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 errors.

Absence management programs automate scheduling for easier handling of sick leave, vacations, and other absences. These systems also provide data on production levels that facilitates adjustment of workers and hours based on changing output requirements. These programs also help to increase HR efficiencies by identifying absence trends before problems occur and by generating metrics that assist in creation of strategies, policies, processes, and procedures to reduce and manage absences.

Absence management programs drive savings in various ways. The biggest savings derives from a program’s automated payroll capabilities, which eliminate errors that cause employee frustration, additional HR work, and accounting correction costs. Program compliance features that help companies avoid the financial and reputational costs associated with failure to follow laws on maximum overtime hours, mandatory rest breaks, and reporting obligations.

Companies that include time and attendance software in their workforce absence management program benefit from a wide range of valuable functionality. These solutions generate HR metrics that provide insight relating to trends about nonstandard or unauthorized absences. This software also permits companies streamline operations and reduce costs.

To create a policy, a company should establish concrete current and long-term business objectives, using metrics on employee demographics, work contracts, seniority profiles, and performance and quality of existing staff. The company must also identify skills gaps and engage in workforce scenario planning, often with an outside consultant. Also recommended is real-time monitoring of results and adjustment of plans as circumstances may require.