Scheduled or Excused
Unscheduled or Unexcused
No-Fault
Compensated
Uncompensated What is absenteeism? Employment law describes absenteeism is when an employee is not present at work to perform his or her duties during a scheduled time frame. Absences can be classified into different types: scheduled, unscheduled, no-fault, compensated, and uncompensated. Scheduled absences are known and approved by the employer. Employers usually ask for notice of scheduled absences if appropriate. Vacations, funerals, jury duty, military reserves, medical appointments are considered scheduled absences. Unscheduled absences are not approved by the employer. A sickness, emergency (family, personal), transportation problems (care broke down, no ride to work), and in some cases a death in the family are examples of unscheduled absences. A no-fault absence is considered to be an unscheduled absence but is not counted against an employee. An example of a no-fault absence is when a state of emergency is called. Compensated absences are those absences that the employee is paid for without actually working his or her scheduled hours. Most employers call compensated absences paid-time-off (PTO). Absences that the employee is not paid for is uncompensated absences. If an employee does not have PTO or the absence is unscheduled the employee would not be compensated (U.S. Legal, 2001).
Impact of absenteeism
Quality of Patient Care Teamwork
Staff satisfaction Financial Impact The impact of an employee’s absence can be seen in many areas of an organization. Quality of patient care can decrease with unscheduled absenteeism. When an unscheduled absence occurs, employers struggle with finding replacements. Thirty four percent of unscheduled absences are because of illnesses. The other 64% are for family management or personal issues (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2007). In the absence of an employee the team is incomplete. The time required for the others to complete his or her roles and responsibilities increases from shortage of staff. In high acuity, high volume units such as 7 Main at Holy Spirit Hospital, team members and teamwork are essential to providing quality patient care. Staff become dissatisfied when having to work short staffed. They also become dissatisfied when they have to work overtime in-order to complete their responsibilities for the shift. As mentioned before absenteeism affects all aspects of an organization, including the financial side. Organizations are having to pay the employee for time during an absence (if the employee has PTO and it was an excused absence) as well as paying for the staff to fill in for the absent employee. Long absences such as workman’s compensation and leave of absences put an additional strain on financial budgets of organizations. Holy Spirit Hospital has had to hire agency or even travel nurses for extended periods to fill the staffing gap because of unexpected long term absences. Agency and traveling nurses are expensive to hire.
Effects to Holy Spirit Hospital
Development of Policies
Staffing Collaboration Daily Weekly Monthly
Performance Appraisals 90 Day 6 Month Yearly Monetary Reward
Interventions to absenteeism
Teamwork
Leadership
Workload
Clarity
Recognition
Physical work environment Absenteeism is something that we have all seen at some time or another. The effects of absenteeism are not only at the unit level but also can affect the entire organization. Staff morale becomes low and administration becomes frustrated. All this can lead to a negative working environment. Organizations such as Holy Spirit Hospital have developed policies and procedures to handle absenteeism. Employees should be encouraged to have scheduled time off. Organizations have also developed benefits that include paid time off. It is important that employees provide adequate time to calling in so that appropriate staffing can be assembled. Several interventions can be developed to ease the amount of absences. Organizations as a whole, as well as the unit, and individuals need to assist each other in building a positive work environment. Many factors can be controlled so that absences are not high. It is up to each person to do his or her part to make the team work. It is up to each of us to make sure that we do have a positive working environment.
Holy Spirit Hospital. (2010). Human Resource Department Handbook.
Schalk, D. J., Bijl, M. P., Halfens, R. G., Hollands, L., & Cummings, G. G. (2010). Interventions aimed at improving the nursing work environment: a systematic review. Implementation Science, 534- 44. doi:10.1186/1748-5908-5-34
U.S. Legal. (2001). Absenteeism Law and Legal Definition. Retrieved from http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/absenteeism/
Wolters Kluwer Law & Business. (2007). Absenteeism survey issue: HR ideas & trends. Retrieved from http://hr.cch.com/products/productid-4385.asp
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
This article will be incorporated into my final paper to discuss how proper and effective staffing is essential within a health care facility to ensure that it is functioning properly.…
- 190 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Hilton, M. F., Sheridan, J., Cleary, C. M., & Whiteford, H. A. (2009). Employee absenteeism measures reflecting current work practices may be instrumental in a re-evaluation of the relationship between psychological distress/mental health and absenteeism. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 18(1), 37-47. doi:10.1002/mpr.275…
- 1864 Words
- 8 Pages
Best Essays -
Leaving the facility understaffed is having a negative effect on the staff morale and quality of patient care, and must be addressed. According to Roussel, each patient care unit should have a master staffing plan that includes the basic staff needed to cover the unit for each shift. Basic staff is the minimum number of personnel needed to staff the unit and they need to be fully oriented full and part time employees (Roussel, 2013). Options are a) the staff already in place, b) using a short-term contingency staff or a temporary agency, or c) long term temporary nurses or travel nurses.…
- 946 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
Currently, staff members receive an annual performance appraisal which evaluates performance for the entire year. An annual employee survey is conducted to determine the views and perceptions of employee of the hospital and their colleagues. Since MDs work for Columbia University, they are assessed by the college and the method of evaluation was unknown at this time. Both methods of evaluation appear to be effective as employee performance appraisals are being completed annually and in a timely manner. Given the current findings, one can determine that employees should be given another forum to address issues on their performance throughout the year. Monthly and audits are performed on charts in an attempt to discover potential area for reeducation. Daily audits are also done for pyxis, gluconmeter, code carts to ensure that equipment is ready for emergencies. A major component missing is a collaborative interaction between healthcare personnel. Staff members are offered the opportunity to attend continued education, in-services and certification classes as an incentive and to enhance…
- 1469 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Reference: I. Bibliography CENTER, C. C. (1997, JULY). HUMAN RESOURCE POLICY Retrieved from http://www.sfsustudentcenter.com/pdfs/ccschrmanual.pdf Policy, Q. M. (2002). Retrieved from https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiejqq_7t7JAhUJmZQKHSluAQQQFghDMAY&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fpmseta.org.za%2Fdownloads%2FGeneric_QMS_Template_Nov_2012.doc&usg=AFQjCNGy3GyV-YQwrmkUHqsAZKT9z7gjRw&sig2=V School, L. H. (2015). Board of Trustees Governance Structure Policy. Retrieved from http://www.lincoln.school.nz/assets/PDFs-BOTPolicies/GovernanceStructurePolicyJune2015.pdf…
- 66 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
There is additional web information to support the concepts chosen to analyse the problem. These are www.telegraph.co.uk/article/absenteeism and www.thefreelibaray.com/psycologicalcontacts.…
- 1228 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
With this, each nurse on duty can possibly handle more than 4 patients which is opposed to an average of 1 nurse to 4 patients that has been mandated by Victorian model (Gerdtz & Nelson, 2007). This is when the role of human resource management comes in where they plan, select, train and develop the employees to increase productivity and adapt to the pressures in the working environment. However, the human resource responsibilities in acquiring enough staff was not properly managed in our chosen hospital organisation. Exhaustion in work is identified as the main reason for leaving the institution. Consequently, there is a high turnover rate of 24% as evidenced by the number of registered nurses that had resigned in a…
- 2238 Words
- 9 Pages
Best Essays -
1. Did Len Fulkner handle the situation with Harry Boecker correctly? Why or why not?…
- 463 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Cited: Aalto, P., Karhe, L., Koivisto, A.M., & Valimaka, M. (2009). The Connection Between Personnel Resources with Work Loading and Patient Satisfaction on In-Patient Wards. Journal of Nursing Management, 17(1), 135-142. Media. Retrieved 24 August 2011.…
- 3805 Words
- 16 Pages
Best Essays -
As a nurse assistant, staff nurse, charge nurse or nursing administrator, inadequate staffing creates tension and stress. When staffing is inadequate patient safety, infection rates, patient satisfaction and staff satisfaction are only a few of the areas affected. Many hospital administrators and lawmakers want to make patient care a numbers game. According to Morgan (2004), The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requires hospitals to create a staffing plan that defines staffing effectiveness as the skill mix, competence, and effectiveness related to the services needed. Patients are individuals with individual needs and one patient with a certain diagnosis can take much less attention and time from the nurse than a patient of the same age with the same diagnosis.…
- 1168 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Within the strategy step, a plan is developed to ensure that the state of the workforce remains in good standing. Within the planning step, an approach is created that will develop away to fill the current workforce community. The evaluation step, the effectiveness of the plan will be measured. Because at least 10% of the workforce will turnover, it is imperative that we have these steps in place. High turnover rates can have a significant impact on patient satisfaction, strong teams and quality of care. There is a correlation between nurse satisfaction and patient satisfaction. The environment created can have negative effects on employees. Due to this sometime the attitude that the employee has is evident in their work. If a patient’s can sense the level of dissatisfaction they may also feel as if they are not receiving the best possible care. High turnover rates can also effect the morale of other employees. As a result of this there may be lower level of work relationships and friendly relationships being built. This type of isolationist mentality can correlate with lower levels or coordination with other healthcare…
- 505 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The golden rule of “treat others as you would like to be treated” has an important role in managing how organizations deal with employee relations. Most employees just want to be treated fair, honestly and in straightforward manner. When employees are unhappy, feel mistreated, lied to, manipulated or used by their employers is when they sue and this is when having the correct documentation comes into play. Motivated and happy employees will make the organization grow and succeed. Morale can be more important than any wonderful product, cutting-edge technology, or any industry experience. What is the lesson for employers? Invest in the most important asset which is the employees because satisfied employees improve all other areas of a healthcare organization especially patient care. Foremost, an organization needs and wants a happy, loyal, and motivated workforce.…
- 1702 Words
- 7 Pages
Best Essays -
that hospital staff is mentally and physically able to carry out the duties. Recent studies…
- 815 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Measuring the costs of lost productivity and absenteeism can be hard to calculate but once an effective method has been established the results will be quite eye opening. Reliable studies have shown how unhealthy behaviors and illness can cost companies dearly, one such study conducted in 2002 found that at the Dow Chemical Company the cost of lost productivity due to health factors was just under 7% of their total labor costs. (Shultz,Chen, & Edington,2009) . This figure came from a survey conducted by their own employees so one can infer the actual percentage may be higher than what was reported. Many health problems effecting productivity can be countered by incorporating stress management into a wellness program. Those who may…
- 2541 Words
- 8 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Joint Commission. (2010). Management of Human Resources. CAMH: Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals, Hr-1 - HR-10.…
- 2223 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays