Absenteeism

Absenteeism alone accounts for as much as $2,100 in additional costs per year for shiftworkers as compared to dayworkers. For shiftworkers, only one-third of days taken as sick days are for personal health reasons. The remaining two-thirds are typically due to conflicts with family activities or social reasons, as well as excessive fatigue due to poor scheduling.

Operationally, high absenteeism can lead to increased overtime, inefficient production, poor communication and overall loss of production.

How CIRCADIAN can help you:

• Shiftwork Opportunity Assessment. The first step is to identify the reason for the increased absenteeism, whether it is due to a schedule that does not balance both operational and family/social needs or existing policies and procedures that do not effectively manage absenteeism.

• Shift Schedule Optimization. In cases where business needs and family social needs are not being met and result in higher absenteeism, a schedule optimization will assist in reducing absenteeism.

• Training: Managing a Shiftwork Lifestyle.Educating employees on how to maximize their sleep quality and quantity will limit absences due to excessive fatigue.

Absenteeism and fatigue/stress levels (Shiftwork Practices 2007)