Forwarded message:
Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 11:38:54 -0700
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: OVERLOADED STAFFERS COPE BY CALLING IN SICK
X-UID: 2277
THE GLOBE AND MAIL THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1998
OVERLOADED STAFFERS COPE BY CALLING IN SICK
Sue Shellenbarger
The Wall Street Journal
To understand why absenteeism is rising at many companies, consider the
dilemma of a product manager for a New Jersey manufacturer.
Like many employees, he is working all out, 10 hours a day, every day, at
what feels like 110 per cent of his capacity. He has doubled his load to
cover for laid off co workers. "We run very lean. A little too lean," he
says. Regardless of how hard he works, stacks of work pile up on his desk.
"I could work 20 hours a day, and I still wouldn't be done."
His response? Every now and then, he quietly takes an unscheduled day off.
"You look at the piles on your desk and say, 'Well, if I'm here or not,
it's not going to matter. I'm never going to get done anyway,' " says the
product manager, who asked not to be named because he fears top
management's reaction. So he calls in, reports that he'll be absent without
giving a reason and stays home "to cool off," ride his bike or do errands.
For years, workers have been pressing for more flexibility. Employers have
responded with new policies, but slowly. Now, it appears, employees are
simply taking the time off when they need it whether or not their employers
formally sanction it.
Unscheduled absences in the United States rose 25 per cent in the past
year to seven year highs, says CCH Inc., a Riverwoods, Ill., human resource
information concern, in a survey of 401 U.S. companies. The increase is
concentrated among the small and medium-sized U.S. companies that employ
about 70 per cent of all payroll workers. The findings echo an Aon
Consulting survey of 1,800 U.S. employees showing an I 1 per cent rise
since 1995 in time lost from work, including unscheduled absences for all
reasons and time spent at work on personal matters.
For the first time since the annual CCH survey began in 1991, "family
issues" were cited as the No. 1 cause of unexpected absences, accounting
for 26 per cent, compared with 22 per cent for personal illness. Personal
need, "entitlement mentality" and stress together accounted for 52 per
cent. Stress and personal matters were also the fastest growing causes of
missed time in the Aon survey.
It would be easy to conclude that workers are acting like a bunch of
truant teen agers. Not so, says David Stum, head of Aon Consulting's
Loyalty Institute, Chicago, which studies work force commitment. "This
isn't a case of bitterness or anger. People aren't saying, 'I'm going to
get back at my employer.' It's more subtle.
"The American work force has become sophisticated enough to know that the
company is going to do what the company has to do to compete globally,"
including layoffs and restructurings, he says. "What we see now is the
individual saying, 'There are some things I have to do, too.' "
Increasingly, "it's a two way street."
Many bosses look the other way when workers take unauthorized time. The
problem with that is that it risks fostering a rebel culture =97 the dreaded
entitlement mentality that accounted for 16 per cent of surprise absences
last year. Amy Showalter, a government relations manager for a financial
services concern, says that's a big issue for "the people who have to pick
up the slack."
If employees are going to take time off anyway, it's probably better to
build it into the system. Big employers are having some success in this.
Companies with 5,000 or more workers posted 4 per cent to 7 per cent
declines in unscheduled absences last year, CCH says, thanks in part to
progressive policies like paid time off banks, alternative work
arrangements, backup child care and work at home. By bringing time off
needs out in the open, such policies enable bosses to place responsibility
for missed work on workers themselves.
It wouldn't hurt, either, for employers to figure out whether employee
workloads make sense. A little streamlining might go a long way toward
helping workers to recover that elusive sense of accomplishment and
commitment the New Jersey product manager =97 and others =97 are missing.=20
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
LONG HOUR BLUES
British managers have cut back on their work weeks, citing the effect of
long hours on their personal lives, an Institute of Management report says.
=B7 Junior and middle managers were most opposed to long hours =97 nearly 60
per cent said they worked long hours because it was expected by more senior
management, or they had no choice.
=B7 Seventy eight per cent worked more than 40 hours a week, down from 82 pe=
r
cent last year; 34 per cent worked more than 50 hours, down from 38 per=
cent.
=B7 Seventy two per cent said working hours affected relationships with
partners; 73 per cent said it encroached on time spent with children. Yet
57 per cent claimed work was as important as home life.=20
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
