1. SHRM Poll: Managing Employee Absences
August 16, 2011

2. Key Findings
Do organizations track employee absences? A majority of organizations (79%) currently have a program in place that tracks workplace absences.
How do organizations categorize employee absences in the workplace? Of the organizations that track employee absences, almost all (87%) separate absences by unplanned leave (e.g., sick days, FMLA leave), planned absences (e.g., vacations, holidays, FMLA leave) and/or extended leave (e.g., short-term disability, FMLA leave, workers’ compensation leave).
What proportion of organizations track the indirect costs, such as overtime and the need for temporary workers, caused by employee absences? More than one-half of organizations do not track the indirect costs from employees’ unplanned (61%) or extended (53%) absences.
Is senior management concerned about the indirect costs of unplanned and extended employee absences? More than one-half of respondents reported that senior management was moderately concerned with costs related to unplanned (57%) and extended (53%) absences, whereas a much smaller percentage indicated that senior management was very concerned about indirect costs of extended (18%) and unplanned (13%) absences.

3.   Does your organization currently have a program that tracks employee absences in the workplace?
Note: n = 302. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

4.   Does your absence program separate employee absences by unplanned absences (e.g., sick days, FMLA leave), planned absences (e.g., vacations, holidays, FMLA leave) and/or extended absences (e.g., short-term disability, FMLA leave, workers’ comp leave)?
Note: n = 229. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Total does not equal 100% due to rounding.

5. Does your organization track the indirect costs (e. g
Does your organization track the indirect costs (e.g., temporary workers, overtime, business disruption, lags in product delivery, customer satisfaction) of unplanned absences and extended absences?
Note: n = Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

6. Generally speaking, how concerned is senior management at your organization about the indirect costs of unplanned absences and extended absences?
Note: n = Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

7. How regularly do applicable staff (e. g
How regularly do applicable staff (e.g., line managers, HR) at your organization receive training and/or updates on the latest legal and administrative developments in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) or other leave laws?
n = 275

8. Demographics: Organization Industry
Percentage
Manufacturing
18%
Professional, scientific and technical services
12%
Health care and social assistance
11%
Finance and insurance
10%
Public administration 6%
Educational services 5%
Accommodation and food services (accommodation; food services and drinking places) 4%
Retail trade
Arts, entertainment and recreation 3%
Construction (construction of buildings; heavy and civil engineering construction; specialty trade contractors)
Transportation and warehousing
Wholesale trade
n = 302

9. Demographics: Organization Industry (continued)
Percentage
Information 2%
Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar organizations
Utilities
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting 1%
Mining
Real estate and rental and leasing
Management of companies and enterprises 0%
Personal and laundry services
Private households
Repair and maintenance
Other services except public administration 9%
n = 302

10. Demographics: Organization Sector

11. Demographics: Organization Staff Size
Note: n = Total does not equal 100% due to rounding.

12. Demographics: Other
Is your organization a single-unit company or a multi-unit company?
Single-unit company: A company in which the location and the company are one and the same
32%
Multi-unit company: A company that has more than one location
68%
n = 301
Does your organization have U.S.-based operations (business units) only or does it operate multinationally?
U.S.-based operations only
74%
Multinational operations
26%
n = 298
Are HR policies and practices determined by the multi-unit corporate headquarters, by each work location or both?
Multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices
46%
Each work location determines HR policies and practices 3%
A combination of both the work location and the multi-unit headquarters determine HR policies and practices
51%
n = 213
HR department/function for which you responded throughout this survey
Corporate (companywide)
66%
Business unit/division
19%
Facility/location
15%
n = 213

13. SHRM Poll: Managing Employee Absences
Methodology
Response rate = 11%
Sample composed of 302 randomly selected HR professionals from SHRM’s membership
Margin of error +/- 5%
Survey fielded June 9th to June 22nd, 2011
For more poll findings, visit
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