| ||
| ||
|
Management Information | |
|
|
Presenteeism: The Hidden Costs of Business
(prez.un.TEE.iz.um) n Presenteeism, a relatively unknown concept, is the complement of Absenteeism. It is defined as the measure of lost productivity cost due to employees actually showing up for work, but not being fully engaged and productive mainly because of personal health and life issue distractions. Currently, Presenteeism is estimated to be up to 7 ˝ times more costly to employers than absenteeism. (1) Statistically, Presenteeism rears its ugly head and shows itself for what it really is? a costly, somewhat unseen threat to employers. It is considered a threat because of its stealthy nature. The term itself is new, only recently added to our language. Considering the following alarming statistics, your business may be in danger. ? Presenteeism accounts for 61% of an employees total lost productivity and medical costs. (4) ? Presenteeism costs employers an estimated $2000/yr/employee. (10) ? Employees working at diminished capacity cost employers $250 Billion/yr. (8) ? 42% of employees anticipate elder care issues over the next five years. (2) ? 37% of employees with current elder care issues have lost work time per week, a total of (11) hours/wk spent. (2) ? On average, employees spent about 8 hours over the previous two-weeks off work, related to giving care. Some of that was paid, such as sick leave or vacation time, and some was unpaid. (5) ? One of the most commonly requested resources from EAP's are legal services to cover estate planning, family law, divorce, real estate, bankruptcy and other non-workplace issues, accounting for 60-70% of all EAP requests from employees. (2) ? 64% of unscheduled absences are due to family issues 22%, personal needs 18%, an entitlement mentality 13% and stress11%. (9) ? 30% of employees come to work at least 5 days when they are too distracted to be effective. 28% of workers took time off for care giving and 25% took at least 1 hour/day to deal with personal issues. (7) ? Costs of absenteeism have risen from $610/employee/year in 2000 to an average of $789 per employee in 2002. (6) ? Of all of the expenses related to absence, unscheduled time off has the biggest impact on productivity, profitability and morale. (9) ? 49% of employees lose productivity at a rate of 1 hour or more/day due to stress, 40% lose 1-2 days/yr, 37% lose 3-6 days/yr, and 23% lose more than 6 days/yr of productivity due to stress. 44% of employees come to work 1-4 days/yr when too stressed to be effective, 19% of employees come to work more than 6 days/yr when too stressed to be effective. (3) ? 68% of employees take frequent "stress breaks" at work to talk with others. (7) So, what can be done? Some will argue "Do nothing" and it will work itself out, after all, these issues have been a part of employee/employer relations for years. While that may be somewhat true, the actual associated costs of Presenteeism are rising, usually without the conscious knowledge of the employer. Those "hide your head in the sand" approaches to business operation usually spell d-o-o-m. Ignorance concerning any threatening, growing, unrealized operational problem will indeed be costly. Potential Solutions: Employers must begin to encourage sick or distraught workers to stay home and get appropriate medical or professional attention before returning to work. Consider funding or partially funding an on-site day-care facility. There are many successful models to emulate. Consider expanding or modifying personal leave policies to better aid employees. Expand EAP programs to offer additional employee assistance in a wide range of emotional and family issues. This also has the unseen benefit of enhancing goodwill and demonstrating to employees that their employer cares about their concerns. While these actions may appear to be costly, they are actually an investment in your business. Awareness is the key, the origin, the beginning of finding solutions. Study your operations in light of the previous statistics. Take actions to prepare for these inevitable situations and build their associated costs into your business model, rather than being caught by surprise at the end of the fiscal year with drastically reduced profit margins without a reasonable explanation. Smart business persons will become aware of the costs of Presenteeism and take action up-front to protect their business. Bibliography and References: Daniel Sitter is the author of the breakthrough e-book, Learning For Profit, the revolutionary "how-to" book providing simple, step-by-step instructions to teach people exactly how to learn new skills faster than ever before. It is what the author calls a "skinny book", a new generation of e-book designed for busy people. Containing no "filler or fluff", it gets right to the point with no wasted time. It can be read easily and quickly on a computer, a PDA or printed for later reference. Visit http://www.learningforprofit.com/ or contact the author directly. This e-book is currently available from C|net's download.com, the authors' web site and a variety of online book merchants. Mr. Sitter is also a contributing writer for several online and traditional publications.
MORE RESOURCES:
Management - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Innovation Management - what are the practical impediments? Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. People Literacy Every Manager has experienced the frustration of not understanding why one management approach that works beautifully with one employee is ineffective with another. That's because what we think would be motivating isn't always motivating to someone else. The Dripping Faucet in Every Organization Each day millions of workers spend 8 hours or more at their respective jobs with many contributing to the dripping faucet within every organization. This faucet much like the leaking kitchen or bathroom faucet's steadily waste drops of a previous resource - water - every minute of every day until fixed. Create Your Dashboard for Success Driving down the road our eyes frequently scan the vital instruments on the dashboard that monitor speed, fuel level, coolant temperature, and oil pressure. The modern vehicle also has many more devices that constantly monitor various systems for fuel mixture, exhaust gasses, timing adjustment and others. Counseling Interviews for the Marginal Employee ACTIVE LISTENING: The most frequent cause of failure in therapeutic counseling interviews is the interviewer's tendency to talk too much. Numerous studies have shown that in counseling interviews the average manager will talk as much as 85 percent of the time. The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Conflict Becoming the Norm - Part 2 A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.Conflict Becoming the Norm - Part 2In a previous article, I wrote about how unresolved conflict can create havoc in your business and can often end in a failed partnership. Resolve Differences Resolving conflict doesn't come easily to too many people. Most of us want harmonious relationships and smooth interpersonal interactions. Creating Your Own Business Upturn - Powering Business Development We all see it . . Innovation Management - Good Leadership Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Work Environment Tidbits Color is a big factor effecting all indoor environments. Since most of us spend many hours each day at work, the coloring of the space has a big impact on us. Five Ways to Increase Profitability By Doing The Right Thing 1. Base your business in the Magic Triangle. Great Hires: Avoid Costly Mistakes Picking people for a job is like going to the store to buy apples. Before you go, you ought to know whether the apples are to be eaten fresh, make into applesauce, baked into a pie or made into juice. Creativity Management - Quality from Quantity Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Avoiding The Sheep Dip It is a sad fact that many employees are still being subjected to the age old training ritual of "sheep dipping". This is a process by which employees are "refreshed", "cleansed" and "re-invigorated" by ensuring they attend set training courses or, perhaps, are placed on the ubiquitous "refresher" course. Overcoming the Document Tracking Challenge "Where did it go? It was here yesterday. Wait. 5 Ways of Increasing Business Profits The economy may finally be turning around and showing signs of a rebound. Interest rates have begun to rise and the stock market is recovering from the lows it experienced in the last couple of years. The Diamond Cutter Geshe Michael Roach is a Princeton graduate and a Buddhist monk. After graduation, he spent seven years studying the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism. Telephone Techniques: Boost Your Productivity With Effective Phoning One of the things that most impacts people's productivity is not being able to focus on completing one task at a time - we are so overloaded with tasks and interruptions that it requires great discipline to avoid spending the entire day responding to other people's agendas. Telephone calls, both making and receiving them, are one of the greatest disruptions to the flow of the day and to our ability to concentrate on the task at hand. Recruitment - Do You Know What Youre Looking For? The time will come when you'll need to interview someone tojoin your business or your existing team. If you work in alarge organisation then this could be someone from insidethe company. Give Yourself a Boss Day Gift, Part 2: Are You the Position or the Person? Are you the position or the person?Bosses can lose their own identity sometimes. It's easy.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
