Here Are the Best Ways to Reduce Absenteeism

We Australians take an average 9.5 sick days a year, with some studies indicating that 70% of those are used due to “entitlement” rather than “need.” With an average of 5% of our workforces calling in sick each day, the impact costs about $340 per person in productivity not to mention the effects on customer service and staff engagement.

The two best ways to decrease staff from using “entitled” personal leave is to:

1. Promote health and wellness, and;
2. Create happy employees who want to come to work.

Incentives to Promote Health and Wellness

Organisation size may dictate how quickly an incentive can get up and running (pun intended), but most people love a good competition. One company recently ran an incentive measuring the number of steps its employees walked. Using a baseline of 10,000 steps per day, employees set a goal for how many total steps they would walk in a month. They could choose between 280,000 or 336,000 or 420,000. The goal was to not only get them walking but to motivate them to walk more than average.

Over the course of four weeks, participants reported their steps each day and progress towards their goals were shared weekly. Each person who selected and achieved their goals won an award.

For some other great incentive ideas, check out “149 Easy Steps to Happier, Healthier and Fitter Employees.”

Create Happy Employees

Happy employees are 12% more productive, and unhappy workers tend to show up less. A BI WORLDWIDE study found that there are '12 New Rules of Engagement' that help increase employee happiness and satisfaction with their jobs. It starts with the principle of reciprocity: the effort you put into your employees is the amount they’ll give back to you.

Following these rules have proven benefits – fewer sick days, lower turnover and greater customer service to name a few. However, if 12 rules seem a little daunting, just start with a couple of very simple steps:

• Say thank you
• Recognise positive behaviours
• Reward achievements

Absenteeism is the cost of disengaging your workforce. A few small reward and recognition initiatives can overcome those “entitlement” behaviours and build a high-performance culture.