Everybody has a sick day from time to time, and that’s fine, but high levels of employee absence could be seriously affecting your business. If people are constantly taking time off work, overall productivity is going to take a big hit and the business will suffer. You might not realize it, but employee absence costs you money, so you need to do something about it.

If you have high levels of employee absence, here’s what you can do about it. 

Keep The Office Clean 

Sometimes, people may be calling in sick when they are fine, but they might actually be telling the truth. If people really are getting sick all of the time, you may have an issue with cleanliness in your office.

• If you don’t keep the office clean, bacteria will spread and people will be more likely to get sick. It also means that illness is more likely to make its way around the office and before you know it, half of your team are out sick. That’s why it’s important to hire a professional janitorial service to keep the office clean for you.

• If you are unsure about picking the right one, you can read more about it if you follow the link. As well as getting the professionals in to clean on a regular basis, you should make sure that your employees are doing their part as well.

Encourage everybody to look after their own desk areas and especially the communal areas like the kitchen where bacteria is most likely to breed. 

Improve Employee Engagement 

While you might not like to admit it, some employees are going to call in sick when they’re absolutely fine because they want a day off, and it’s important that you try to understand why that is.

In most cases, it’s because they are not engaged with their work and they don’t care that much about it. They’re just there to collect a paycheck and they don’t mind taking time off when it suits them.

But if you can find ways to improve employee engagement by rewarding their hard work and giving them incentives. Finding ways to improve their work-life balance can make a big difference as well. 

Offer More Vacation Days 

This might seem a bit counterproductive if you are trying to reduce the number of days that people take off. However, if people are calling in sick a lot, it might be because they are struggling with their work-life balance and they need more time for family or running errands at home.

Giving people more vacation days means that they have time to recharge their batteries and do whatever it is that they need to do. They may still be having the same number of days off but you can account for it because they are planned vacation days, rather than unexpected sick days. 

These 3 simple changes will have a big impact on employee absence and you should see a big increase in productivity because people are taking fewer days off. 

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