Excessive employee absenteeism can hurt your company’s bottom line and result in lost productivity, time, and poor employee morale. To ensure your employees follow the proper procedures and inform beforehand, you need to clearly understand the main causes of absenteeism. This document details out 13 tips on how to reduce absenteeism at the workplace. Source: https://biz30.timedoctor.com/how-to-reduce-absenteeism-at-workplace/

1. How to Reduce Absenteeism at
Your Workplace: 13 Proven Tips
Source: Time Doctor’s Blog - “How to Reduce Absenteeism at Your Workplace”

2. Employee absenteeism refers to employees being
frequently absent from work without any justified
reason or prior discussion with their manager. It
doesn’t count paid time off or justified absences
like maternity leave.
Excessive absenteeism can have negative effects
on the employer, the employee, and their team.
Employee Absenteeism and its causes
Top 6 reasons of employee absenteeism
1
2
3
4
Reduced Productivity.
Increased labor costs, if you
hire temporary workers frequently.
5
6
Lack of quality control.
Poor customer service due to
understaffing.
Employee burnout from taking on the
workload of absent employees.
Poor team morale due to overworking,
lack of acknowledgement and reward

3. 13 Reliable Tips on
How to Reduce
Absenteeism at
Workplace

4. 1. Understand the causes of employee absenteeism
High stress and Burnout
01 Excessive, unresolved stress can lead to chronic, mental and
physical exhaustion and leads to depression and anxiety.
02
Low Morale
03
Care Responsibilities
04
Some employees may be responsible for taking care of other
family members, such as an elder or a child which may lead
to miss work to take their dependents.
05 Employees with chronic health conditions, physical or
otherwise often have a high absenteeism rate.
Bereavement
06
Losing a loved one is extremely traumatizing. During this
difficult period you can help them bereavement leaves to grieve
and take care of important legal matters can help employees.
Workplace Bullying
Workplace conflicts is inevitable which can turn toxic when its
persistent. It leads employees to stay at home to avoid
coworkers. Create feelings of isolation and anxiety
If employees are unappreciated, undervalued or taken for
granted. It can create feelings of resentment, as a result
employees disengage from the workplace and eventually quit.
Physical, Emotional and
Mental Health Issues

5. 2. Create a clear attendance policy
As a valuable resource for the company’s HR (Human Resources)
department, employees, and managers, an attendance (or absenteeism)
policy should be straightforward and easy to follow.
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Your absenteeism policy should clarify:
The number of leaves employees can take in a month or year.
1
2 The proper protocol to apply for leaves.
3 How to record absences.
What counts as “excessive absence”
4
What constitutes tardiness (e.g. 30 minutes late)
5
If your employees work
remotely, you may choose to
use an absence tracking tool
that records when an employee
signs in, if they work minimum
hours, and when they’re absent
Discuss the policy with new hires, and
outline flexible work options if available

6. A great way to reduce
unplanned absenteeism and
increase employee retention is
by implementing strategies to
make your staff more
committed to the workplace.
Streamline communication between managers
and employees.
Outline both sides expectations and keep an
open door policy regarding complaints,
improvements and inquiries.
Establishing and following specific
communication norms can help employees
more connected to your company and fellow
team members.
Offer training programs and coaching
opportunities to improve existing skillset of
employees and learn new ones.
When all these initiatives run
simultaneously, employees feel
more engaged and satisfied in the
workplace leading to
higher revenue growth.
3. Encourage employee engagement
Create constructive environment by
recognizing employees hard work, dedication
and proactiveness.

7. If employees aren’t excited about their work,
don’t feel a sense of belonging with their
coworkers, or even have workplace friends, it
could contribute to absenteeism.
Friendly competition among departments.
Team building exercises
Team Group community service
Creating a space, where employees
want to spend their time, can help
reduce your unscheduled absence
rates, boosts creativity, productivity
and overall self esteem.
4. Foster a Positive Work Environment
1
2
3
4
Create opportunities to engage
with each other
5
Encourage employees to get personal
knickknacks and allow them to decorate their
workspace.
You can address this fostering a team mentally through:

8. 5. Improve Employee Wellbeing
Illness, stress, anxiety, and burnout can lower immune system
response, making employees susceptible to infections and
long-term sickness absence.
However, you can try to reduce the effects of these health issues by
implementing workplace wellness programs.
A wellness program can: Microsoft
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1 Inform employees about stress management strategies.
Provide much-needed breaks during the workday.
2
Offer access to important resources
3
Discuss the policy with new hires,
and outline flexible work options if
available
As a result, they can
lower
healthcare costs
and reduce stress,
while improving
morale and
productivity.

9. 7. Offer Flexible Work Options
Flexible and remote work options improve employee
performance, productivity,
Flexible Work schedule helps employees to:
Flexible work option helps to:
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1 It allows employees to manage their own time and take breaks
when they feel like
Maintain a work-life balance that works for them.
2
Lets them start work when they are most productive
3 Discuss the policy with new hires,
and outline flexible work options if
available
As a result, you
reduce the overall
absenteeism rate
without
compromising your
employees health
and wellbeing
1 Manage their own time so that they can take breaks at any time.

10. 8. Check-In Regularly
Chronic absenteeism without a justified reason can be cause for
concern.
Checking in regularly with employees at all levels can help you:
Flexible Work schedule helps employees to
Flexible work option helps to:
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1 It allows employees to manage their own time and take breaks
when they feel like
Allows you to offer flexible work schedules.
2
Reduced workload for a specific period of time.
3 Discuss the policy with new hires,
and outline flexible work options if
available
As a result, you
reduce the overall
absenteeism rate
without
compromising your
employees health
and wellbeing
1 Understand their state of mind. You can use these
check-ins to gauge
employee satisfaction
levels and determines
whether you need to
change any work
policies

11. Absence tracking tools allow you to stay updated about
employee absences and attendance in real-time.
They can also provide relevant data on absenteeism trends
and whether certain policies are effective. It can also:
9. Utilize Absence Management Tools
Step 1 - Help employees plan their leaves.
Step 2 - Let supervisors document late arrivals and
last -minute absences.
Step 3 - Keep the HR professionals in the loop for
authorized absences.
Time Doctor’s employee
management tool helps you
to check employee
attendance across the
company.
Productivity reports tracks
absentees, latecomers or
partially absentees on a
specific date.

12. While it’s impossible to eliminate workplace absenteeism, you can
take certain steps to address it.
For instance, if an employee doesn’t turn up for work during an
emergency or if the employee is unwell. You should:
10. Address No-Shows Immediately
2
This activates the shipment process.
3
The customer receives the product.
The order is closed.
1 Try contacting them through other means
Inquire about what happened once they
return to work, if they don’t respond
Hold a return-to work interview to help
them get back into the swing of things.
Doing this send a
message that their
actions are noticed and
management is
genuinely concerned
about employee
wellbeing.

13. 11. Introduce Return- To Work Interviews
Many companies reserve a return-to-work interview after long
absences, such as after an employee has been on maternity
or extended sick leave.
But, employees benefit from these interviews even after
being away for a couple of days. Similar to the onboarding
process, it helps employees get into the right mindset and
allows you to: Microsoft
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Make necessary arrangements to ease their return. For e.g.
flexible work hours for new parents.
2
For short absences, it could be a quick chat
over coffee.
3
Discuss the policy with new hires,
and outline flexible work options if
available
As a result, you
reduce the overall
absenteeism rate
without
compromising your
employees health
and wellbeing
1
Assess if they are ready for work, if yes what workload they
should start with.

14. 12. Reward Good Attendance
Your company can reward employees with
good attendance records.
For instance, if an employee takes a
planned and approved vacation, that
shouldn’t disqualify them just because they
weren’t present at work.
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Make necessary arrangements to ease their return. For e.g.
flexible work hour for new parents.
Discuss the policy with new hires,
and outline flexible work options if
available
As a result, you
reduce the overall
absenteeism rate
without
compromising your
employees health
and wellbeing
You can use that as an
example of good and
timely communication.
By incentivizing
employees to follow the
policy, you can curb
excessive absence and
boost employee morale

15. 13.Consider Special Circumstances
If an employee is dealing with mental health problems,
trauma, or workplace bullying, these may be impacting
multiple spheres in their lives. US employers, especially, can
implement an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) to
address common employee well-being concerns, such as:
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Discuss the policy with new hires,
and outline flexible work options if
available
As a result, you
reduce the overall
absenteeism rate
without
compromising your
employees health
and wellbeing
You can use that as an
example of good and
timely communication.
By incentivizing
employees to follow the
policy, you can curb
excessive absence and
boost employee morale
1
Finding child
care or elder
care services
3
2
Adoption
assistance
4
Legal and
financial
issues
Marital or
family
problems
5
Mental
Health
Counseling
6
Workplace
Conflicts
Reduce staff absenteeism
Drive down healthcare costs
Reduce employee turnover
Address critical safety issues
Increase employee engagement
As a result, EAP can help in:

16. 3 Ways you lower the unplanned absence rate :
Introducing Health Initiatives
1
Optimizing communication flows
2
3 Create reasonable attendance policy
That’s why you must
ensure that your policy
remains flexible
enough to accomodate
everyone and achieve
their professional
goals.