Employee Engagement to Reduce Absenteeism - An Essay

This essay discusses the increasing absenteeism due to the decline of employee motivation and engagement and how employee engagement programs can be a solution for reducing absenteeism and increasing motivation of the employees. It critically evaluates and analyses the approaches taken by organisations to reduce absenteeism. It focuses on demonstrating the use of employee engagement programs and their impact on employee motivation & engagement to reduce absenteeism.

Essay - Employee
Engagement to
Reduce Absenteeism

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
The increasing absenteeism due to the decline of employee motivation and engagement is
posing a great threat for the businesses. Various statistics from the World Economic Forum has
shown the increase of absenteeism from 8.8 in 2014 to 10.5 in 2020. Employee engagement
programs can be a solution for reducing absenteeism and increasing motivation of the employees
(Clack, 2020). The following report will critically evaluate and analyse the approaches taken by
organisations to reduce absenteeism. It will focus on demonstrating the use of employee
engagement programs and their impact on employee motivation & engagement to reduce
absenteeism.
MAIN BODY
Absenteeism can be explained as the unscheduled absence of an employee for a long
duration from their job without prior notice. In simple words it can be explained as the habitual
non presence of the workers from their workplace without a proper cause of office leaves such as
family emergency, occasional illness and scheduled vacations. One of the causes of employee
absenteeism may be the decline of employee engagement at the workplace that leads to
dissatisfaction and unwillingness among them to work effectively. Employee engagement can
be explained as the level of motivation, dedication and enthusiasm an employee shows to take
part in the activities at the workplace. Employee engagement is very necessary for achieving the
organisational goals by raising employee morale, motivation, job satisfaction etc. (Neuber and et.
al., 2022). Employee engagement is affected by many intrinsic and extrinsic factors of
motivation that are important for providing physiological, moral, psychological, social
satisfaction to the workers. Intrinsic motivation can be explained as the fulfilment of internal
desires of an individual and extensive motivation factors can be explained as the external
influence to satisfy an individual's desires. Understanding extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
factors could help to improve employee engagement within an organisation and lower down their
absenteeism from work.
Absenteeism refers to the absence of an individual from the work for lengthened duration
that is beyond the considerable reason and customary due to occasional medical cause, personal
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leaves, or vacations. There are many reasons for absenteeism, some of which are job
dissatisfaction, injury or illness, employee disengagement, psychological illness, employee
harassment, high workload, etc. Job dissatisfaction is one of the main causes for increasing
absence of employees due to the lack of proper fulfilment of desires from their job. Illness and
injuries are another cause that disables the employee to be present at the job. Employee
disappointment from their job causes this engagement that creates a lack of motivation to work
effectively (Christianson, 2018). Psychological causes like depression, anxiety, stress and
pressure are the major causes of psychological ill health of the employees according to the data
from National institute of mental health. Some other causes of employee absenteeism on the job
may be harassment or burnout among the employees who are working under high stress. It has a
direct impact on the overall productivity, revenues and profits of the organisation. Due to the
absenteeism of employees various impacts can be observed like the quality of work declines,
management issues arise, deadlines are missed, low morale of present employees, increase in
cost of operations etc. These impacts lead to the decline in the profitability, productivity and
performance of the organisation.
Employee engagement can be explained as the level of desire, willingness, dedication,
motivation and enthusiasm of the employee to work at the workplace (Karatepe and et. al.,
2020). Employee engagement is very crucial for achieving the organisational goals successfully,
along with this it improves job satisfaction, employee motivation and morale to work towards the
achievement of group goals. The purpose behind using employee engagement is to display the
commitment of the organisation towards their values and ethics. Employee engagement is helpful
for the organisation to develop a committed, passionate, motivated and dedicated workforce that
contributes highly towards the growth of the organisation. It leads to higher employee
productivity, employee retention, reduction in absenteeism, decrease employee burnout, positive
psychological health and higher profitability of the business (Ozturk and Karatepe, 2019).
According to Forbes, a highly engaged workforce shows approximately 20-40% higher
productivity, decline in absenteeism, better psychological health, 50-70% less chances of
employee burnout etc. which leads to higher organisational performance and growth. The
employee engagement moreover creates higher employee motivation and encourages taking
active part in the activities of the business for achieving greater chances of growth. Employee
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engagement may not be a solution to all the problems of the organisation but it helps to improve
the employees experience to certain levels which could enhance overall organisational
productivity & profitability.
There are certain reasons that may lower down the efficiency of employee engagement
practices to reduce employee absenteeism (King,, Gontarz and Wei, 2020). According to the
Forbes Economics, the employee engagement may be somehow positive for the organisation but
the majority of employees may still be disengaged at the workplace. The high absenteeism of
employees may be due to several aspects that consist of improper job satisfaction, poor
communication, inadequate management, lack of employee recognition, and so on. Dis
engagement of employees at the workplace may be one of the reasons for absenteeism that
causes the decline in company's productivity and profits. Lack of proper work culture, lower
motivation, inadequate incentives, low chances of growth and many other problems causes
absenteeism that may not be curbed by employee engagement practices. Therefore, an
organisation requires many other aspects along with employee engagement strategies and
employee motivation to decline absenteeism at the workplace and enhance organisational profits.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that employee engagement can be helpful to
improve motivation, dedication, morale and enthusiasm of the employees to reduce absenteeism
at the workplace. A critical understanding of absenteeism, employee motivation and employee
engagement has been given in the report. Moreover, various reasons for absenteeism have been
discussed in the report, along with its impacts on the organisation. Furthermore, the advantages,
importance and value of using employee engagement practices within the organisation have also
been discussed. In this context, an evaluation of the employee engagement activities on lowering
down absenteeism has also been provided. Finally, certain aspects have been discussed that
shows the incapability of employee engagement to reduce absenteeism.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Clack, L., 2020. Employee engagement: keys to organizational success. The Palgrave Handbook
of Workplace Well-Being, pp.1-28.
Neuber, L. and et. al., 2022. How work engagement relates to performance and absenteeism: a
meta-analysis. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 31(2), pp.292-
315.
Christianson, L.K., 2018. Defining a Model to Reduce and Prevent Absenteeism in the
Workplace (Doctoral dissertation, The College of St. Scholastica).
Ozturk, A. and Karatepe, O.M., 2019. Frontline hotel employees’ psychological capital, trust in
organization, and their effects on nonattendance intentions, absenteeism, and creative
performance. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 28(2), pp.217-239.
King, A.T., Gontarz, J. and Wei, H., 2020, July. Employee engagement and absenteeism: a step
towards improving patient care. In Nursing Forum (Vol. 55, No. 3, pp. 356-361).
Karatepe, O.M. and et. al., 2020. Job insecurity, work engagement and their effects on hotel
employees’ non-green and nonattendance behaviors. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 87, p.102472.
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