In 2021, the manufacturing sector remained one of the industries most affected by employee absences. Considering that employee absenteeism is particularly harmful to these companies’ productivity and sustainability, this reality may seem alarming. However, concrete solutions exist to reduce absenteeism rates in manufacturing. In addition, these tips will help you achieve great organizational balance!
1) Employee Engagement Strategies
If you have identified absenteeism issues in your organization, it is time to build strategies to mobilize your entire team! Indeed, employee absenteeism is often the result of a loss of motivation. Reasons for absenteeism include:
- Stress and poor morale;
- Loss of engagement or interest in the job;
- Poor work climate and conflict with a manager or employee;
- As a result, repeated absences while the employee looks for another position.
Engagement Surveys for a Healthy Dialogue
Establishing a dialogue with absentee employees is critical to understand their motivations and find common ground. However, it can be difficult for these employees to discuss their personal issues directly.
Engagement surveys are helpful tools to overcome this challenge: it is often easier to express ourselves in writing, especially when we know that the information we share is confidential. The first step in your employee engagement strategy will undoubtedly be to listen to your employees and take their expectations into account!
Building a Relationship Between Managers and Teams
Discussions between managers and employees are essential for workforce motivation. They must be open, frequent and constructive. Effective performance management is also an excellent strategy to guarantee your employees’ progress and identify possible productivity losses before they get worse.
Indeed, performance reviews represent the perfect opportunity to identify declines in motivation and discuss employee expectations and goals.
The Importance of Training in Manufacturing
To prevent your employees from feeling stagnant in their professional lives, you need to discuss career advancement and learning opportunities.
Folks HR software offers comprehensive career and training management features to effectively support your teams throughout their professional path. Provide timely training, discuss potential raises and career advancement, all the while benefiting from automated reminders and centralized information!
Building a culture of ongoing training with efficient HR software in manufacturing industry will also reduce accident rates, thereby resolving a significant factor of employee absenteeism in the manufacturing industry.
Feel free to check out our article on training challenges in manufacturing!
2) Absenteeism Management and HR Technology
To overcome employee absenteeism issues in your company, it is also essential to manage and track absences efficiently and gather the data you need.
However, if you rely on repetitive manual processes to keep track of employee absences, your practices need to be optimized by absence management technology.
Absence Data Centralization
Absence management tools are crucial in an increasingly digitized and fast-paced world of work. HRIS (Human Resources Information Systems) offer key features to track absences by employee, department, period… With the right technology, managing absences has never been easier: centralize data on your platform to avoid time wasted searching for information and avoid the risk of errors!
Identification of Absenteeism Rates and Factors
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are also valuable tools for obtaining clear statistics on absenteeism rates in your company. They will allow you to determine the extent of the issue and establish clear objectives for your absence reduction strategy.
Similarly, you will keep data on the reasons given for your employees’ absences, and you will be able to quickly identify problematic situations(repeated or excessive absences).
In conclusion: Rethink Your Work Climate and Engagement Strategies
As you can see, a good work climate and technology tools are essential for reducing absenteeism in your manufacturing company. In addition to regular surveys and ongoing training to boost workplace morale, there are many other aspects you can work on to improve your organizational culture over the long term:
- Workplace Flexibility: Offer flexible schedules and hours to your employees to show your trust and increase their well-being.
- Team Spirit: Team-building activities are relevant in all sectors. A cohesive team is happier and more productive!
- Recognition: Kind words, nice gestures and encouragement are always appreciated by your employees.
- Attentiveness: Be attentive and ready to help employees with their professional development and day-to-day challenges.
Working on these key aspects of employee engagement will undoubtedly reduce absenteeism in your organization. As a result, you will increase your retention rates and efficiently overcome organizational challenges and workforce shortages. Effective absence management and engagement strategies are essential to the smooth operation of your manufacturing business!
Check out our article for more ideas on how to improve employee engagement and retention in manufacturing!
Reduce absenteeism with effective absence management tools:
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