Introduction

A study on employee absenteeism

CHAPTER -1
1. INTRODUCTION
EMPLOYEE ABSENTEEISM

Employee Absenteeism is referred to herein as failure of employees to report for work

when they are scheduled to work. Employees who are away from work on recognized holidays,
vacations, approved leaves of absence, or leaves of absence allowed for under the collective
agreement provisions would not be included. Employee Absenteeism is a habitual pattern of
absence from a duty or obligation. Traditionally, Employee absenteeism has been viewed as an
indicator of poor individual performance, as well as a breach of an implicit contract between
employee and employer; it was seen as a management problem, and framed in economic or
quasi-economic terms. More recent scholarship seeks to understand Employee absenteeism as an
indicator of psychological, medical, or social adjustment to work.

High absenteeism in the workplace may be indicative of poor morale, but absences can
also be caused by workplace hazards or sick building syndrome. Many employers use statistics
such as the Bradford factor that do not distinguish between genuine illness and absence for
inappropriate reasons.

As a result, many employees feel obliged to come to work while ill, and transmit
communicable diseases to their co-workers. This leads to even greater absenteeism and reduced
productivity among other workers who try to work while ill. Work forces often excuse
absenteeism caused by medical reasons if the worker supplies a doctor's note or other form of
documentation. Sometimes, people choose not to show up for work and do not call in advance,
which businesses may find to be unprofessional and inconsiderate. This is called a "no call, no
show". According to Nelson & Quick (2008) people who are dissatisfied with their jobs are
absent more frequently. They went on to say that the type of dissatisfaction that most often leads
employees to miss work is dissatisfaction with the work itself.
 The psychological model that discusses this is the "withdrawal model", which assumes
that absenteeism represents individual withdrawal from dissatisfying working conditions. This
finds empirical support in a negative association between absence and job satisfaction, especially
satisfaction with the work itself.

Medical-based understanding of absenteeism find support in research that links

absenteeism with smoking, problem drinking, low back pain, and migraines. Absence ascribed to
medical causes is often still, at least in part, voluntary. Research shows that over one trillion
dollars is lost annually due to productivity shortages as a result of medical-related absenteeism,
and that increased focus on preventative wellness could reduce these costs. The line between
psychological and medical causation is blurry, given that there are positive links between both
work stress and depression and absenteeism. Depressive tendencies may lie behind some of the
absence ascribed to poor physical health, as with adoption of a "culturally approved sick role".
This places the adjective "sickness" before the word "absence", and carries a burden of more
proof than is usually offered.

Evidence indicates that absence is generally viewed as "mildly deviant workplace

behavior". For example, people tend to hold negative stereotypes of absentees, under report their
own absenteeism, and believe their own attendance record is better than that of their peers.
Negative attributions about absence then bring about three outcomes: the behavior is open to
social control, sensitive to social context, and is a potential source of workplace conflict.

Thomas suggests that there tends to be a higher level of stress with people who work with
or interact with a narcissist, which in turn increases absenteeism and staff turnover.

Absence control can often be an important step in the process of reducing business costs.
Because of competitive pressures, companies can no longer afford to carry unnecessary absence
that they may have tolerated in the past. Therefore, many companies are focusing on the issue of
eliminating, or at least reducing, unnecessary levels of absence.

Absence affects more than just the person who is absent. The absent employees
themselves and their dependants may have a reduced income as a result of absence, besides
incurring possible additional medical expenses. Employers are affected by direct costs such as
sick pay, overtime and staff replacement costs, plus the indirect costs associated with the effects
of absence on, for example, production and quality, management time and the potential loss of
customers. The co-workers of an absent employee may have to work under increased pressure, in
order to meet deadlines. From an economic point of view, there is the loss of potential out-put,
plus the increased government spend on social security payments. For example, the cost to the
State of disability benefits (i.e. a payment made to insured persons who are unfit for work due to
illness). Invalidity pension (payable instead of disability benefit if a person has been incapable of
work for at least 12 months) cost the State €403.6 million in 2002.

But absence control is not just about cost. When absence is not addressed or addressed in
an inconsistent manner, lower morale can result. Employees can feel they have been treated
unfairly when they perceive other absent employees as ‘getting away with it’. Absence can also
be a symptom of a more serious underlying problem, such as bullying and/or harassment,
communication breakdown, stress, etc., which could, if not investigated, lead to significant costs
to the organization, as well as causing long-term damage to the employee. Employees, them-
selves, also may have personal circumstances that require them to take time off work. A recent
IBEC survey2showed that personal problems were cited as a cause of absence in a significant
Number of companies, for both males and females.

A certain level of absence is to be expected, as employees may have to be absent from

work as a result of illness. In the majority of cases, employees are acting responsibly by staying
at home to recover, instead of coming to work and either passing on their illness to other staff, or
returning to work too early and getting a more severe illness. Employers, however, have the right
to expect responsible absence behavior when a healthy working environment is provided. Over
half of the companies in the IBEC survey thought that it would be possible to reduce their
absence rates.
The notion of what constitutes absenteeism has changed through the years as employees
statutory leave entitlements and authorized company-level leave have increased. In 19803the
Federated Union of Employers (FUE) defined absenteeism as ‘all absence from work other than
Planned holidays’. Nowadays, apart from sickness, employees can be absent from work for any
one of a number of reasons, either under statutory leave entitlement (such as – annual leave,
maternity or adoptive leave, parental leave, force majeure and career’s leave), or under arrange-
mentis agreed at an individual company level (such as compassionate or bereavement leave,
study and/or exam leave, marriage leave, training, etc.).

Historically, there has also been a shift away from viewing the term absenteeism solely as
a pejorative term, to also identifying and addressing the underlying causes or conditions. In the
Past the term has been associated mainly with the notion of ‘malingering’ or ‘pretending’ to be
Sick (for example Moore4in 1977 defined absenteeism as ‘the practice of workers failing to
Report for work on some slight excuse or none at all’).

Concern about absence can be triggered by high levels of absence, the necessity to find
ways of reducing costs, in addition to needing to find an ‘acceptable’ level of absence. Many
organizations appear to accept a certain level of absence i.e. where a proportion of their
employees are away on any particular day. The recent IBEC study found that over half of the
respondents did not consider they had a problem with absence. However, more than four out of
ten companies in the survey considered their absence levels to be a cause for concern. As only a
portion of absence days are subject to organization control – it is important to determine what
portion of employee absence is avoidable.

THE CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM

 Serious accidents and illness

 Low morale
 Poor working conditions
 Boredom on the job
 Lack of job satisfaction
 Inadequate leadership and poor supervision
 Personal problems (financial, marital, substance abuse, childcare etc.)
 Poor physical fitness
 Transportation problems
 inadequate nutrition
  The existence of income protection plans (collective agreement provisions which
continue income during periods of illness or accident)
 Stress
 Workload
 Employee discontent with a collective bargaining process and/or its results.

THE COST OF ABSENTEEISM

Decrease in Productivity

 Employees may be carrying an extra workload or supporting new or replacement staff.

 Employees may be required to train and orientate new or replacement workers Staff.
 Morale and employee service may suffer.
Financial Costs

 Payment of overtime may result.

 Cost of self-insured income protection plans must be borne plus the wage costs of
replacement employees.
 Premium costs may rise for insured plans.

Administrative

 Staff time is required to secure replacement employees or to re-assign the remaining

employees.
 Staff time is required to maintain and control absenteeism.

TRENDS IN ABSENTEEISM

Recent surveys indicate the following trends in absenteeism.

 The higher the rate of pay and the greater the length of service of the employee, the fewer
the absences.
 As an organization grows, there is a tendency towards higher rates of absenteeism.
 Women are absent more frequently than men.
 Single employees are absent more frequently than married employees.
  Younger employees are absent more frequently than older employees but the latter are
absent for longer periods of time.
 Unionized

UNDERSTANDING ABSENTEEISM

The definition of absenteeism, its causes, its affects on productivity, and its costs in terms
of finances and administrative effectiveness are quite clear. What is not as clear is how to take
affirmative action to control absenteeism in such a way as not to create mistrust, costly
administration and systems avoidance (game players). Traditional methods of absenteeism
control based only on disciplinary procedures have proven to be ineffective. It is almost
impossible to create a fair disciplinary procedure because even well run disciplinary systems,
which treat similar actions in consistently similar ways, are usually seen as unfair. The reason for
this is discipline alone usually does not identify or address the root causes of absenteeism.

Every employee who takes time off in defiance of company regulations has reasons, right
or wrong, which justify to themselves the legitimacy of their actions. Unless a management
attendance program identifies and addresses the causes of employee absenteeism it will be
ineffective and unfair. Traditional disciplinary programs alone can, at best, give the illusion of
control. It is no secret that there are ways to beat even the best systems. The fear of discipline
often only increases the desire to avoid management systems. If absenteeism is to be controlled.
The physical and emotional needs of employees must be addressed. In a 1985 study on "Rates of
Absence among Nurses" it was found that 50% of absenteeism could be controlled through
attending to employees physical and emotional needs.

PURPOSE OF ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT

 The purpose of attendance management is to develop a willingness on the part of all our
employees to attend work regularly and to assist them in motivating their coworkers to attend
work regularly. This can be done through:

 Addressing the physical and emotional needs of our employees

 Communicating the attendance goals of the organization so employees can understand
and identify with them
 Dealing with cases of excessive absenteeism effectively and fairly so deterrence can
occur.

Successful administration of an attendance management program requires managers and

supervisors to be aware of and create work environments in which the following can be
actualized:

 The greater the extent to which individuals identify their goals with the goals of the
organization and care what happens to it, the greater their motivation to be regular in
attendance.
 The more people find their jobs meaningful to them, the greater their motivation to be
regular in attendance.
 As employee’s workload increases due to the absence of a co-worker, peer pressure is
exerted on the absent co-worker to attend work on a regular basis.
 The more people like working for the organization the higher their motivation to attend
regularly. Recognition of good employee attendance helps improve attendance.
 Employees will have a lower absence ratio if they feel free to discuss their on-the-job
problems with their immediate supervisor.
 Employees with a low absence ratio have attitudes of confidence and "team" spirit.
 Low absence ratio employees are found to be more satisfied with their opportunity for
promotion and upgrading.

COMMITMENT TO ATTENDANCE
 This paper provides the information necessary to begin an effective attendance
management program which will yield long term results. This paper is intended to be a guide
rather than an instruction manual or policy. To make an attendance management program truly
successful, it will require insight into the special dynamics present in your work place. It will
require two-way communication, as both the needs of the employees and of management must
be met if good attendance is to be achieved. Attendance is the responsibility of the facility
management and ultimately the administrators.

Attendance is not an expectation. It is a right of employers to have good attendance. Each

and every employee has a contractual obligation to attend work regularly. All levels of
management must believe in, be committed to, and communicate their expectations of good
attendance. If a specific number of sick days are considered acceptable per employee, at best that
will be the result. Employees will live up or down to expectations. Expectations must be clear to
both management and employees in order for an attendance management program to get
maximum results. Goals must be tangible. Attendance expectations must be clearly
communicated and followed.

Company profile:
Founder Chairman – Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals Limited
G.Varadaraj
G. VARADARAJ
FOUNDER
(1936 – 1990)
Late Shri G.Varadaraj, popularly known as GV, was a pioneer in education and industry
as well as a Parliamentarian. He supported the growth and development of the PSG group of
educational institutions such as the Sarva Jana Higher Secondary School, the PSG college of Arts
and Science, the PSG Industrial Institute, the PSG College of Technology and the PSG Medical
College. As the Managing Trustee of the PSG group of institutions from 1978 to 1990, he
founded the Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in 1985. Shri G.Varadaraj had also
played a commendable role in the Rotary movement. He was largely instrumental in starting the
Measles Immunization and Polio Vaccination Programmes in the early 1980s in the Rotary
District 320 (now 3201) which comprised many rural areas of Tamilnadu and Kerala.
 Shri G.Varadaraj was the founder of Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals Limited (RSCL) in
1987 and setup a sugar factory in a most backward area of the Theni district of Tamilnadu, which
paved the way for the economic and social development of the area by providing employment
opportunities to the local people. Shri G.Varadaraj was a distinguished Parliamentarian. As a
Member of the Rajya Sabha for six years from 1983, he served on several committees. He was
Chairman/President, Vice-President, Director and Member of many foundations and
organizations such as Indian Cotton Mills Federation, Southern India Mills Association, Indian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Coimbatore) and Engineering Export Promotion Council.
Mission & Vision
Rajshree ….people, passion, progress
Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals Ltd, a company with a difference; people….. its strength,
passionately converting every challenge into an opportunity pursuing continuous progress. A
listed company headquartered in Coimbatore is part of a group with diverse interests in
agribusiness, textiles, automotive trading, travel and biotechnology. With three integrated sugar
factories located in rural Tamilnadu, they are the single most valuable resource centres for the
rural community and their economy. The sugar factory facilitates indirect employment in
farming, logistics and support services. The entire raw material, sugarcane, is sourced from the
local area.
Board Of Directors

RAJSHREE PATHY
PROMOTER/CHAIRPERSON (DIN: 00001614)

She was the first woman President of Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) (2004-
2005). She was the President of the South Indian Sugar Mills Association (SISMA), (1995-
1997) & (2007-2009), the premier association of sugar factories in South India. She has
contributed to the sugar industry’s growth and government policies by being part of the
Confederation of Indian Industry. As the Vice Chairperson of the National Committee on
Sugar, she has pushed for wide sweeping reforms in the heavily controlled industry.

A commerce graduate and an alumnus of the Owner President Management

Programme of the Harvard University, USA. Her dynamic role in industry has been
recognized in her selection as one of the hundred “Global Leaders for Tomorrow” for 1996 by
the World Economic Forum, Geneva. She was awarded the Eisenhower fellowship in
2000.She has been conferred with Padmashri Award in the field of Trade and Industry by the
Government of India in the year 2013. Under her leadership, the Rajshree group of companies
has grown to include Travel, Natural Health Care, biotechnology and education in the field of
visual art and design.
 Industry profile:

“Demerara Sugar” takes its name from a place in Guyana (South America), where this
specific type of large crystallized sugar first originated. This variety of sugar dates back to a
long ago period and has recently made a strong comeback as people are choosing more
nutritious options.Demerara is a golden colored natural sugar, blended with molasses,
contains no additives, no preservatives and is also Sulphur free. The large sparkling crystals
and crunchy texture gives delicious depth of flavor to coffees, hot cereals, cakes and desserts.
Sprinkle a little of RAJSHREE DEMERARA SUGAR to get that extra sparkle and crunch!

RAJSHREE DEMERARA SUGAR is produced from cane grown using sustainable eco-
friendly farming practice. With every purchase, you help improve the lives of thousands of
small-scale farmers.

Organic Manure :
GreenPLUS is an organic manure originating from the aerobic solid state fermentation of sugar
industry press mud using concentrated spent wash, a by-product of the distillery industry. The
decomposition is enhanced by the usage of a microbial consortium consisting of fungi, bacteria
and Actinomycetes. The aerobic microbes utilize the carbon in the raw materials and decompose
the press mud which acts as the substrate for their growth and convert it into a superior quality
organic manure that can be used for agricultural purposes. The manufacture utilizes a unique
machine called the Aerotiller that agitates, aerates and shreds the press mud thus fastening the
process of decomposition to 13 weeks.
Employee Welbeing
AIM

To enhance the quality of life of employees

OBJECTIVE

Building up a positive atmosphere in family and workplace

Target Group Specific Objective

Enabling them to accept challenges with an open mind

Employees
And give them a better understanding of their feelings

Employees’ To enable employees spouses to be supportive in the family  in terms of

Spouse financial and emotional aspects

Employees’ Educating employees’ children to be responsible individuals who could

Children be role models for their future generation.
FOCUS AREAS

 Youth Development
 Relationship
 Balancing Family and Work Life
 Child Rearing Practices
Keeping in mind these focus areas the following INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES were/
are being organised to achieve the overall objective.

INTERVENTION FOR EMPLOYEES

Counselling
Intervention is categorised into development & problem oriented counselling. Intervention
helps employees to vent out their pent up feelings and also plan for their self development and
development in their families.

Home visits
Home visits are made to employees’ houses to build up a good rapport with the families and
this is also taken up as a follow up of counselling or training programmes.

Referral services
Referral is done to appropriate agencies whenever the need arises with the support of local
Non- Govt Organisation.
Training programme on “Quality of Life”
This training programme focussing on the holistic development of the family was organised
during the sensing phase to understand the culture of the place and build up a rapport.

Training programme on “Parenting”

This need based programme is for the employees and spouses. This focusses on educating
employees about healthy parenting patterns.

Pre-retirement counselling programmes

This programme is organised for the retiring employees and their spouse. This focusses on
giving inputs on physical, psychological and financial well being.

Mass awareness programmes

Mass awareness programmes are organised for employees & their families addressing specific
issues. Programmes like “ways to succeed in life” & “world health day” celebrations were
organised.

Environmental Developments

We, at Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals Limited, implemented various environment protections
by adopting innovative technologies, infrastructure etc. and meeting the effluent norms set by
the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board.

SUGAR PLANT

Conventional sugar plant uses raw water for sugar processing and dump the surplus
condensate as waste to the environment. Whereas in our sugar factory instead of raw water,
excess condensate generated from the sugarcane is used for sugar processing since the
sugarcane itself contains 70% of water. Apart from the above around 300 m3 per day of II
body condensate is being sent to Distillery plant to reduce the distillery plant water
consumption.

An Effluent Treatment Plant of capacity 825 m3/day with Anaerobic digester, Aaerators and
Clarifier, which is first of its kind, had been installed to treat the effluent generated from the
sugar processing. The entire treated water meets the norms set by the Tamilnadu Pollution
Control Board and the treated water is used for our R&D cane field irrigation purpose.
The treated water is analysed through online monitoring system which is connected to
Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board Water Quality Watch Centre, which in turn connected
with the Central Pollution Control Board for close monitoring of the parameters.

COGENERATION PLANT

20.5 MW/Hr Cogeneration plant with 110 Ata 545 deg.C High pressure Boiler with triple
extraction cum condensing Turbine.

Flue gas generated from the Boiler is passed through the Electro static precipitator which
removes the dust particles from the flue gas and after ESP, the flue gas is being let out
through a chimney of 90 mtr height. This emission meets the norms set by the Tamilnadu
Pollution Control Board.

The emission level is continuously monitored through Online Monitoring System which is
hooked up with Care Air Centre of Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board. The emission levels
are well within the norms set by the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board i.e. <150 mg/NM3.

Apart from the above, in the Cogeneration plant an Air Cooled Condenser had been installed
in place of conventional surface condenser which is highly water intensive. Around 600 m3
per day of raw water is saved by installation of air cooled condenser.

DISTILLERY PLANT

Ours is a zero discharge distillery plant and the entire effluent generated from the plant is
completely incinerated in the Incineration Boiler after concentrating in various stages viz.,
Integrated Evaporation, Flubex and Finisher from 15 brix to 60 brix.

The concentrated spent wash is burnt in the spent wash fired Boiler and Coal is used as a
supportive fuel for the same. The steam generated from this Boiler is used for power
generation and the low pressure steam meets the complete power & steam requirement of
distillery process.

Flue gas generated from the spent wash fired Boiler consists of fine particles, for which bag
filter system had been installed to clean the flue gas which reduces the dust concentration and
meets the norms set by the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board i.e. 150 mg/NM3. Finally the
flue gas is let out through the chimney of 76 mtr height. The emission levels are well within
the norms set by the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board.
The entire flue gas is closely monitored by online monitoring system which is hooked up with
Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board.

During the processing of concentrated spent wash, the condensate is separated which is highly
acidic in nature and having high biological load. The same is being treated through Anaerobic
Digester and Extended Aeration Tank followed by Clarifier and the same is used for molasses
dilution in Fermentation process.

CSR Policy

Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals Ltd, is committed to upholding the highest standards of
corporate social responsibility. We believe in the purpose of improving the quality of life of
the communities we serve through long term stakeholder value creation. We believe in
positively impacting the environment and supporting the communities we operate in, focusing
on sustainability of our programs and empowerment of our communities.

CSR ACTIVITIES / PRIORITIES:

 Eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition, promoting preventive health care

and sanitation and making available safe drinking water
 Promoting education, including special education and employment enhancing
vocation skills especially among children, women, elderly, and the differently
abled and livelihood enhancement projects
 Promoting gender equality, empowering women, setting up homes and hostels for
women and orphans; setting up old age homes, day care centres and such other
facilities for senior citizens and measures for reducing inequalities faced by
socially and economically backward groups
 Ensuring environmental sustainability, ecological balance, protection of flora and
fauna, animal welfare, agroforestry, conservation of natural resources and
maintaining quality of soil, air and water
 Protection of national heritage, art and culture including restoration of buildings
and sites of historical importance and works of art; setting up public libraries;
promotion and development of traditional handicrafts
 Measures for the benefit of armed forces veterans, war widows and their
dependents
 Training to promote rural sports, nationally recognised sports, paralympic sports
and Olympic sports
 Contribution to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund or any other fund set up

by the Central Government for socio-economic development and relief and
welfare of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes,
minorities and women
 Contributions or funds provided to technology incubators located within academic
institutions which are approved by the Central Government
 Rural development projects including slum area development
 Such other activities as may be prescribed / recommended by the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs / Central Government, from time to time
CSR COMMITTEE

The CSR Committee shall consist of the following Directors

 Mr.S.Krishnaswami, Chairman (Independent Director)
 Mr.K.Ilango, Member (Independent Director)
 Mr.R.Varadarajan, Member (Executive Director)
A BROAD TERM OF REFERENCE OF THE CSR COMMITTEE IS FURNISHED
HEREUNDER

To formulate and recommend to the Board, a CSR Policy which shall indicate the

activities to be undertaken by the Company as per the Companies Act, 2013
 To review and recommend the amount of expenditure to be incurred on the
activities to be undertaken by the company
 To monitor the CSR policy of the company from time to time
IMPLEMENTATION & MONITORING

The Company will implement our CSR activities in a number of ways: Directly through our
in-house teams and through our Educational Trusts and societies or such other
entities/organisations as approved by the CSR Committee.

Implementation of this policy will be monitored and reviewed periodically through a three tier
structure comprising:

 CSR committee of the Board

 CSR teams at the corporate offices and manufacturing plants
GENERAL

The surplus arising out of CSR activities, projects or programmes shall not form part of the
business profits of the Company.
The CSR Committee will decide on the location for CSR activities. The local area in which
the Company operates will be given preference.

EFFECTIVE DATE

This Policy is effective from 1st April 2015

Need for the study:

Objectives of the study:

i. To identify the rate of absenteeism o f “worker”.

ii. To identify the causes of absenteeism.
iii. To suggest any measures to reduce the rate of absenteeism

Scope of the study:

The scope of this paper will be confined to companies, sources and publications within
the United States. This issue does not require the inclusion of additional international data from
foreign sources. This paper will consider the various types of absenteeism, motivation for such
absenteeism and corrective actions designed to reduce such actions in the future.

Absenteeism is a universal problem. The study confines more on the permanent

employees and also it covers 11 the major aspects of absenteeism

Literature review:
Research methodology;
Limitation:
Data analysis:
Finding
Suggestion
Conclusion: