HRM722 Assignment: Employee Absenteeism in ABC Organization

This report examines employee absenteeism within the context of an organization, ABC organization, a telecommunications company with over 26,000 employees. The report identifies employee absenteeism as a significant workforce behavior negatively impacting productivity. It differentiates between innocent and culpable absenteeism, noting that a substantial portion of employees take sick leave even when not ill. The report establishes a benchmark for reducing the current 10% absenteeism rate to 4%. It delves into root causes, including employee dissatisfaction, poor working conditions, and issues with management. The report then proposes three key policies: implementing a wellness program, offering vacation days and paid time off, and organizing monthly meetings with employees. These programs are prioritized based on their potential effectiveness in achieving the desired reduction in absenteeism, aiming to improve employee morale and productivity.

Running head: EMPLOYEE ABSENTEEISM
Employee Absenteeism
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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EMPLOYEE ABSENTEEISM
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion..............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Brief Description of the Organization..............................................................................2
2.2 Identification of the Workforce Behaviour and Brief Description of the Problem..........2
2.3 An Acceptable Standard or Benchmark to be achieved...................................................3
2.4 List of Few Root Causes of the Employee Absenteeism Behaviour a.............................3
2.5 Description of Three Policies or Programs to be introduced for achieving the Desired
Results as per priority.............................................................................................................4
3. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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1. Introduction
HRM or human resource management is the distinct strategic approach for an
effective and efficient people management within an organization or company, so that the
business gains competitive advantages. It is being designed for maximization of employee
performances within service of different strategic objectives of an employer. Different
behaviours of any particular employee is being observed within an organization and
subsequent steps are required to be undertaken, on the basis of these behaviours (Kocakulah
et al., 2016). The following report outlines a brief discussion on employee absenteeism that is
needed to be corrected for better execution of business processes.
2. Discussion
2.1 Brief Description of the Organization
ABC organization is responsible for providing maximum advantages to the employees
and hence ensuring that every employee is highly satisfied with their works. More than 26000
employees are working in this particular organization and they have been doing business for
more than 10 years. It is a telecommunications organization and is considered as one of the
most popular and significant organizations in the world. They provide different
telecommunications networks, market voices, mobile technologies and many more to the
employees. The entire HR department of ABC organization is enormous and provides several
opportunities to the employees, so that they are able to provide maximum productivity to the
organization.
2.2 Identification of the Workforce Behaviour and Brief Description of the Problem
One of the major and the most significant work force behaviours that is being
identified within the organization that is bringing negative effects to the business is employee
absenteeism (Van Buynder et al., 2015). There are two types of employee absenteeism, which

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include innocent absenteeism and culpable absenteeism. ABC organization has recently
identified a fact that several employees are not coming to work regularly and as a result, the
overall productivity is getting hampered majorly. It is being noted that an average of 3 out of
10 employees are applying for a sick leave, even when they are not actually ill and few of
them are giving unusual excuses for this purpose. Hence, the organizational productivity is
getting hampered majorly and the organization is unable to deal with the complexities.
Employee absenteeism is considered as a major issue, since it affects employees’
motivational level and organizational productivity (Gunnarsson et al., 2015). It even ensures
a disengagement with other employees or organizational management eventually and
involves work place morale.
2.3 An Acceptable Standard or Benchmark to be achieved
Currently, the absenteeism rate of employees within ABC organization is around
10%, which is huge as compared to the total number of employees, working in the company.
It should be reduced to at least 4%, so that there exists a major balance within employees
working and that, who are on leave (Lerner et al., 2015). Since, it is a huge organization, they
require to work constantly and hence they would have to manage their employees and staff
easily and promptly, for better execution of the business operations and also gain maximum
effectiveness and efficiency from work. As a result, when this benchmark or acceptable
standard of employee absenteeism would be achieved, it is evident that the organization
would be benefitted on a high priority (Ammerman et al., 2016).
2.4 List of Few Root Causes of the Employee Absenteeism Behaviour a
There are some of the most significant and important root causes of the workforce
behaviour of employee absenteeism within ABC organization. Few of these root causes are
listed below:

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i) The first root cause is lack of satisfaction from their present work (Nunes et al.,
2018). Employee dissatisfaction is referred to as one of the major issues that is being faced in
the organization for reducing the overall productivity to a high level.
ii) Another significant root cause of employee absenteeism in the ABC organization
might be poor working condition. The employees might not be able to share their issues with
the senior management and hence the rate of absenteeism is increasing eventually.
iii) The next vital and noteworthy root cause of employee absenteeism in the ABC
organization might be dominating boss and seniors (Peretz, Levi & Fried, 2015). The
employees might be feeling dominated with the work pressure and hence issues might have
arrived eventually.
2.5 Description of Three Policies or Programs to be introduced for achieving the
Desired Results as per priority
These employees are absent from work and hence the work suffers from subsequent
delays and issues. Such absenteeism from the work eventually leads to piling of work, delays
in work and even back logs (Kampkötter & Marggraf, 2015). For the purpose of achieving
the desired results of 4% employee absenteeism in ABC organization, three policies or
programs should be introduced in the company and these are as follows:
i) Implementation of Wellness Program: It is required to be implement a wellness
program for the employees of ABC organization, so that they are able to mitigate their health
related absences and hence reducing employee absenteeism and work stress. Such program
could be helpful in improving work place culture and morale for increasing the productivity.
As a result, there is a chance of reducing the rate of employee absenteeism (Gunnarsson et
al., 2015).

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ii) Offering Vacation Days and Paid Time Off: The second policy or program would
be offering vacation days as well as paid time off to the employees, so that they are able to
maintain a work life balance easily and without any type of issue. Moreover, they are able to
provide time for their families.
iii) Organizing Monthly Meetings: Another significant program would be organizing
monthly meetings with the employees (Nunes et al., 2018). It is needed to understand the
current mental state of employees and for this purpose, such meetings would be extremely
effective.
3. Conclusion
Therefore, a conclusion could be drawn that employee absenteeism is the absence of
various employees from their works. It is being considered as the most significant issue that
is faced by several employees in present situation. Several laws are being enacted for the
purpose of safeguarding the interests of employees and employers, even after having several
constraints. The above provided report has appropriately provided a description of employee
absenteeism with relevant details.

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References
Ammerman, R. T., Chen, J., Mallow, P. J., Rizzo, J. A., Folger, A. T., & Van Ginkel, J. B.
(2016). Annual direct health care expenditures and employee absenteeism costs in
high-risk, low-income mothers with major depression. Journal of affective
disorders, 190, 386-394.
Gunnarsson, C., Chen, J., Rizzo, J. A., Ladapo, J. A., Naim, A., & Lofland, J. H. (2015). The
employee absenteeism costs of rheumatoid arthritis: evidence from US national
survey data. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 57(6), 635-642.
Kampkötter, P., & Marggraf, K. (2015). Do employees reciprocate to intra-firm trainings? An
analysis of absenteeism and turnover rates. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 26(22), 2888-2907.
Kocakulah, M. C., Kelley, A. G., Mitchell, K. M., & Ruggieri, M. P. (2016). Absenteeism
problems and costs: causes, effects and cures. International Business & Economics
Research Journal (IBER), 15(3), 89-96.
Lerner, D., Adler, D. A., Rogers, W. H., Chang, H., Greenhill, A., Cymerman, E., & Azocar,
F. (2015). A randomized clinical trial of a telephone depression intervention to reduce
employee presenteeism and absenteeism. Psychiatric Services, 66(6), 570-577.
Nunes, A. P., Richmond, M. K., Pampel, F. C., & Wood, R. C. (2018). The effect of
employee assistance services on reductions in employee absenteeism. Journal of
Business and Psychology, 33(6), 699-709.
Peretz, H., Levi, A., & Fried, Y. (2015). Organizational diversity programs across cultures:
effects on absenteeism, turnover, performance and innovation. The International
Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(6), 875-903.

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Van Buynder, P. G., Konrad, S., Kersteins, F., Preston, E., Brown, P. D., Keen, D., &
Murray, N. J. (2015). Healthcare worker influenza immunization vaccinate or mask
policy: strategies for cost effective implementation and subsequent reductions in staff
absenteeism due to illness. Vaccine, 33(13), 1625-1628.