ABSENTEEISM

One of the greatest career dampers and personal development inhibitors is chronic absenteeism. Absentee staff hardly show up on the promotions list or the employee awards register. Employers find ways to give such employees their desired freedom from work.

Absenteeism is much more than missing a day at work without good reason. Thousands of employees show up at work every morning, but do nothing the rest of the day. There are those who do less than they should, but also less than they could and simply won’t participate in corporate activity. Robbins, Judge and Sanghi in the book Organizational Behaviour define absenteeism as “the failure to report to work”, but they also equate it to costly deviant behaviour in the workplace.

Absenteeism in the work environment equates to a loss of productivity and a priceless loss of personal development opportunity. Absenteeism is the lack of engagement in productive activity within your allocated work space and time schedules. It means that other people have to work double shift and take on an extra load to ensure the business earns enough money to pay everyone a wage. Whether you engage in this process willingly, discreetly or overtly, it is a pattern of behaviour that cannot lead to personal success. Sadly, it also creates a significant measure of resentment among your colleagues. 

Allan Bukusi