How to handle employee absenteeism
By Jenny C. McCune • Bankrate.com

Employee absences do not make the small-business owner's heart grow fonder. Instead, they generally cause heartburn.

"Small employees can't afford absenteeism," says Arlene Vernon, president of HRx Inc., a human resources consulting firm based in Eden Prairie, Minn. "They're not over-staffed. Everybody's doing five jobs at once, so if one person keeps coming in late or doesn't show up at all, that can have a profound and negative impact on the employer."

The average per-employee cost of absenteeism in 2002 was $789, an all-time high, according to CCH Inc.'s 2002 Unscheduled Absence Survey.

Averting absenteeism
An owner will never have a perpetually full office, but there are preventive measures that can help keep absenteeism from turning into a chronic problem.

Put your absenteeism policy in writing. The document should detail the ground rules so employees know what is expected of them.

"A policy helps a company better plan for absences," says Lin Grensing-Pophal author of "Human Resource Essentials: Your Guide to Starting and Running the HR Function."

According to Grensing-Pophal, the policy should spell out:

• Who the employee should notify when calling in sick
  
  
• How many sick days or paid days of leave are permitted
  
  
• What is considered tardy (lateness is often bundled into a company's absentee policy)
  
  
• Penalties for violating the policy

Overall, a policy needs to be comprehensive, listing all the rules and penalties, but it also should be flexible, says Andy Kindler, a partner with Oak Consulting, an outplacement and HR consulting firm in Lisle, Ill.

The flexibility is needed since employees often must take time off of work to take care of personal business. There also are factors that are outside of an employee's control: illness of a family member, the need to appear in court, another matter that must be handled during work hours.

It's not enough to simply have a policy. Companies must make sure that employees read and understand it. Going over the absentee policy should be part of orientation. Having the employee read the manual on company time and then initial it is another way to ensure compliance.

"It really is in the employer's interest to spoon-feed it to new employees so it's no question that they understand the policy," says HR consultant Vernon.