                     Focus on Personnel:
               Countering Abusive Absenteeism 

                            By 
                    Michael J. Gwaltney 

When was the last time you called in sick for duty. Were you 
really sick? If not, did you ever stop to think about what your 
absence meant to your employer? 

Abusive absenteeism-a costly and disruptive problem-plagues many 
American employers. Even more disturbing is the fact that at 
least 50 percent of all employee absenteeism is not caused by 
bona fide illness or other acceptable reasons.1 
While abusive absenteeism impacts the efficiency of all 
organizations, in the field of law enforcement, it can lead to 
something much more costly than a loss of production: It can lead 
to a loss of life. This possibility exists because police 
managers must frequently ask officers from previous shifts to 
fill in for absent officers, increasing the chance of injury or 
death due to fatigue. Clearly, the reflexes of officers who must 
work double shifts cannot possibly be as sharp as those officers 
who work only one shift. 

Despite the problems it causes for agencies, many police managers 
ignore excessive absenteeism because they believe that no 
solutions exist for the problem. They simply accept the fact that 
they will always have certain employees who consistently call in 
sick on Mondays or Fridays so they can have an extended weekend. 
This places additional burdens on the managers and officers who 
must cover for the missing employees. All too often, both 
managers and employees take the abuse of sick leave for granted. 
However, potential remedies do exist for reducing excessive 
absenteeism. Law enforcement administrators should explore the 
various options and implement those strategies that meet their 
agencies' needs. 

AN OVERVIEW 

Experts estimate that absenteeism in the United States results in 
the loss of over 400 million workdays per year-an average of 
approximately 5.1 days per employee.2 In fact, managers must 
often postpone projects or training assignments because of 
last-minute absenteeism. 

Unfortunately, some employees adopt an attitude of using all the 
sick leave allotted to them because they believe that it is their 
"right" to do so.3 They fail to realize that no law requires 
employers to provide paid sick leave, paid holidays, or paid 
vacations to employees. These are benefits provided by the 
employer to encourage employees to seek and retain employment 
with that particular agency. 

Moreover, many employees give reasons other than illness for 
missing work. For example, employees inform supervisors that they 
are experiencing stressful personal situations; have "earned" 
sick days; wish to retaliate for a perceived injustice, a poor 
performance rating, or for being "called on the carpet"; or that 
they simply do not feel like going to work.4 
Rather than simply accepting an absenteeism problem, managers can 
attempt to find solutions to the problem. Prior to taking any action, 
however, they must determine why the problem employee has 
developed poor habits. They can then discuss the situation with 
the employees and explain what further action will be taken. 

CONFERRING WITH EMPLOYEES 

To begin, police managers can explain to problem employees that 
the efficiency of the organization depends on all personnel 
reporting for work as scheduled. They should emphasize the fact 
that unscheduled absences cause safety hazards to the public and 
to the officers' colleagues, who must fill in when individuals 
call in sick. They should also explain that officers should 
conduct personal business during planned vacation days or 
compensating time off (CTO) days, rather than abusing their sick 
leave by using it when they are not ill. 

To further discourage problem employees from using sick leave 
unnecessarily, managers should advise them that they plan to 
monitor their leave records and that continued abuse of sick 
leave could result in disciplinary action. In addition, in order 
to deter the use of sick leave to gain an extra day in 
combination with a holiday, managers can require a signed 
doctor's certificate to prove illness.5 

Many times, simply speaking one-on-one with problem employees 
gains immediate positive results. However, organizations can also 
offer incentives designed to encourage employees not to use sick 
leave unnecessarily. 

INCENTIVE PROGRAMS 

Accrued Sick Leave 

Some organizations allow employees to accrue sick leave to use in 
case of a long-term illness or disability.6  Although 
organizations often place a cap on the number of hours that 
employees can accrue, some will pay employees at retirement for 
up to 1 year of unused sick leave. The drawback to this plan is 
that it can be quite expensive if the retiring employee has 
accrued a large number of sick leave days. 

Bonuses 

Studies have shown that relating pay closely to attendance 
increases attendance.7  In fact, pay may impact employees' 
decisions about job attendance more than their decisions about 
how hard they will work.8  Therefore, some agencies now reward 
employees monetarily when they do not use the number of sick days 
allotted to them.9 

For example, the Huntington Park, California, Police Department 
provides 12 sick leave days each fiscal year to all employees. 
Employees can accrue a maximum of 704 hours of unused sick leave 
to use for long-term disability in the event of a serious injury 
or illness. At the end of each fiscal year, employees can bank 
one-half of their annual unused sick leave for that fiscal year 
and receive payment at their regular salary rate for the 
remaining half of the unused sick leave. 

Employees of the department receive their checks for unused sick 
leave on the first pay period of December. Many consider this 
check a holiday bonus for not using their sick leave. At the same 
time, the department benefits from this policy because the amount 
paid out at the end of the year does not equal the overtime that 
was previously paid to officers who worked double shifts because 
of individuals who called in sick. 

Since implementing this policy, the department has experienced an 
80-percent decrease in the amount of sick leave used by 
department personnel. Huntington Park administrators based the 
sick leave policy on obtaining the best results for management 
while providing quickly earned benefits to employees. Employees 
know that they will be rewarded at the end of each year, as 
opposed to being rewarded at retirement. 

CONCLUSION 

Sick leave can be, and is, easily abused. However, rather than 
ignoring excessive absenteeism, police managers need to focus on 
solving the problem. Allowing employees to accrue sick leave and 
offering monetary incentives to those who use little sick leave 
are strategies that work. Reducing excessive absenteeism within 
police agencies results in safer, more efficient departments. 

Endnotes 

1 J.K. Chadwick-Jones, Nigel Nickolson, and Colin Brown, Social 
Psychology of Absenteeism (New York: Praeger, 1982). 
2 R.M. Steers and S.R. Rhodes, "A New Look at Absenteeism," 
Personnel, November-December, 1980, 60-65. 
3 Cliff Roberson, Preventing Employee Misconduct (Lexington, 
Kentucky: D.C. Heath & Co., 1986). 
4 George Strauss and Leonard R. Sayles, Personnel-The Human 
Problems of Management (Newark, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1980). 
5 Ibid. 
6 Ibid. 
7 Edward E. Lawler III and J.R. Hackman, "The Impact of Employee 
Participation in the Development of Pay Incentive Plans: A Field 
Experiment," Journal of Applied Psychology, 1969. 
8 Edward E. Lawler, Pay and Organizational Effectiveness: A 
Psychological View (New York, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971). 
9 Prior to instituting such a policy, administrators should 
contact their legal advisors to determine the policy's propriety 
under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 
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