What leads to absenteeism?
Although causes of absenteeism are plenty, they can be boiled down to 3 categories:
- Physical causes: Although only a small fraction, disease and injury are seen as the classic causes of absenteeism.
- Mental and Psychosocial causes: Rising in recent years, the most prevalent are stress, burn-out, depression and panic attacks.
- Work Environment: Often stemming from a suboptimal work culture these include things such as poor support, job mismatch, psychological unsafe environment, team dynamics…
What does this mean for my company?
The costs of absenteeism are not to be underestimated. One extensive study found that it costs companies €1500 yearly, not per absentee but per employee. For instance, a company with 100 employees stands to lose more than € 150.000 this way. Safe to say, those numbers can’t easily be ignored.
Furthermore absenteeism heavily correlates with employee turnover, making it an important indicator of the health of your company. As people drop out, the workload is shifted unevenly creating a domino effect of stress. This causes people in turn to crash or to leave, taking their talents and experience with them. Left unchecked, these consequences wreak havoc on unprepared companies.