Absence Management

Because of the demand for lower prices and streamlined operations, absence management has become a mandatory process in today’s highly competitive business world. With employees absent an average of 6.9 days per year at $725 per employee, absences have a clear financial cost. Absences also cause workplace disruption (such as workload rearrangement or shift rescheduling), negative attitudes from co-workers handling extra work, and even increased payroll integration errors. Strong programs help address the cost of absenteeism and reduce overall productivity loss from absences.

Absence management programs automate scheduling for easier handling of sick leave policy, vacations, and other absences. These systems also provide data on production levels that facilitate adjustment of workers and hours based on changing output requirements. These programs increase HR efficiencies by identifying absence trends before problems occur and by generating absence reporting metrics that support new strategies, policies, processes, and procedures. This leads to stronger absence compliance and helps track absenteeism rates.

Absence management solutions drive savings in multiple ways. The biggest savings come from automated leave administration and payroll integration, which eliminate errors that cause employee frustration, additional HR work, and accounting correction costs. Compliance features also help companies avoid the financial and reputational impact of ignoring state leave laws, FMLA compliance or mandatory rest requirements which is a critical step in effective risk mitigation.

Companies that include absence management software and time and attendance tools in their absence management program benefit from valuable functionality. These systems generate absence analytics that provide insight into absence forecasting, highlight nonstandard or unauthorized leave patterns, and support HRIS integration. Together, they streamline operations, reduce costs and improve employee self-service portal access to leave balances.

To create a policy, a company should establish clear short- and long-term business objectives, using metrics on employee demographics, contracts, and performance. A strong policy should integrate leave management, align with leave policy compliance, and build in consistent return-to-work programs. Many employers engage in scenario planning with outside experts in HR technology consulting to ensure strategies address evolving state leave laws and regulatory risk. Ongoing monitoring of results and adjustments keeps the program effective.

Intermittent leave allows an employee to take time off in separate blocks rather than one continuous period. Managing it effectively requires clear leave administration, accurate tracking and consistent manager communication. A strong absence management program provides tools to align with FMLA compliance, reduce disruptions and improve overall absence compliance. 

Organizations should monitor absenteeism rates, the cost of absenteeism, lost workdays per employee and return-to-work program success rates. Advanced absence analytics and absence reporting also reveal absence trends, making it easier to benchmark against industry norms, forecast with absence forecasting and improve workforce productivity.

Integration with HRIS integration, time and attendance and payroll integration systems ensures that leave management and accruals flow seamlessly across platforms. This reduces errors, strengthens leave policy compliance and improves efficiency by giving employees access to real-time balances through an employee self-service portal. 

Failure to follow FMLA compliance, ADA accommodations or state leave laws can result in fines, lawsuits, and reputational harm. Inconsistent leave management also creates regulatory risk and exposes employers to employee grievances. A well-structured absence management program reduces exposure through clear risk mitigation practices, manager training and accurate documentation.