Employees opinion on absenteism and its impact on job satisfaction – an analysis

Employee's presence at work place during the scheduled is highly essential for the smooth running of the production process in particular and the organization in general. Despite the significance of their presence, employees sometime fail to report at the work place during the scheduled time. Absenteeism refers to the failure on the part of employees to work though they are scheduled to work. In other words, unauthorized absences constitute Absenteeism. Absenteeism costs money to the organization, besides reflecting employee dissatisfaction with the company. Like employee turnover, there is avoidable and unavoidable absenteeism. Absenteeism is unavoidable when the employee himself fell sick, his or her dependence at home suddenly become unwell or there is an accident inside the plant. Unavoidable absenteeism is accepted by managers and is even sanctioned by labour laws. The employees of the study organization have availed leaves for various personal and family reasons. They are aware of the impact of their absence on the productions. Most of the employees admit they are trying to avoid leaves, but many a times things are beyond their control. Some of the employees feel that the management should provide holiday's trip or family get together as recreation so that they will be relaxed after the hectic job schedule. The study concluded that providing positive incentives to the workers in the form of those motivational factors that normally influence to workers to be absent is better than imposing penalties for discouraging absenteeism. This paper analyses the causes of absenteeism and its impact on job performance.