Effective Absence Management Methods in Retail Sector

This document discusses the effective absence management methods in the retail sector. It explores the use of triggering system, flexible working hours, and training for managers to reduce absenteeism rate. The document also provides a case study on the retail industry to understand the impact of these methods on employee productivity and overall performance.

Using information in HR
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ABSTRACT
There are various issues arise in an organisation and for this, managers adopt different
methods and strategies. One of the issue is increase in absenteeism rate of employees that
directly affect the overall performance of company. It is essential for an entity to emphasise on
declining this rate in order to gain growth and success. The mangers use various absence
management methods in order to solve this issue such as Triggering system, flexible working
hour and so on. Along with this, it is essential for an organisation to give training to mangers,
which help them to maintain good relationship with employees and retain them for longer time
frame.
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Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................2
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................3
TITLE:.............................................................................................................................................4
1.0 Introduction to reserach.............................................................................................................4
1.1 Aim and objectives...........................................................................................................4
OBJECTIVES:.................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Key stakeholders..............................................................................................................5
2.0 Literature Review.......................................................................................................................5
Identify & review current AMM in the retail sector..............................................................6
Review after period of 6 months & include senior management...........................................7
3.0 Critique of the literature review.................................................................................................7
3.1 Justification of the research selected................................................................................9
3.2 Advantage and disadvantage of research selected..........................................................10
3.3 How could it be applied to businesses............................................................................10
4.0 Presentation of the findings.....................................................................................................10
Key stakeholders..................................................................................................................10
4.1 Line graphs.....................................................................................................................11
4.2 Bar charts........................................................................................................................11
5.0 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................12
5.1 RECOMMENDATION..................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
Appendix 1...........................................................................................................................16
Appendix 2...........................................................................................................................19
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TITLE:
“An investigation of the effective Absence Management methods within the Retail sector” case
study on Retail industry.
1.0 Introduction to reserach
The macro environment of every business organization consist of lot of factors that lead to
affecting their internal functioning and the way functions are being managed by various leaders
and top authorities of the organization. There are lots of recent changes that are taking place in
the retail sector because of the external environmental factors. Present report is based on Retail
Industry that is going through lot of changes in the present scenario because of many economical
and technological factors that are taking place across globe. The present report is based on the
issues that are faced by Human Resource Department of such retail organizations as there have
been various methods that are absent in such retail organization. There is use of literature review
for developing and understanding of the basic reason for these issues and issues can be dealt in a
more effective manner. A review of various actions management methods that are part of the
retail sector and there are dynamic ways in which such absence management can be used in the
retail sector. There has been a critique that is developed in which there are three basic methods
that are selected and suggested for management of absence in organizations. Three solutions are
triggering system, return to work interview and further training the managers. These three are
some of the effective methods that can help in effectively utilizing the capabilities of a
organizations workforce so that they can manage the issue of absence in a more appropriate
manner.
1.1 Aim and objectives
AIM: The aim of this review to suggest new ways in which absence can be managed more
effectively amongst the client advisors team
OBJECTIVES:
1. Review the absence management methods
2. Identify & review current AMM in the retail sector
3. Propose new and dynamic ways in which AMM can be applied and implemented on
retail sector
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4. Review after period of 6 months & include senior management
1.2 Key stakeholders
Stakeholders Level of interest Reason for interest
Line managers Medium The line managers take
interest as there is need to
decline absent percentage or
rate of the organisation.
Customers Low Effect customer service
provided
Employees Medium To enhance skills and
productivity level.
Higher authorities or senior
managers
High The reason for interest is to
satisfy customers and
develop brand image in an
effective manner
Company High Global human resource
performs better
2.0 Literature Review
RETURN TO WORK INTERVIEW
According to the view pint of Christopher F. McLaren, Robert T. Reville and Sent A.
Seabury, Role of every organisation is to reduce the every time of a injured. The injured workers
always possess a negative impact on the overall functioning of organisation as they are absent
from the word and it leads to affecting the overall functioning in a negative manner. According
to the present views of author it can be said that for mitigating of the cost there is air is a solution
of providing modified working task that is used frequently as 82%, modified workstation as
50%, reduction of time by 45% and reading different job in the different or same department
uses frequently by 32%. This is from the server that has been conducted related to return of work
and over disability management practices in 40 self insured organization. These are some of the
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employee return to work program that have been adopted by some of these organisations for
management of employees abseentism.
According to views of Marie Jose Durand, best practices related to management of absenteeism
are that patients have to draught job retention policy workers. This is a approach that is
characterized by the concern that sustaining support during absenteeism of employees and after
their returning to work. Further there were there must be resources made available to employees.
Resources must be high in quality and possess positive impact on such employees. There are
certain steps that must be adopted by the organisation clutches initially there must be calculation
of the recovery period of employee there must be initial contact that has to be established in step
there complete evaluation of employee and please assign job aunt in step for their must be of
work return to work plan which must be prepared with accommodation and in the last step there
must be final resumption of the overall work that has to be done by employee. The last step there
was a follow-up of overall process of return to work of the employee (Preview of best work-
absence management and return-to-work practices for workers with musculoskeletal or common
mental disorders, 2014) .
According to view points of Trinh Tum, Kelly Maguire and Theebika Shanmugarasa, they
highlighted the role played by employers for helping people who are suffering from severe health
conditions and disabilities have to face sickness absence and health related laws of job. They
further discuss about different aspects that can actually be managed while managing the
employee absenteeism such as different areas are employees attitude for the well-being and
health of employee, understanding level of employers for their legal responsibilities, reason of
well being and initiative of employees, managing the absence of sickness and health conditions
of employees at the workplace use of different occupational health related services. There has to
be focus on overall attitude and behaviour of employees that can have a direct impact on the
health of employee (Sickness absence and health in the workplace: Understanding employer
behaviour and practice An interim, 2019)..
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FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS
According to view points of A.D.B. MacLean, evaluating the overall effectiveness of the
present absence management practises. There can be presence of culture of absenteeism it can be
suggested that there are certain strategies that can lead towards creation of a culture of
attendance. There must be use of consistency approach that has to be adopted by every
organisation for creating and maintaining the employee awareness returning to work. Focus that
there can be higher absence which can lead to indicating the lion moral and lead to problems in
organisation and use of quick address of such issues of absenteeism in the context of
organisation which is very critical for success of any organisation. He also feel that absenteeism
leads to damaging the library of activeness 9th of Service Delivery when staff is not able to do
their specific job, it is very important that employees must not feel pressurized when they are
returning to work at the same time is must be used for managing their name after work.
As per the view point of Acas, (2015), flexible working is defined as a form of working
arrangement, which gives a degree of flexibility to employees to work accordingly. There are
different types of flexible working that is part-time work, job sharing, annualised hours,
temporary working, home working, term-time working and many more. The benefits of flexible
working is employee retention, full utilisation of machinery, enhancement in productivity etc. in
addition to this, there are various challenges associated with flexible working that is offering
continuous level of service is difficult, increase in training, raise in recruitment cost and so on.
As per the view point of Lucy Fitzgerald,(2019), it is essential to develop set actions
points for both long term and short term absence as it is determine that both types might cause
difficulties for employers. Providing flexible hours of working decline the level of mental
pressure of employees due to which they can work with full potential in an effective manner. in
addition to this, it increase productivity of employees that has a positive influence on the overall
productivity and performance of an organisation.
Training for managers
According to S Bevan and S Heyday, absence from work results into a complex set of
factors that directly reflect attributes of working environment, individual characteristics,
behaviour etc. one of the solution to decline the level of absenteeism is career satisfaction,
participation of employees in decision-making, promoting healthy working environment and
many more. The responsibility of line managers to use trigger points in order to determine
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absence problems. It is important for line managers to ensure the problems of employees is
resolve rapidly and easily so that there is decline in absenteeism rate.
As per the view pint of Graham Brown, (2017), Line managers are mainly responsible for
monitoring attendance level, analyse absence trends and develop strategies to reduce
unauthorised absence. According to the repot given by author, 35% of companies providing
training on absence management to the line managers of company. The reason of providing
training is reduce absence, organising effective return-to-work interview, building self-
confidence and adhering to procedures.
According to the Militain BV,(2019), training for managers help them to learn more
about how to properly manage sick leave of employees. The managers take training with an aim
to decline extended period of absence of employees. In addition to this, it will also help mangers
to gain an understanding about how to influence or convey staff members to not take leave for
longer time period. In order to manage absence, training for managers and human resource
managers is important as it will help them to maintain a good relationship with employees so that
they can enjoy their working and did not think of to take leave from the organisation.
3.0 Critique of the literature review
The above literature review clearly analyses the viewpoints no major three methods for
management of absenteeism at the workplace and is a great tool that is helping in, management
of employee’s absences. But while making a comparison of it can be interpreted, from the above
discussed some of the methods that one of the best methods of managing absenteeism at the
workplace is Return to job interviews. Christopher F. McLaren, Robert T. Reville and Sent A.
Seabury, suggested that there are certain solutions such as focus on modification of the work
providing a modified workstation and equipments these will lead to reduction of the overall
schedule changes and help employees in coping up with their injuries as they will be provided a
different job in the similar or may be different department.
On other hand, Marie Jose Durand, felt that comprehensive return to work process and work
absence management that has to be designed by organisation. There were views that there must
be a broader policy related to job retention and Health Promotion of employee that has to be
implemented in the overall workplace prevention of employee absenteeism eating time for
mental illness and all these have to be implemented in the organisational policy.
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Where as Trinh Tum, Kelly Maguire and Theebika shanmugarasa provided a view point
that is the employee attitude that plays a very important role towards well being and health of
employee and it has to be positive. Liars agreed that there is a link established between
employee’s attitude that has to be really positive to increase the overall contribution of employee
and proper health. Also felt that over the definition of organisation the hand of employees who
they can increase by enhancing the satisfaction employees by following the legal obligations that
is most important part to be played by employees invest in health and wellbeing of employees.
Views of A.D.B. MacLean suggest that the statistics clearly shows that in case of flexible
working hours, level of sickness by .2% from 3.5% per employee per year. Clearly there are
many different factors that are influencing the overall rate of absenteeism but the most important
is overall management practices that has to be implemented properly and there is requirement of
a change patient with human resource practices for establishment of communication between
employee and employer which will for the lead to management of employee absenteeism.
On the other hand, the view point of Acas, (2015), the company is facing some
challenges while implementing flexible working hour such as increase in recruitment cost,
increasing in training that occur high cost to company and negatively influence on the overall
revenue level of an organisation. In addition to this, Lucy Fitzgerald,(2019) said that providing
flexible working hours decline mental pressure of employees and increase their productivity
level. It is beneficial for companies to provide such option as it raises efficiency and profitability
of an organisation.
As per S Bevan and S Heyday, one of the solutions to decline absenteeism is allow
employees to participate in the decision making, providing healthy and positive working
environment and career satisfaction. Whereas, Graham Brown, said that providing training to the
line mangers is the best solution as it decline absenteeism, develop self-confidence and allow
mangers to maintain good relationship with all the staff members. On the other hand, Militain
BV, state that it is important to provide training to line managers as it enable them to gain an
understanding about the reason of absence and resolve them in an effective and proper manner.
This method can be used by higher authorities of Tesco in order to manage absence of
employees in a proper manner. By the assistance of return to job interview, the company can
gain an insight about the reason of absence that will help in order to decline the absenteeism rate
effectively.
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3.1 Justification of the research selected
The research is useful for the investigator in order to gain the knowledge and insight about
absence management method. Companies use this method in order to decline the absenteeism
and turnover rate. After conducting literature review, it is determined that there are various
solution in order to reduce absenteeism of employees prevailing in the organisation. The
solutions are flexible working hours, Triggering system, training to managers and so on. For
conducting the research, secondary sources is used such as journal articles, newspaper, online
source and so on. It is analysed that data collected by this source is from experts and they
develop secondary data after analysing it properly that is the main reason to select secondary
sources. The Journal articles has studied in order to conduct the research as researcher through
proper investigation develops this paper.
3.2 Advantage and disadvantage of research selected
For performing the literature review, secondary research has used by the researcher. It
include collecting data from various sources such as Journal articles, newspaper, online publish
and many more. The advantage of secondary research is it is a time consuming and cost effective
method. Moreover, researchers through proper investigation collect this data in an appropriate
manner. On the other hand, it is a past data, which sometimes does not draw valid and reliable
conclusion. In addition to this, sometimes the data is not based on the current trends, which is not
beneficial to conduct the study. The qualitative and quantitative research method is use by
investigator. Qualitative method is define as data which has collected through observation,
interview and so on. Quantitative data is gather by the help of questionnaire, survey and many
more. By the assistance of secondary sources, the researcher is able to develop positive output of
the particular topic.
3.3 How could it be applied to businesses
The investigator used both primary and secondary data collection methods in order to
gain knowledge about the absence management methods. For primary data, questionnaire is
develop which is design to for 100 employees and interview question is prepared for mangers
and senior authorities. From the literature review, the solution is find out for declining
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absenteeism rate that can be apply to business in a proper. This will help companies to decline
turnover rate and increase their profitability in an effective manner.
4.0 Presentation of the findings
The presentation of findings will take place by using bar graph and line graph. This section
will cover advantage and disadvantage of line graph and bar graph.in addition to this, how and
why this graph will use by researcher along with example is given below in this section.
Key stakeholders
Stakeholders Level of interest Reason for interest
Line managers Medium The line managers take
interest as there is need to
decline absent percentage or
rate of the organisation.
Customers Low Effect customer service
provided
Employees Medium To enhance skills and
productivity level.
Higher authorities or senior
managers
High The reason for interest is to
satisfy customers and
develop brand image in an
effective manner
Company High Global human resource
performs better
4.1 Line graphs
A line graph assist in determining the relationship between two sets of values in which one
set is dependent on another. This graph is effective which shows the changes over time and it is
easy to estimate values as well. This graph cannot be use to state difference among different
variables that is the drawback of line graph.
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4.2 Bar charts
A graphic mean of quantitative comparison through rectangles with length proportional in
order to measured data is known as bar graph. One of the advantage of bar chars is it is simple to
draw and straight forward to interpret. This chart is suitable for data that is made of total figures
and is consider as disadvantage of bar chart.
For example,
Q. What are some of the benefits of adopting absence management
method in organisation?
Frequency
a) Facilitate effective management of people 30
b) High employees Morale 40
c) Both of these 30
5.0 CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been analysed that there are various methods which is used by
companies in order to decline absenteeism rate such as motivation employees, flexible working
hours, practice presentism, employee engagement, training to managers and many more. It is
important for higher authorities to have good communication and interaction skills so that they
can encourage staff members that leads to employee retention and satisfaction as well. In
addition to this, it also help in reducing absenteeism rate which has a positive effect on
productivity as well as profitability of the organisation.
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5.1 RECOMMENDATION
From the above report, there are some recommendations that have been developed in the course
of business.
 Absence management method are the tools that are very helpful in management of the
employees absence apart from the three basic methods that have been developed there is
another recommended method that can be used that is flexible working practises. In
which after employees has been absent for a period of time there must be some flexible
working patterns in terms of flexible time so that employees are able to adjust according
to workplace requirements.
 Retail sector is changing very fast and there is a requirement to manage the most
common issue that is employee absences. There is further another recommendation that
there must be timely modifications that have to be made in the HR practises in the HR
department of the organisation that are part of this sector. It requires some major changes
that has to be bought in every functional department of a particular organisation and it is
not just limited up to the human resource department.
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Ladegaard and et.al 2019. How do line managers experience and handle the return to work of
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Appendix 1
Quantitative questionnaire:
Sample Size : 100 employees
Questionnaire
Q1. Do you know about the concept of absence management?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2. How much time you are working in Tesco?
a) 0-5 years
b) 5-10 years
c) 10-15 years
d) More than 15 years
Q3. As per your point of view, what is the effect of high absenteeism rate on Tesco?
a) Decline in sales
b) Decrease in profitability
c) Negative effect on brand image
Q4. According to you, which method is suitable to adopt for Absence management?
a) Flexible working hours
b) Employee engagement
c) Practice presentism
Q5. As per your point of view, what is the impact of applying absence management
method in Tesco?
a) Positive impact
b) Negative impact
c) Neutral impact
Q6. Do you posses’ deep understanding and knowledge of all policies that are adopted by
human resource department of Tesco for management of the organisation?
a) Yes
b) No
Q7. Do you believe that such policies have positive effect on the functioning of Tesco?
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a) Yes
b) No
Q8. What are some of the benefits of such policies on you as employees working for Tesco?
a) Facilitate effective management of people
b) High employees Morale
c) Both of these
Q9. From where do you get information about changes being adopted by the higher
management of Tesco?
a) Website
b) Magazine of the company
c) Notice board
d) Personal mails
e) Any of above
Q10. Do you feel that the present change of online transactions will lead to overall changes
in the policies of Tesco?
a) Yes
b) No
Q11. What are some of the new policies that can be used by the human resource
department of Tesco for effective implementation of change?
a) Better communication channels
b) Training programmes
c) Development of Learning organisation
d) All of these
Q12. According to you, what are the skills required in a manger in order to decline
absenteeism rate of company?
a) Communication skills
b) Leadership skills
c) Intellectual skills
Q13. As per your point of view, what is the effect of developing writing absent policy in the
organisation?
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a) Positive effect
b) Negative effect
c) Neutral effect
Q14. What are major benefits in adopting absence management methods in Tesco?
a) Increase in profitability
b) Development of brand image
c) On time service to customers
Q15. Do you agree with the adoption of absence management method in the organisation?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Q16. According to you, is there change occur at workplace after adopting absence
methods?
a) Yes
b) No
Q17. According to you which sector play an important role in developing policies and
methods?
a) Human resource department
b) Financial department
c) Operation department
d) All of the above
Q18. What is the impact on employees of absence management?
a) Positive impact
b) Negative impact
c) Neutral impact
Q19. As per your point of view, is it important for Tesco to change policies and adopt
different methods for reducing absenteeism rate?
a) Yes
b) No
Q20. Recommendations to the company with the help of which they can adopt new policies
and methods for the company.....
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Appendix 2
Interview Question
Q 1) What do you understand by absence management?
Q 2) What are the different methods a company can adopt for managing absence of employees?
Q 3) What are the major advantages gain by management team of Tesco after implementing
effective methods for absenteeism?
Q 4) Do you think, managers need to identify issues faced by employees which leads towards the
increase in number of absence at workplace?
Q 5) On the basis of your opinion, do you think by providing flexible working hours benefits
reduce in number of absence of employees within the organization?
Q 6) What are the further suggestions you give to the management team for decreasing
employee’s absenteeism ratio.
Q 7) Do you feel that working environment and attitude of management towards employees
increase number of absenteeism at workplace?
Q8) According to you, does increase in number of absence of employees affects the performance
of Tesco at competitive marketplace?
Q9) As per your opinion, do you think implementing effective methods for reducing absenteeism
provide positive impact?
Q10) According to you, what are skills required for mangers in order to bring change at
workplace?
Q11) What are the factors that impact positively on adopting change in the organisation?
Q12) What are some of the methods for bringing change at the workplace?
Q13) According to you, is there any effect on employees due to change in policies of Tesco?
Q14) Is the productivity of Tesco increases due to change in the absent policy?
Q15) What are the factors that motivate employees in order to cope up with the changes occurred
at workplace?
Q16) As per your point of view, is there any requirement of training for managers in order to
make changes in policies?
Q17) What are the strategies adopt by an organisation in order to retain an employee for longer
time period?
Q18) According to you, is it important to give training and development session to staff members
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in order to inform about changes?
Q19) What are the benefits of absence management?
Q20) Any suggestion?
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