Absenteeism explained: how expensive and labour-intensive is an absenteeism policy?

In brief

An absenteeism policy certainly comes with an investment, but will pay for itself and then some in healthy corporate culture and strong employment practices. What’s more, absenteeism itself costs your organisation more than building an absenteeism policy.

The full statement

Putting a vision to paper, deciding on the action points, developing a communication plan, purchasing absenteeism software, tracking absenteeism data … An absenteeism policy doesn’t just materialise from thin air. But as soon as your policy is in place, the efficiency gains multiply rapidly.

Absenteeism itself is often more costly than building an absenteeism policy. Just think of replacements for absentees, training those replacements, following up on and reintegrating the absentees... The companies we assist always arrive at the same conclusion: an absenteeism policy saves costs in the long run.

As well as this cost-effectiveness, an absenteeism policy also helps your organisation benefit in other areas. A company where a warm yet businesslike dialogue is the order of the day, where people support one another, has a better atmosphere. And that will result in motivated employees and strong employment practices.