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An analysis of the causes and some possible solutions.
Absenteeism is a significant challenge for Spanish businesses, second only to training costs in terms of financial impact. Employees may be absent for many reasons: personal and family matters, medical appointments, trade union meetings, accidents, and so on. However, the absenteeism problem runs deeper than any individual cause; it is closely tied to workplace culture. In this article, we set out a number of guidelines that have been shown to help manage and reduce absenteeism.
There is no universally agreed definition of absenteeism. Some take the view that it covers all hours within an employee's scheduled working hours during which they are absent, while others argue that only unjustified absences should be counted. It is worth looking at how absenteeism is addressed in the Workers' Statute (ET).
The ET simply provides that certain types of absence may not be treated as unauthorised: lawful strike action (for the duration of the strike), the exercise of workers' legal representation activities, work-related accident, maternity leave, authorised leave, annual leave, or absence due to a non-work-related illness or accident that has been certified by official health services and lasts more than twenty consecutive days.
It is further specified that absences from work, even when justified, reaching 20% of working days over two consecutive months, or 25% over four non-consecutive months within a twelve-month period, shall constitute grounds for termination of contract on objective grounds.
Spain stands out in the area of workplace absenteeism, with rates significantly above the European average, and one that has risen markedly over the past five years.
Alongside traditional absenteeism, a new and growing phenomenon has emerged: presenteeism, the practice of attending work whilst performing no productive activity whatsoever, without any justified cause.
One possible explanation for Spain's high absenteeism levels is a misguided workplace culture. Many people in Spain view work as a burdensome activity with an almost punitive character, which leads both employees and HR managers alike to treat absences as entirely normal. What is perhaps most striking, however, is the degree to which unjustified absence is tacitly accepted within Spanish organisations, to the point where the employee who repeatedly takes unexcused time off is sometimes met with a certain admiration for getting away with it.
Absence from work should be an exceptional circumstance, arising only when genuinely unavoidable, since the very purpose for which an employee is engaged is to attend and perform their work.
That is the core obligation undertaken by anyone entering into an employment relationship. A separate discussion could be had about the rigidity of Spain's labour system, where companies often still favour a culture of physical presence over a culture of productivity.
Certain management approaches prefer the reassurance of knowing that an employee has been in the office for eight hours, rather than focusing on whether the time spent at the company is genuinely productive. Countries with shorter working hours frequently achieve far higher output, precisely because their organisations measure results rather than hours logged. Moreover, shorter or more flexible working hours give employees sufficient personal time without needing to take time away from work. But that is a topic for another article.
Measures to manage workplace absenteeism
A recent study published by Egarsat and Esade has shown that implementing even a basic system for monitoring employee absences can significantly reduce absenteeism within the company.
Some practical recommendations:
The first step is to plan and implement an absence management protocol to be followed whenever an employee is absent. This protocol should set out clearly what steps both the company and the absent employee are expected to take. Improvisation is never a sound approach.
Is it clear to whom an absence should be reported? At what point must the employee notify the company that they will not be in? Does the company carry out any follow-up during the absence? Are questions asked on the employee's return to understand the reason for the absence and, where relevant, whether the underlying issue has been resolved? All of these questions, and others, should be addressed and answered within the absenteeism management protocol.
Communication procedures:
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Identify the person within the company to whom absences should be reported.
- The company should ask for and record the reason for the absence.
- The company should communicate the reason for the absence (under no circumstances may any medical diagnosis be disclosed) to colleagues who share responsibilities with the absent employee.
- Define a follow-up process for the absent employee: establish the frequency of check-ins, designate a person responsible for monitoring who must in turn keep the company informed, and so on.
This information will be of great value to the company. On the one hand, it will enable management to assess whether the reasons behind absences were foreseeable, and by keeping a record of each case, to identify patterns of recurrence over time. On the other hand, having a structured approach will give other employees the sense that the company takes a genuine interest in the individual and exceptional circumstances that prevent people from coming to work, while also conveying that absenteeism is treated as a serious matter.
It is also important to keep colleagues informed of the reason for a fellow employee's absence, as this promotes transparency and helps prevent speculation in the workplace. Furthermore, it is only fair to give them an estimate of how long the absence is likely to last, since in most cases it is those same colleagues who will need to cover the absent employee's duties.
Once all the information on reasons for absence has been analysed, it is well worth compiling absenteeism statistics, which should be published for a dual purpose: to demonstrate to employees that absenteeism is a problem the company takes seriously, and to make absence levels visible, prompting reflection across the workforce.
Another measure that has proven highly effective in discouraging absenteeism is the introduction of variable pay schemes. Variable financial incentive systems are set according to a range of different parameters.
The aim is to reach an agreement with employees on the introduction of a variable pay policy linked, directly or indirectly, to the employee's attendance and productivity, whether measured at company level, across a defined group of employees, or based on the individual employee's own performance.
The programme must be designed to be attractive from the company's perspective while also being financially appealing to the employee. That said, the Spanish working culture carries certain ingrained misconceptions, such as the acceptance of absenteeism as something normal, or the culture of the so-called "figurehead employee" mentioned earlier, which makes it important to tie variable pay not only to attendance but also to productivity.
Absenteeism goes beyond a straightforward employment issue. It is a socio-occupational factor that cannot be addressed solely through the regulation of practical measures; it requires a much broader perspective, one that makes room for questions about corporate culture, including greater flexibility in working hours. It is worth noting that the European countries with the lowest absenteeism rates tend to be those with the least rigid working arrangements, and where performance, efficiency and productivity are most highly valued. For a company's bottom line, what ultimately matters is not how many hours an employee spends at work, but how much they actually produce. If we are to find real solutions, we may need to look at absenteeism in its full dimensions.
