TT 5th in highest worker absenteeism

TT has the fifth highest worker absenteeism rate in the world, chief labour relations officer Sabina Gomez has revealed.

This information was reported on at an Employees Consultative Association forum, Gomez said, noting productivity and absenteeism continue to be a major problem in the private and public sector. She dealt with this issue during a seminar hosted by the THA Division of Community Development, Enterprise Development and Labour at its conference hall, Glen Road, Scarborough on Friday. Her office falls under the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development.

Gomez defined absenteeism as the repeated absence from work of individuals or groups employed or contracted to do a specific job. She pointed out that more than ever employee absenteeism is recognised an area of concern, which requires the attention of management because of its impact on the economic wellbeing of the organisation.

Employee absence from work, she said, is usually part of the terms and conditions of employment and can be found in most organisations collective bargaining agreements. Elaborating further, Gomez said the difference between employee absence from work and employee absenteeism – the difference between eligibility and entitlement to different types of leave – the use and the abuse of acceptable and unacceptable levels of employee absenteeism – and responsible behaviour towards the use of employee benefits, such as sick leave and personal leave, must be explored.

She pointed out that in TT, there is often a prevailing work­place cul­ture where eligibility to sick and casual leave is interpreted as an entitlement, and the allocations are deliberately exhausted as a right.

One reason for this trend may relate to employees who are discouraged within organsations where there are many managers.

“You would find clashes in terms of instructions given by this one or that one...who do I follow? Sometimes we have a confused employee...you confuse the employees and that leads to them becoming demotivated because they don’t know who to take instructions from."

Gomez also addressed the issue of management style.

“Employees want to work for management figures who show them respect, appreciation and concern, who lead by example. So sometimes, it may not necessarily be all absenteeism, in terms of looking at productivity, there may be other factors that create it.”

It is necessary for companies to assist in changing the culture of workplaces, she advised, so that employees shift focus from being absent from work at every opportunity, to attending work regularly and punctually and being productive when they are at work. Employees, on the other hand, should also continually ask themselves what value they are adding to the organisation.

Gomez noted that it is time that employers see employees and their representatives as a partner in business rather than a helping hand.

“We have to talk about culture transformation and our control style to maybe a more inclusive, collaborative approach. Sometimes, these same workers with low productivity, when they go abroad as they land in another country, they adopt the culture and the work style, and you would find that those are the most productive workers.

“Then we need to ask ourselves what it is that we’re not doing that these so-called most productive workers, they’re not productive in our environment but they would go in another environment and be very productive. That is something that we probably need to look at, in terms of how we harness that to our benefit.”