how randstad can help manage excessive absenteeism.

Excessive absenteeism can cripple business operations, causing costs to skyrocket and productivity to plummet. It’s an issue affecting companies of all sizes, and managing a large workforce only intensifies the challenge.

Extraordinary events like global pandemics can impact levels of absenteeism. But most work absences are caused by physical illness, injury, caregiving, family emergencies or job dissatisfaction.

Whatever the external circumstances or influencing factors, you must proactively manage excessive absenteeism to prevent damage to your business brand.

This blog highlights some ways you can take control of absenteeism with Randstad’s expert support. From urgent staffing to long-term workforce management and enhanced care for your employees, we offer comprehensive solutions.

staff when you need them

First and foremost, a reliable workforce capacity is vital to maintaining core business operations. However, absenteeism causes immediate disruptions and lost productivity.

Therefore, when your business is understaffed, you must respond quickly to maintain a productive, efficient working environment.

We can help by giving you instant access to a reliable talent network, saving you from having to source emergency labour replacements.

We’ll create a pool of pre-qualified talent for you to tap into whenever you face team member absences. Then, you can rapidly fill gaps and get production back up to speed.

Partnering with a trusted HR company saves time and ensures thoroughly vetted candidates, eliminating the hassle of unqualified applicants and no-shows.

Furthermore, a strong relationship with a recruitment agency provides access to flexible, contingent talent. This flexible model is particularly valuable for high-salaried, specialized professionals, ensuring you only pay for the expertise you require.

We have over 60 years of experience in fulfilling the hiring and talent needs of businesses across multiple industries.

by taking the time to understand your business, its key challenges, goals and priorities, we make sure we supply the right people at the right time

workforce management solutions and scheduling

Fast, responsive staffing often proves crucial when you have a short-term need to boost labour capacity. However, it's just as important to have a clear view of the resources already available in your workforce and a plan to make the best possible use of them.

A top priority should be to ensure you're always able to fill your critical roles. These are the ones that are essential to the day-to-day running of the company. Maintain a reserve staff for lower-priority jobs, ready to take on critical tasks when absenteeism is high.

It's also essential to have a strategy for positions that demand specialist training or niche expertise.

effortless online scheduling

The logistics of filling roles on the spur of the moment due to absences require advanced technology and expertise. This is where Randstad’s Relevate Workforce Schedule can help. Our automated app takes the brunt of the work out of your hands. First, it sends open shift positions automatically to your vast pool of pre-vetted workers. Then, employees can accept or decline work without getting you involved.

Efficient staff scheduling ensures coverage for absenteeism. In addition, it provides time and flexibility for employees to undergo training and skill development.

In today’s competitive job market, it’s more critical than ever to make use of the talent you have. Reskilling current employees to perform other functions within your organization can help close skills gaps without the need for permanent new hires.

The Harvard Business Review reports that using a “boot camp” mentality has helped multiple companies retrain employees to adapt to new processes. This is particularly effective for manufacturing companies transitioning to new technology and automated production.

upskilling is a win-win

Randstad’s Workmonitor 2024 report found that employees are interested in learning and improving. In fact, over a third of Canadian workers (35 percent) would not accept a job if it doesn’t offer opportunities for development. By upskilling your employees, you help improve the efficiency of your organization while increasing job satisfaction — a win-win for everyone.

Our inhouse services solution can help optimize your workforce management and eliminate understaffing. This includes an emphasis on planning and training to help you deploy, develop and retain your talent.

our care program

Fundamental provisions like pay and benefits are highly important to workers, of course. But employers who want to build lasting relationships with their most valuable employees need to go further than basic remuneration.

Randstad’s Workmonitor 2024 took a long look at employees' hopes, dreams and desires across all age categories. While over half of Canadians (51 percent) hope to advance in their careers, that doesn’t mean they’re looking for extra managerial responsibilities. A majority (52 percent) are happy with their current roles and progression.

well-being comes first

There’s also a marked trend toward prioritizing well-being over work. Workers want something more from their job than a paycheck. Worldwide, our survey found that workers now prioritize work-life balance equally with pay (93 percent).

Employers looking to reduce excessive absenteeism and entice new talent need to address the importance workers place on flexibility. For example, a staggering 47 percent of Canadian workers want to work from home (compared to 39 percent globally).

Concepts like work-life balance, flexibility and building a positive company culture are directly linked to absenteeism. Why? Because people who feel happy and engaged at work are less likely to take time off due to issues like stress, anxiety and burnout.

Furthermore, forging strong, collaborative relationships with employees makes it easier to have honest conversations. Again, this helps you prevent understaffing problems.

supporting our clients

A key element of our offering to clients is our care program, which is part of our inhouse services solution. It helps clients understand employee needs, challenges and absenteeism root causes.

Another component of our inhouse services approach is having a consultant based on-site at your business, if possible. We gain a first-hand view of your workplace, identifying opportunities to boost happiness and employee mental health. We know what it takes to engage employees and can help develop strategies unique to your industry.

You'll also be supported by a wider team who can offer a broader, unbiased view of your recruitment and HR operations.

a holistic approach to managing excessive absenteeism

When understaffing due to excessive absenteeism becomes a serious problem for your business, you need to look for dynamic strategies. Effective workforce management solutions don’t come down to a single method or approach but a range of tactics that combine to deliver positive and lasting results.

Start by understanding your talent needs, and then, consider what you have to work with currently. By first using existing skills and resources, you’ll identify key gaps for future recruitment. And by partnering with an HR expert, you’ll build a pool of contingent workers ready to bridge those gaps.

Once your workforce is in place, consider what duties are essential and ensure you have replacement staff for emergency call-offs. If a revamping is in your future, you’ll need to assess future skills gaps and determine who will fill them.

As well as being responsive and quick to react to staffing challenges, you must proactively engage with your employees. By quickly addressing any work-related issue, you can ensure your employees have a satisfying work experience.

Finally, don’t forget physical issues top the list of reasons for missing work. Offer incentives at work to encourage healthier lifestyles, including fitness classes, nutritional snacks and corporate-sponsored physical activities like step counting.

In short, you need to take a holistic approach to workforce management. It’s crucial to place as much focus on well-being, engagement and job satisfaction as on core HR processes like workforce scheduling and recruitment.

reach out to Randstad

Randstad can support you at various stages of your mission to reduce understaffing and improve efficiency, including:

• recruiting and hiring flexible workers when needed to boost capacity in your workforce
• maintaining and scheduling a contingent worker pool
• optimizing training to help your existing staff reach their full potential
• providing insight into workers’ aspirations and expectations

Consider the following case study if you'd like to learn more about how we’ve helped our partners tackle staffing challenges. In this situation, we assisted a global logistics company that turned to us after excessive absenteeism led to missed deadlines and unsustainable overtime costs.