The trash barrel is full

A regular agenda item of organizations: (medium) long absenteeism is not decreasing despite all efforts of employees and the manager. On a larger scale, organizations are struggling with this dilemma and this issue is urgent in the consultative structure and a follow-up consultation is necessary to "get everything in order even better," and thus the solution (for the time being) fails to materialize.

An example of ineffectiveness of meeting and decision making, can be found in the theory of Cohen, March and Olsen (1972) and De Caluwé and Petri (1985). They give the following definition of an organization; "an organization is a collection of choices requiring a problem, issues and feelings seeking situations in which they can be aired (expressed), solutions seeking issues or problems to which they can be an answer, and decision makers seeking work.

There are "trash barrels" in the organization with unresolved questions and problems; decisions not made. Instead of emptying these first, they are constantly being poured over into new, larger barrels. The longer choices are left open, the more problems can be stuffed into them.

In plenary, the proposal is to schedule a care interview with all employees who have reported sick 3 or more times in the past 12 months. Indeed, frequent absenteeism is a predictor of high-risk absenteeism (long-term, complex, costly). Care conversations should benefit vitamin A (attention to employee).

The manager of department X wonders how this will fit into his schedule, as he is already fully booked with meetings and projects in the coming weeks. The manager of department Y is willing to schedule the interviews, although he notes that no interview is necessary for five employees, because he knows exactly what is going on.

Finally, manager Z explains that he also did this 3 years ago and exactly nothing has changed structurally. The management secretary shares another personal experience from her own past at the previous employer where this was also a proposal. And the employee from the HR department says that he will consult with De Arbodienst to make a deeper analysis using data on the exact cause of the absenteeism. The member of the management can empathize with the arguments of his colleagues and proposes to put the subject back on the agenda.

Given all the (over)full agendas, the new consultation takes place 6 weeks later. Not only is (medium) long-term absenteeism not decreasing, but there is an increase in urgency about the vacancies that are increasingly difficult to fill and the perception of work pressure among managers is also increasing. Perhaps now is precisely the time to take a broader look at several aspects and make frequent absenteeism interviews a part of a larger change plan. This also elicits different reactions and views from the stakeholders at the consultation table. Given the time and the subjects on the agenda, set up a separate project group to work on these ideas.

This garbage barrel also awaits resolution....

In short; Look around you, how many "garbage barrels" are left? And won't their contents be (partly) dissolved when you make your decision?

De Arbodienst will not only work with you to reduce current absenteeism , but also by initiating change in organizational culture on the front end to reduce non-medical absenteeism , for example, and reduce the number of trash cans. To learn more about our approach, visit our websiteand request more information without obligation.