Do you ever notice that certain employees call in sick after the Christmas party; every year?  Having a little too much ‘fun’ can often take more than just a short-term, personal toll with absences also having a significant business cost.  And those who show up late (or not at all) after your annual outing are just the tip of the iceberg.

Little wonder that managing absence is getting much higher in demand. WorkForce Software recently conducted a survey where over 300 companies responded and nearly half – 47 percent – said that absence and leave would be their primary focus in evaluating new workforce management. It looks like improving absence records will be a common New Year’s resolution in HR; and with good reason. The current approaches simply aren’t getting the job done. In the same survey, only 1 percent reported ‘excellent’ absence management practices and most are still relying on spreadsheets and manual steps.

The full survey results will be available in the New Year but, clearly, employers are hungry for more effective ways to track and manage employee absences – which is no surprise as the benefits are wide-ranging and universally acknowledged. Ahead of the release of our full survey results, consider these bottom-line reasons why an organisation would track employee absences in an automated time and attendance system:

Increased productivity

Aberdeen Group estimates that unplanned absences drive productivity down 11 percent. Implementing a system for tracking and managing absences helps mitigate those productivity losses by serving up insights about absence patterns and helping organisations automate best practices. This line of sight into absences can also help managers to project scheduling needs more accurately, reducing the strain on available workers and improving labour utilisation.

Reduced labour costs

The average employee takes 7.6 unearned days off annually at an average cost of £595 per employee. The cost with over 1,000 employees in a company or department alone can bring financial worries to the best of operations.  Employers who aren’t formally tracking time and attendance are more likely to miss these types of abuses and unknowingly pay employees for time not worked or for unearned holiday time. Capturing precise labour data and tracking accrued holiday time allows an organisation to determine pay calculations more accurately – making payroll’s job much easier.

Reduced administrative costs

Workforce management solutions that include robust self-service options allow employees to check holiday time and initiate leave requests directly in the system, reducing dependence on HR to answer questions about time allotted or remaining. A system-wide solution for tracking employee time and attendance also minimises the amount of time managers spend on absence-related tasks – which often take time away from other, revenue-focused responsibilities.

Increased employee engagement

Implementing an enterprise-wide attendance tracking and management solution has the added benefit of increasing transparency – which fosters trust and encourages employee participation in their own schedules. Systems where employees formally request leave also help to foster a culture where time is valued as part of the total employee compensation package. This helps facilitate greater employee satisfaction, another factor known to enhance productivity.Organisations have much to gain from tracking employee absences and leaves. From identifying absence patterns to increasing organisational productivity while cutting labour costs and time spent on absence-related tasks.  Automated absence and leave tracking can help your organisation achieve a range of high-priority goals.