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Causes Personal Factors Personal Attitude: The attitude one carries to work says a lot about the person.

Employees with strong ethics will respect their work and appreciate the contribution they make to their companies. Such employees will not engage themselves in taking unscheduled off. On the other hand, employees with very low or no work ethics are undisciplined and have a lot of integrity and behavioral issues. Since, they feel no obligation towards the company, absenteeism comes easily to them. Age: The younger employees are often restless. They want to spend time with their friends and have fun, rather than being tied down with work responsibility. This lack of ownership often leads them to take unauthorized time off. With age, people gain experience and maturity, which makes them focused and responsible. Their approach is rather professional and they prefer to stick to their chairs to get the work done. If ever they are found absent, then it could be due to sickness. Seniority: Employees, who have been with the company for a long time are well-adjusted with the working culture and the job, therefore, they find no reason to be absent without permission. On the other hand, new hires are more prone to taking ad hoc breaks to unwind themselves. Gender: Women generally do a balancing act by shuffling their time between home and work. Family, being their foremost priority, they don't think twice before taking a step day off. Workplace Factors Stress: The pressure at work sometimes takes a toll on the employees. This results in increased levels of stress. The employees then resort to excuses that can help them stay away from work. Work Routine: Doing the same job over a period of time can get monotonous. The employees find the job functions boring. They choose to do something interesting rather than come to work. Job Satisfaction: If employees do not find their job challenging, dissatisfaction creeps in. That leads to more absenteeism.

Dealing with Absenteeism in the Workplace Design a comprehensive leave policy that is in alignment with the company's values and objectives. The workplace communication, while dealing with sensitive issues like absenteeism should be clear and transparent. Employees should be made aware of the adverse effects of unauthorized time off. Monitor the attendance of all employees. The departmental heads should maintain an attendance sheet on a regular basis. Acknowledge regularity and punctuality, and reward appropriately. Try to know the reason behind an employee's leave of absence. Face to face conversation might help. Conduct regular health check ups to curb absenteeism due to illness. Introduce employee engagement programs to involve employees to participate actively in the

welfare of the organization. Supervisors and managers should be trained to understand the psyche behind absenteeism, and eventually decrease it. Introducing counseling sessions could prove beneficial in curbing absenteeism due to stress. Keep your staff motivated by creating a favorable environment. Absenteeism in the workplace can be controlled, if adequate measures are taken. To attain zero absenteeism is next to impossible. But with the controls in place, decrease in absenteeism is guaranteed.

The Causes of Absenteeism The causes of absenteeism may include: 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, child care etc.) poor physical fitness transportation problems the existence of income protection plans (collective agreement ) benefits which continue income during periods of illness or accident.) stress workload employee discontent with the work environment Common Problems at Work PEOPLE FAIL TO MEET TARGETS CONTINUALLY The Effect: One of the first problems occurring in the workplace could be with people who fail to give the expected performance, repeatedly. It can be a major problem, because one person not achieving the target, can put pressure on the other team members as well. More so, it can, at times, render the other team member's work useless, if you know what I mean. UNIMPORTANT MEETINGS, DISCUSSIONS LENGTHY AND INSIGNIFICANT The Effect: Meetings are important no doubt. However, calling a meeting for discussing small matters can prove to be a waste of valuable resources and time. Hence, make sure that you plan out a meeting properly. PEOPLE MISUSE THE TERM - AUTHORITY The Effect: Another major problem in the workplace pertains to people not having the required authority to take decisions. This is common at the workplace wherein individuals are power

struck and don't believe in delegation of authority. INCOMPETENCE IN THE WORKPLACE The Effect: Inability to work well by some employees has always been an issue at every workplace. As these employees don't do their work properly, there is always a need to supervise or look into their work a second time, which can be quite time-consuming in crunch situations. So, how do we deal with such incompetent employees? TOO MUCH WORK TO DO, TOO LITTLE TIME IN HAND The Effect: This is another common occurrence at workplaces, but it should be dealt with and managed well, otherwise it will affect the quality of work. What is the point in completing the work targets, when it has got several mistakes in them. This problem calls for systematic planning and division of work. LACK OF WORK RECOGNITION; MORE CRITICISM The Effect: Some work for fulfillment, while others work out of love and passion for their work. While working, recognition and acknowledgement play a vital role in boosting employee morale, without which, work productivity could suffer. Also constant criticism would not go down well with employees. Criticism and lack of recognition would eventually make employees lose interest in their work. Importance of Confidentiality at Work Confidentiality is of paramount importance. It is the employee's responsibility to treat all the information in the workplace with care and caution. An employee should be prudent enough not to disclose any information that the organization considers sensitive and confidential, to a third party, unless and until the employee has consulted and taken permission from his supervisor regarding the same. Also, one should refrain from sharing any personal details with fellow colleagues at work. This helps to maintain a professional attitude at work. An employee should know what files or materials he is permitted to access in the office and he should adhere to that. Under no circumstances should these files be shared or given to unauthorized people. This is because if it reaches the wrong hands, it can be considered as a breach of confidentiality and the employee may even be dismissed for it. Also, employees should not discuss any business dealings with the clients, outside work. As far as the employer is concerned, any personal or professional details of employees should be handled with prudence. Data related to the personal details of an employee, applications forms, references, health data, salary structure should be kept well under wraps because if they are misused, it can lead to discrimination in the workplace. Only staff members of the HR department who require the data for certain purposes should be given access to the personal files of employees. Maintaining confidentiality is important for varied reasons. The client or the customer can file legal suits against the organization if they feel that some secret information regarding them have been revealed by the organization or its employees. This can have negative repercussions on the

business's reputation as well. So it becomes very important for the employees as well as the organization to protect information in the workplace. How to Maintain Confidentiality in the Workplace? The HR department should devise strategies and guidelines to ensure that workplace confidentiality is maintained. Here are some effective steps which can be taken to protect information. The human resource professionals should take necessary steps to prevent the misuse of information that is personal. This is applicable to the HR department as well. Personal files of employees and the management should be safely stored to avoid misuse, loss or unauthorized access. Once the policies are devised, the next thing to do is to communicate the same to all the employees, supervisors and managers. Training them about the confidentiality issues by giving them printouts of the policy or holding meetings and seminars in the office which teach the importance of confidentiality to the employees, should be done on a regular basis. It is very important that the employees know which actions of theirs will be considered as a breach of confidentiality and what will be the consequences of the same, to deter them from doing so. With most of the information these days stored electronically, to ensure its safety, sophisticated electronic methods such as firewalls, password protection, encryption, etc. should be adopted. This will keep the access, usage and transmission of the protected data, safe. Disposing off sensitive information in the right manner, if it's not required anymore is equally important. The employer or the human resource personnel should do it in such a way that there are no potential leaks. The privacy policies and guidelines should be updated regularly according to the new laws devised by the government. The same should be communicated to the employees to ensure their compliance. By maintaining the confidentiality standards in the workplace, an organization not only protects itself from legal hassles but improves the employee productivity as well by providing them with a secure and safe work environment. Planning Whenever possible it is always a good idea to plan ahead for change. People usually like to know how a particular change is going to affect them. Dropping hints or providing vague answers can cause unnecessary anxiety and make the change more difficult to accept. Therefore, try to have as much information about the change as possible before introducing it to your employees. Chances are the more organized you appear the more they will trust not only you, but the change itself. Communication It's important to communicate effectively with your employees, especially when introducing change into the workplace. One thing people seem to forget is that communication goes both ways. Even though it is important that you provide employees with the information they need to perform their job, it is equally important that you not only allow, but invite communication,

feedback and questions from your employees. It is important for them to know that they have a voice, that their concerns and ideas are heard and valued. Also, the more information they have, the more comfortable they will feel and will probably be more willing to accept the change you propose. Make sure that when implementing the change, the employees or at least those impacted by the change know why the change is happening. Communicating change in the workplace effectively is one of the most important factors that can help things go smoothly. Availability Even though you are likely running in a million different directions throughout the day, it is important that you make yourself available to your employees, especially during a time of change. They will probably have questions, especially at the beginning. Knowing that you are available to address their concerns could make them feel a little more secure and confident about their role in the change. Follow-up Following up with employees to check on progress is a key element to implementing change in the workplace successfully. How has the change impacted their job? Are any adjustments needed to make the work flow smoother? Have there been any unexpected outcomes as a result of the change? Set a date to follow-up with your employees and follow through with it. Their feedback is important to ensuring a positive outcome. Listen So often we get caught up in everyday activities that we forget to truly listen to our employees. It's true that you may not be able to make everybody's job easier or more efficient, but it is worthwhile to listen to what your employees have to say. They may bring a problem to the surface. They may have ideas to make a process run smoother. Employees can offer great ideas if we take the time to listen to them. As a manager you can do everything right, you can plan ahead, communicate, make yourself available and follow-up, but if you don't listen you could be missing a key element to implementing a successful change.

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