes in absence rates (Hours absent as a
percent of hours usually worked)
Range: 1.9% in 2003 to 3.1% in 2008; 2.9% 2014
Tends to be lower in bad economic times, higher in good
times; higher in public sector (4%) than in private
sector (3%). > 3% usually viewed as excessive

ABSENTEEISM COSTS
(lower level employee)
1. Salary

($13.49/hour)

$107.86

2. Benefits

30.42

3. Replacement employee
(cross-training, temp help, supervision,
overtime)
4. Unabsorbed burden
(unused equipment, rent, light, in-efficient
use of materials)
5. Loss profit contribution (value added)

11.08
73.30
88.51
$311.16

Focus: Managing Voluntary Absenteeism

Determining what % of
absence is voluntary
(avoidable/motivational)
and what is non-voluntary
(due to inability) is tricky
Experts believe ~40% is
voluntary and ~ 60% is
non-voluntary*
40% may be the max
managers can affect (a
restriction in range)
Managers disagree as to
what is a valid excuse
*Navarro & Bass (2006) report 35% of absence due to personal illness, 21% family issues

Summarizing: What is an Excused Absence?

May be contingent on empowerment (discretion) of
supervisors
Absence policies remain ambiguous
a. Personal/dependent illness
b. Gray areas: relative illness, business affairs,
lack of transportation, domestic maintenance
c. Truly discretionary: take a day off, wedding,
special event

Summarizing: Separating Voluntary &

Nonvoluntary Absence
Explains popularity of PTO (Paid Time Off) and no
fault absence policies. SHRM: 33% of firms in
1997, 51% of firms in 2012
2014 norms: 29% private industry workers covered
by consolidated leave plans. Average 23 days/year
after 10 years of service
Recordkeeping time frames dependent on magnitude
of the problem (from no tracking to yearly, to
quarterly, to monthly)

Absenteeism Measures
S
1
8
15
22

February
M T W TH F
2 3 4 5 6
9 10 11 12 13
16 17 18 19 20
23 24 25 26 27

S
7
14
21
28

1. Frequency Measure: total # of times/period absent ( 4)

2. Severity Measure:
March
1
8
15
22
29

2
9
16
23
30

3
10
17
24
31

4
11
18
25

5
12
19
26

6
13
20
27

7
14
21
28

April
1 2 3
5 6 7 8 9 10
12 13 14 15 16 17
19 20 21 22 23 24
26 27 28 29 30

4
11
18
25

total # of days/period
(most common)

3. Attitudinal Measure: Frequency of 1 day absences

( 7)

(2)

4. Medical Measure:

Frequency of > 3 day absences (1)

5. Worst Day:

# people absent on any given

day (e.g., Monday)

Model of Employee Absenteeism

3. Personal Characteristics
-Education
-Sex/Family
-Org. tenure
responsibility
-Age (also depends
-Family size
on sex)
-Personality

2. Recruitment + Selection
Job expectations about
Attendance
1. Job Situation
-Job autonomy
-Job level
-Work group size
-Role Stress
-Considerate
leadership style
-Coworker
relationships
-Scheduling
(flexible, rotating)

4. Job Attitudes
-Job satisfaction
-Organ.commitment
-Job involvement

7. Ability to Attend
-Health (Depression, pain
cardio fitness, smoking,
drug use)
-Illness & accidents
-Family responsibilities
-Transportation problems
-Travel distance
6. Attendance
Motivation
5. Pressures to Attend
-Economic/market conditions
-Human Resource Practices
(incentives, control policies)
-Work group norms/culture
-Profit sharing/employee
share ownership

8.Employee
Absenteeism
(Attendance)

Review of Absenteeism Model

Box 8: Employee Absenteeism or Attendance
Box 1: Job Situation
Job autonomy Absenteeism
Box 2: Recruitment and Selection
Box 3: Personal Characteristics
Box 4: Job Attitudes
Box 5: Pressures to Attend (next slide)

Personal Characteristics (Box 3)

Education: No consistent pattern.
Org tenure: Tenure Absenteeism
Age: Younger more short term; older more long term.
Age/sex: Men: Age Absenteeism
Women: No relationship
Family responsibility: Parental status and elder care
issues (by 2020 1 in 3 will have the latter; boxes 3 & 7)
Family Size: Size Absenteeism

Personality
(Box 3)
Conscientiousness

Absenteeism

Extroversion Absenteeism
Anxiety/depression Absenteeism

Human Resource Practices for Managing

Absenteeism (Box 5)
Review incentive
systems like lotteries
(nurse example)
Be willing to modify
practices over time
Determine whether
cost/benefit of incentives
are consistent with
organizational culture

Human Resource Practices for Managing

Absenteeism (Box 5 continued)
Work group norms and
culture
Profit sharing; employee
ownership

Family Responsibilities: Examples of Costs

Associated with Eldercare
Absenteeism
Workday interruptions
Going part-time
Eldercare crisis
Supervisor time
Taking unpaid leave
Replacing the 9% of workers who quit

Solutions: subsidizing in-home care for

employees dependent, referral services to
caregivers and nursing homes, providing
extended leaves of absence.
Be employee need specific: Japanese heartache leave

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INCREASED

UNDERSTANDING OF ABSENTEEISM
1. Use standardized measures and time frames
2. Study attendance
3. Study white collar absenteeism
4. Examine how other HR practices affect absenteeism
(next 2 slides)
5. Encourage health
6. Engage in more creative thought

Effects of Various Human Resource Practices on

Reducing Absenteeism
Method

# of Studies

Effect

High

10

High

Well Pay (unused sick leave)

Flextime
Compressed work schedules

Medium

12

Medium

Recognition

Medium

Wellness programs

Low

Other financial incentives (bonus)

Low

Games

Low

Profit sharing/employee ownership

Medium

Team/group reward systems

??

???

PTOs, time-off banks

??

???

Discipline

Effects of Various Human Resource Practices on

Reducing Absenteeism: HR Professionals
Method

% of Companies Effectiveness
using in

2007
(1-5 very effective)
Well Pay (Buy back unused sick leave)

53

3.4

Verification of illness

74

3.2

No-fault

59

2.9

Disciplinary action

89

3.4

Personal recognition

57

2.6

Part of yearly performance review

82

2.9

Bonus

51

3.3

Paid-leave banks (PTO) *

60

3.6

Adapted from CCH, www,cch.coom/preess/news/2007

*PTO may not decrease absenteeism, just make it more planned.

PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR

REDUCING ABSENTEEISM
1. Increase job satisfaction/autonomy via
a. Job redesign c. Decreased stress
b. Supervision d. Flexible schedules
2. Use motivation strategies more frequently and creatively
a. Operant conditioning
b. Goal setting
3. Use work group dynamics
a. Small groups
b. Promote attendance norm; tie to rewards?

Readings

Navarro & Bass

Kuzmits & Adams
Johns
Judge et al.

Readings
What were your take-aways from
Navarro & Bass?

Kuzmits & Adams (2009)

What were the key parts of a no-fault
absence system?
Summarize the study setting and research
design
What were the major findings?
How generalizable are these results?

Johns Article
Employees & managers estimate absenteeism
inaccurately. Why?
Under-reporting tendency noted in 9
hypotheses, suggesting bias extends to group
level
What was the sample and attendance policy?
Review Table 1 to understand why there are
two sets of data and Hyp. 4

Johns Article
What did the partial replication show?
Implications: People under-report absenteeism
extensively. Are they deliberately lying? How
can the under-reporting tendency be addressed?
Is self-serving bias evident in non-western
societies?
Though no actual absence data, yes. Stronger
at group level among Chinese managers

Mean
Days
Absent

Results: Hyp. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 & 8 and Partial Replication

8.83

School Teachers

8.36

7.47

7.31

6.21
6
H1
5

H6

Utility Employees

5.91
H7

H3
H2

3.65
3.22

H8 (ns)
Utility Managers

3.31

2
1
Occupational Norm

Group
Self
Estimates
Report
Absence Measure

Actual
Absence

Judge et al. (1997)

Relates Big Five to absenteeism. Move
beyond situational causes of absenteeism to
dispositional one which might be usable at the
time of selection
How is each trait hypothesized to be related to
absence behavior?
What does Hyp. #4, stating that absence
history will mediate the relationship between
personality and absence mean?

Research Model: Judge et al. 1997

Personality
Traits

Absence
Proneness

Absenteeism

T1

Mediator
T2

T3

Judge et al. (1997)

What was the sample and response rate?
How were personality, absence proneness, and
absence behavior measured?
Were Hypotheses 1-3 supported? Table 2
Was Hypothesis #4 supported? Table 3
In what ways, if any, could you use this
information in the selection process?