Introduction

Introduction: Absenteeism in its most widely used sense means the failure of workers to report
on their jobs when they are scheduled to work (Brookshire, 1960)

Absenteeism can be cause for worry for an organization because it represents a huge cost for it.
An absent employee could result in loss of production or the loss of quality of product, if
another less experienced worker is used in place of the absent employee. It also results in
the company having to pay extra wages as overtime and the generation of compensatory
offs for the employee working overtime. Thus the cost escalates and the company loses
its cutting edge of competitiveness.

The problem of absenteeism is not new, it has been around for a long time and Government and
the industries alike in the west have done a lot of work on this subject. A lot of work was
done in Great Britain in the period between the first and second world war. But the
industry as well as the Government did not realize the kind of costs this problem
represented until some serious work was done during World War II (Fox & Scott 1943,
Hibbs, 1944, Mayo and Lombard 1944). It was then realized that an absent employee not
only represented a cost to the company he worked for but also to the national economy-
consider the following statistics:

A British institute of management Report (1961, pp5) states that “On an average One million
people remains absent from work in Great Britain everyday. This represents about 5% of
the labour force. 5% of the economy’s total output is about 1000 million pounds”.

Thus absenteeism can be a serious problem, for both the company as well as the country. In
today’s scenario, when all organizations are facing stiff competition, absenteeism costs
are certainly something all organizations can do without. For a company like HAL whose
downstream product customers can import their products of foreign competitors can
dump their products at lower costs, in the post APM scenario, it becomes necessary to
become cost effective in order to gain cost leadership. The challenge for the personnel
department would be to make it’s work force as productive as possible. Cutting the high
cost of absenteeism would be one way of achieving this goal. Only by making work force
more productive can a company hope to survive in the present scenario of cutthroat
competition.

We have 52 weekly offs, atleast 12 national holidays and Factories Act, 1947(Sec.78-84)
provides 32 days Earned Leave. In addition, most of the companies provide 10/12 days
sick leave and 10 days casual leave. Thus, our workers do not work for 116 days in a
year. Considering that we have 301 working days scheduled in a year per employee ( 52
weekly holidays and 12 national holidays can not be considered as scheduled) and they
take the 52 leaves legally allowed, we would have an absenteeism rate (Defined as
number of days absent divided by number of days scheduled) of 17% anyway, without
the workers restoring to unauthorized absence. Compared to this , the rate of absenteeism
in the US is 3%..
Objectives of the study :

Data- Source and instruments:

All the data used for calculation costs such as the figures for fringe benefits, overtime paid per
employee, average wage per employee in each grade was collected from various sources
such as the Finance Dept., P&A dept., Pay rolls, security Office etc. The data for causes
are all primary data collected by interviewing the workers through the structured
questionnaire canvassed in various departments. And also by discussing the problem with
various officers of the company. The questionnaire was designed and tested. Initially, the
researcher made an earnest effort to collect data with the interview schedule but soon
realized that the respondents were so suspicious/reluctant that they were not forthcoming
in giving truthful responses. This made the use of questionnaire redundant. So method of
unstructured interviews was used and topics like working conditions, salary, health, side
business, management’s attitude towards workers, compensatory off and overtime
generation, supervision and causes of absence were discussed. Everytime the researcher
started interviewing a worker it was categorically stated that the interview is conducted
for project study as part of curriculum requirement and it is nothing to do with the
management. This was the only way to elicit genuine responses from workers.

Techniques and Analysis:

As alluded above, an unstructured interview method was used and the responses noted down
only after the workers had left. This was to make them feel at ease in giving the
responses. However, the qualitative responses defy use of any parametric tool of
statistical analysis. But the textual responses were important in understanding the
dynamics of absenteeism prevalent at Aircraft Research & Design Centre, HAL-
Bangalore. The responses are presented in Appendix C. For analysis, the responses have
been selectively stated in the report and inferences drawn from them. The one thing that
can be said is that most of the responses voiced by workers were genuine concerns they
had regarding their jobs and some of it was misconception they had about management.

Profile of the company:-

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited- (HAL)

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) came into existence on 1st October 1964. The Company
was formed by the merger of Hindustan Aircraft Limited with Aeronautics India Limited and
Aircraft Manufacturing Depot, Kanpur. The Company traces its roots to the pioneering efforts of
an industrialist with extraordinary vision, the late Seth Walchand Hirachand, who set up
Hindustan Aircraft Limited at Bangalore in association with the erstwhile princely State of
Mysore in December 1940. The Government of India became a shareholder in March 1941 and
took over the Management in 1942.

Today, HAL has 16 Production Units and 9 Research and Design Centres in 7 locations in India.
The Company has an impressive product track record - 12 types of aircraft manufactured with
in-house R & D and 14 types produced under license. HAL has manufactured 3550 aircraft
(which includes 11 types designed indigenously), 3600 engines and overhauled over 8150
aircraft and 27300 engines.

HAL has been successful in numerous R & D programs developed for both Defense and Civil
Aviation sectors. HAL has made substantial progress in its current projects:

· Dhruv, which is Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH)

· Tejas - Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)

· Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT)

· Various military and civil upgrades.

Dhruv was delivered to the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and the Coast Guard in March 2002,
in the very first year of its production, a unique achievement.
HAL has played a significant role for India's space programs by participating in the manufacture
of structures for Satellite Launch Vehicles like

· PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)

· GSLV (Geo Stationary Launch Vehicle)

· IRS (Indian Remote Satellite)

· INSAT (Indian National Satellite)

There are three joint venture companies with HAL :

· BAeHAL Software Limited

· Indo-Russian Aviation Limited (IRAL)

· Snecma HAL Aerospace Pvt Ltd

Apart from these three, other major diversification projects are Industrial Marine Gas Turbine
and Airport Services. Several Co-production and Joint Ventures with international participation
are under consideration.

HAL's supplies / services are mainly to Indian Defence Services, Coast Guards and Border
Security Forces. Transport Aircraft and Helicopters have also been supplied to Airlines as well
as State Governments of India. The Company has also achieved a foothold in export in more
than 30 countries, having demonstrated its quality and price competitiveness.
HAL has won several International & National Awards for achievements in R&D, Technology,
Managerial Performance, Exports, Energy Conservation, Quality and Fulfillment of Social
Responsibilities.

· HAL was awarded the “INTERNATIONAL GOLD MEDAL AWARD” for

Corporate Achievement in Quality and Efficiency at the International Summit (Global
Rating Leaders 2003), London, UK by M/s Global Rating, UK in conjunction with the
International Information and Marketing Centre (IIMC).

· HAL was presented the International - “ ARCH OF EUROPE ” Award in Gold

Category in recognition for its commitment to Quality, Leadership, Technology and
Innovation.

· At the National level, HAL won the "GOLD TROPHY" for excellence in Public
Sector Management, instituted by the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises
(SCOPE).

The Company scaled new heights in the financial year 2004-2005 with a turnover Rs.
4534 Crores and export over Rs. 150.05 Crores.

Aircraft Research And Design Centre

Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC), one of the nine R&D Centres of Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and a name well recognized in the international Aviation circles for
over 50 years, is one of the pioneering organizations in India in the field of Design,
Development, Prototype Building and Testing of fixed wing aircraft. An organization which
began as the Engineering Department of the erstwhile Hindustan Aircraft Limited has over the
past decades grown into a full-fledged R&D Centre driven by top technologists, powered by
bright Engineers and ably supported by Commercial, Finance, HRD and allied groups.

ARDC has many successful aircraft designs to its credit, ranging from basic piston Trainers to
frontline 4+ Generation combat Aircraft such as the LCA. These workhorses of Indian Air Force
(IAF) & have blazed their indelible trail on the Indian skies over the past few decades. In
addition to de novo designs, the Centre has also integrated new weapons & systems on existing
military aircraft.

ARDC has a full spectrum of expertise in all facets of aircraft design & development. Acquired
through sustained learning and R & D, our proven capabilities are backed by rich in-service
experience spanning over five decades. The Centre has extensive state of the art test facilities
and full fledged manufacturing infrastructure for building Aircraft prototypes & test articles to
support Flight Developments programmes. It has advanced CAD/CAM/PDM facilities & fully
integrated Network systems. The Centre, has been certified for the Development of Military
aircraft and has been recognized as an R&D Centre by the Department of Science and
Technology. ARDC is committed to the pursuit of excellence through continuous improvement
and innovation.
ARDC has well-established and proven design office procedures and configuration control
procedures. Design quality is ensured through analysis, review, testing and documentation. We
also have proven quality assurance procedures in all the phases of manufacture of prototype
aircraft that conform to the requirement of military airworthiness requirements.

ARDC undertakes;

• Design & Development of basic and advanced trainers and combat aircraft from concept
to certification
• Integration of new weapons and systems on existing aircraft.
• Testing of aircraft structure and systems covering preparation of test requirement, test
plans, rig design, instrumentation and analysis.
• Wind tunnel model design, fabrication, testing and analysis.
• Preparation of flight test plan, onboard instrumentation and flight testing of aircraft and
systems.
• CAD services including surface design, 3D modeling, digitization etc.
• Research programmes in related areas.

In the year 1951, when HT-2 the first indigenously design primary trainer made its flight, it
heralded the era of research and design at HAL. This aircraft served as the back bone of IAF’s
training fleet for more than three decades. Subsequently, HAL’s research and designing
capabilities have thrown from strength to strength and have been harnessed to achieve greater
heights of self-reliance. Today’s HAL’s Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) is in the final phase
of flight testing and the state of the art Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) is on the threshold of flight
testing phase.

In addition, HAL has successfully completed many systems updates and integration tasks. HAL
has nine research and design centres engaged in the design and development of combat aircraft,
helicopters, aero engines, gas turbines, engines test beds, aircraft communication and navigation
systems and mechanical systems accessories.

 Aircraft research and design center

 Rotary wing research and design center
  Aircraft upgrade research and design center
 Transport aircraft research and design center
 Gas turbine research and design center
 Central materials and process laboratory & NDT center

Equipped with the latest facilities, the company is backed by high profile, highly skilled
manpower with an impressive track record of more than five decades of rich expensive in all
disciplines of aeronautics.

ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT was set-up in 1940 in the erstwhile Hindustan Aircraft (Pvt.)
Limited. The Design and Development tasks began in the year 1948 under Dr. V.M. Ghatage as
Chief Designer for the HT-2 Aircraft. Aircraft Design Bureau (ADB) as a separate design centre
was formed in the 1970. Aircraft Design Bureau was re-christened as Aircraft Research and
Design Centre (ARDC) in the year 1988.

The Aircraft R & D Centre of HAL has a full spectrum of expertise in all facets of aircraft design
& development. Acquired through sustained learning and R & D, our proven capabilities are
backed by rich in-service experience spanning over five decades. Aircraft R&D Center of HAL
has eleven successful designs to its credits ranging from basic trainers to front line combat
aircraft. Nine of these designs have gone into series production and have seen active service in
the Indian Air Force.

The Centre has also integrated new weapons & systems on existing military aircraft. The Centre
has extensive state of the art test facilities and full fledged Manufacturing Infrastructure for
building Aircraft prototype and Test Articles & can support Flight Developments programs and
has advanced CAD & Fully Integrated Network System. The Centre, has been certified for the
Development of Military & civil airplane and has been recognized as an R&D Centre by the
Department of Science and Technology. We are committed to the pursuit of excellence through
continuous improvement and innovation.

Some of the core competencies of ARDC are

 • Up gradation and development of Flight and Maintenance simulators for fixed and rotary
wing aircraft using COTS systems
• Fixed/ Motion based Full Flight Simulators
• Flight Training Devices
• Part Task Trainers
• Cockpit Procedure Trainers
• Maintenance of Simulators

Growing from a small engineering support group in the earlier years, the aircraft research and
design center of HAL has 11 successful aircraft designs to its credit ranging from primary
trainers to front line combat aircraft

HT-2 primary piston engine trainer August 1951

Pushpak club trainer September 1958
Krishak aop November 1959
Marut ground attack fighter June 1961
Kiran basic jet trainer September 1964
Basant a grill aircraft March 1972
Ajeet ground attack fighter September 1976
HPT-32 primary piston engine trainer January 1977
Light combat aircraft (LCA) February 2003
New jet trainer (HJT-36) Under progress

These products have been the workhouses of the Indian Airforce and have stood the test of time.
Today, the center has a full spectrum of expertise in all facets of aircraft design and development
and is backed by rich in service experience of more than five decades with proven skills in
aerodynamic design synthesis and optimization estimation of aerodynamic characteristics flight
mechanics and propulsion engineering.

Light Combat Aircraft, christened “Tejas” is flying testimony to ARDC’s capabilities in design,
development and integration. The aircraft has several advanced technologies such as digital
quadruple-redundant Fly-By-Wire flight control system, advanced aerodynamic configuration,
advanced composites, Glass Cockpit and advanced avionics systems.

ARDC has also successfully test flown (in 2003) the Intermediate Jet Trainer, HJT-36 in a record
time of 20 months from start of metal cutting, a unique achievement in Indian Aviation history.

Comprehensive capabilities in design of aircraft structure both in metal and advanced composites
backed by static and dynamic analysis fatigue and fracture analysis. System design and
integration expertise covering – system architecture, sizing, reliability and maintainability
analysis, extensive experience in design of landing gears, flight controls system, avionics and
weapon integration. Computer aided engineering environment contemporary analysis and design
tools, extensive state of the art ground and flight test facilities and well equipped prototype
manufacturing infrastructure.

The Aircraft Research & Design Centre has full fledged manufacturing infrastructure for
building aircraft prototypes and test articles and can support flight development programmes. In
addition to conventional manufacturing facilities, production engineering, tool design and
engineering skills, the Centre has CNC machining facilities and advanced composites
manufacturing facilities.

ARDC undertakes the following:

• Design & Development of basic and advanced trainers and combat aircraft from concept
to certification.

• Integration of new weapons and systems on existing aircraft

• Testing of aircraft structure and systems covering preparation of test requirement, test
plans, rig design, instrumentation and analysis

• Wind tunnel model design, fabrication, testing and analysis

• Preparation of flight test plan, onboard instrumentation and flight testing of aircraft and
systems

• CAD services including surface design, 3D modeling, digitization etc.

• Research programmes in related areas

 • Quality Assurance: - ARDC has well established and well proven design office
procedures and configuration control procedures. Design quality is ensured through
analysis, review, testing and documentation. ARDC also has proven quality assurance
procedures in all the phases of manufacture of prototype aircraft that conform to the
requirement of civil and military airworthiness

Aircraft Technology

Our proven capabilities in aerodynamic design are backed by contemporary analysis tools,
experimental testing and the ability to take a design from concept to final certification. The
Centre has extensive experience and expertise in:

• Requirement Analysis and Design Synthesis

• Configuration Evolution and Optimization
• Estimation of Aerodynamics Characteristics
• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Flight Mechanics
• Intake Aerodynamics
• Propulsion Engineering
• Computation of Aerodynamics Loads
• Wind Tunnel Model Design, Testing and Analysis
• Spin Analysis
• External Stores Separation Characteristics Analysis and Testing
• Flight Test Requirement and Post Flight Analysis

Structural Technology

Through innovative design, static and dynamic analysis and progressive application of emerging
technologies, we have to our credit several successful airframe designs which have stood the test
of time successfully. We have comprehensive capabilities in:

• Design of Conventional Light Alloy Structures

 • Design of Primary Structure using Advanced Composites
• Static Structural Analysis and Optimization
• Dynamic Analysis
• Fatigue and Fracture Analysis and Life Estimation
• State-of-the-art Ground Test Facilities for Static, Dynamic and Fatigue Testing
• Experimental Stress Analysis
• Material Testing
• Airworthiness Requirement
• Configuration Control and Standards
• Computer Aided Engineering with Advanced Design and Analysis tools
• Vibration Qualification Tests
• Structural Coupling Tests
• Full Aircraft Static and Fatigue Tests

System Design and Integration

The excellent skills that we possess in Systems Design have contributed to the successful
development of various aircraft programs. We also have an enormous in-service experience. Our
design expertise includes:

• Requirement Analysis
• System Design and Architecture
• System Software Development
• Landing Gear Design
• Flight Control and Hydraulic System Design
• Fuel Management System Design
• Electrical System Design
• Avionics Integration
• Microprocessor Controlled System Management
• Installation Design
• System Testing
• Design of Test Rigs and Formulation of Test Plans
• Environmental Control System Design
• Life Support System Design
• Utility System Management System Design
• Undercarriage System Design
 • Steer-by-Wire System Design
• Break Management System Design

ORGANISATION STRUCTURE OF ARDC

DIRECTOR (D&D)

GM(ARDC)

CD(A) CD(F) CD(S) CD(V) CD(D) AGM(QA)

(GR-IX) (GR-IX) (GR-IX) (GR-IX) (GR-IX) (GR-VIII)

HOD(SD) AGM(FH)
HOFG(SDA) DGM
HOD(FC) HOD(LG)
(GR-VII) (QA) GR-
HOD(STR) AGM(MFG
HOD(FG) All are GR- HOD(LI) VII
HOFG(MAT
VIII AGM(PRO
)
HOD(CM) HOD(HY )
(GR-VII)
All are
HOD(AW) GR-VIII HOD(GT)

All are GR- CHIEF All are GR-

VIII MANAGER (HR) VIII

CHIEF MANAGER
(Official Language)
SECURITY
CANTEEN
VIGILANCE
Officers Workmen Contract Total
CHIEF MANAGER
795 616 490 1901
(IMM & STORES)

Total Strength of the ARDC Division SM(FINANCE)

Effects and consequences of absenteeism: -

Unauthorised and willful absenteeism will pose greater problems not only for the
employee himself but also to others employees and the organization that employs these workers.
The irony is there may be some positive consequences also. Here I will try describing both sides
of the problem.

Absenteeism mostly has been studied as a secondary variable who were primarily
interested in investigating turnover. The early literature on Absenteeism often viewed absence as
a less severe but conceptually similar form of withdrawal behaviour to turnover. It was
commonly assumed that turnover and absenteeism shared common antecedents. It was not until
the late 70’s and early 80’s that researchers viewed absenteeism as a unique behaviour deserving
separate research and theory. It was discovered on comparison that absenteeism has
consequences that are different from those of turnover. Absenteeism is a temporary form of
withdrawal that does not threaten employment relationship. Absenteeism may often occur for
reasons that have little to do with the job. The purpose of this section is to identify a number of
potential effects or consequences of absenteeism for individuals, work groups and organization.

Consequences for individuals:-

As I said consequences of absenteeism can be both, positive as well as negative. The most
obvious positive effects is the ability to recover from illness. It is also one way the employees
have to reduce stress or burden associated with the job. Absenteeism allows the employee to
reduce job-related stress and thus maintained a higher level of motivation than might be
otherwise possible. Absence is also a way in which employee cope with non-work demands.
Numerous day-to-day tasks can only be accomplished between 8 to 5 on weekends. It is
important to recognize that absenteeism may be a response to either work-related or non-work
pressure and that consequences of absenteeism for that individual will differ on factors
motivating the absence.

Among the negative consequences, is the loss of earnings for the employee. In addition to this,
absence may also negative influence the employee’s performance evaluation by his superiors.
Co-workers may also resent frequent absentees when absence causes the workload of others to
oncrease. When the work cannot be performed by others, absence causes work to accumulate.
Absenteeism may also affect employee’s self-perceptions or job attitudes. This may have long-
term implications as he may turn into a chronic absentee resulting in alcoholism and
indebtedness. It results in loss of skill and efficiency. To habitual (Chronic) absentees, it causes
general morale degradation. The effect of habitual absentees on the average attendance and
general discipline is very bad.

Consequences for individual co-workers

On the positive side, absenteeism incident may represent an opportunity to increase variety on
the job or to develop job related skill and abilities. When replacements of absent employee are
not easily available absenteeism may result in opportunities for overtime work and thus
increased earnings.
On the negative side, absenteeism increases the workload and thus the burden shared by other
employee. It is also likely that resentment may be generated for the absent employee, particularly
when the reason for absence is not viewed as legitimate. Absenteeism may therefore threaten
interpersonal relationship among employees.

Consequences for work groups

Absenteeism may have important implications for employees in the organization other than the
person who is absent. Although these implications can be discussed as the individual level of
analysis, it is also important to consider the consequences of absenteeism for work group
functions.

There may be at least two work groups associated with absenteeism of group members. One is
that the absent employee may return with renewed vigor, enthusiasm, motivation and interest in
the job. As suggested earlier, absenteeism is one way employees have to reduce burden and
stress associated with the job. This may facilitate the work of the group especially when tasks are
highly interdependent. Secondly, absenteeism may contribute to the overall cohesiveness of the
group. Work groups may develop norms about absence that legitimate periodic time away from
the job by group members. They mutual support, that results from group norms about
absenteeism, may increase felt obligation of members to the group and thus contribute to overall
group cohesiveness.

The negative consequences are that tasks are highly interdependent, absenteeism is likely to
increase the workload of group members and may threaten overall group effectiveness.
Excessive absenteeism may also result in intra-group conflicts. The conflicts generated as a
result of absenteeism may only resolved by a change in behaviour of the group member who
violets the norms or his removal from the group.

Consequences for organizations

At the organizational level of analysis, absenteeism has several consequences that influence
overall effectiveness. Several such consequences are identified here.

On the positive side, the most obvious benefit is that sick employees do not come to work. Sick
employees are unlikely to perform their jobs effectively and they may spread illness among their
co-workers. In addition, a certain level of absenteeism may also contribute to the development of
a skilled internal manpower pool. It may result in greater training and development of job to
skills among employees, especially if the organization has a policy of transferring employees
among different jobs to replace absentees. Absenteeism therefore provides organization with the
opportunity to train employees to perform a number of different tasks.

On the flip side, the costs associated with absenteeism are the most salient and tangible negative
consequences at the organizational level of analysis. As costs are dealt with in a separate section
of this chapter, they will not be dealt with in depth here. It is important to recognize, however,
that organizations may pay wages and fringe benefits for absent workers even though they are
not making a productive contribution. The extent of such costs will depend on absence policies
of the organization. Organizations must also include administrative expenses required to keep
attendance records as a cost of absenteeism. In addition, organization that have to hire extra
employees to replace those who are absent also have higher payroll costs attributable to replace
those who are absent also have higher payroll costs attributable to absenteeism.

The cost to absenteeism is likely to influence organizational effectiveness negatively. High levels
of absenteeism will reduce the overall productivity of employees. Moreover, organizations may
have to build slack into production schedules to compensate for anticipated absences. Even when
replacements are available for absent employees, effectiveness may be decreased because
temporary employees may not have the knowledge or the job skills of the absent employees they
replace. This may result in lower productivity and quality control problems. Decreased
effectiveness resulting from absenteeism may be most likely when absences are among key
employees in strategic production positions, when absences are difficult to predict and there is
little slack in the system.

The more intangible costs might be the loss of quality of products, the lowering of group morale
and the loss of discipline among employees. This apart, work schedule gets disturbed, production
capacity is under-utilised and it results in low degree of capital utilization. In a country like ours,
if badli workers are placed as replacements there is likelihood of damage to machinery and
equipment and resultant sub-standard production. Inspection costs also rise. Frequent
absenteeism also renders manpower planning and work scheduling impossible. All this results in
the loss of competitive edge for the organization.

COST OF ABSENTEEISM
Determining the cost of absenteeism for an origination is a very complex exercise because costs
can be well as indirect or tangible as well as intangible. The direct costs such as wages, benefits,
overtime to replacements are just one part of the total costs to the organization. Other costs could
include time of supervisors dealing with absenteeism, the cost of keeping records etc.

Other indirect costs be damage to machinery when a “Badli” worker is used, sub-standard
quality of product, increased cost of supervision and inspection etc. The intangible costs, most
doifficult to determine are the decrease in overall morale and discipline, the loss of goodwill of a
customer when a sub-standard product is supplied to a customer, the cost of replacement of a
worker when a chronic absentee has to be discharged etc. Thus, the problem becomes very
complex, in fact, one survey carried out by American Management Association indicates that,
until recently, compnies did not know what they were giving away when they agree to absence
payment clauses in their Union contracts or when they established policies granting equal or
more favourable benefits to non-unionised employees. One extreme example is of a south
American Cotton Mill which employed 25percent more workers than it needed, just to take care
of its average absence resulting in a direct increase of 25% in its pay roll expences. This course
is an extreme case but a lot of companies do carry an extra staff of around 68% to make up for
absentees. Listed below are some factors that contribute to costs of absenteeism.

The total costs of absence of a company vary from firm to firm according to the rate of absence,
type of labour employed, and absence policies of the firm. These costs can be divided into two
components- Fixed costs and variable costs. The variable costs have been separated into 5 main
items as below.

a) Sick Pay : This heading includes all wages paid to absentees whether the absence is due to
sickness or other reasons. This is the most obvious cost since no work performed in return for the
wages.

Overtime : This component represents the amount paid to the replacement of the
absent employee. This could either be a twice the regular pay or 1.5 times the regular pay as per
wage agreement in force in a particular industry/company.

c) Redeployment : Extra costs may arise in several ways when company has a policy
of transferring employees from one job to another. The employee who has been moved may be
higher skill (grade/wage scale) than their temporary job warrants. They may therefore receive
more pay than the regular operator. On the other hand, the deployed employee may be virtually a
learner on his job. He may then create an extra wage cost by producing less per hour than the
average rate of output. In this case, the method of calculation will be to determine:-
i) The wage cost of the average efficient operator, producing x units of output.
ii) Wages paid to substitute for producing the same amount.

Difference between the two will be the extra cost. A further possibility is that the redeployed
employee may receive an extra allowance to compensate for inconvenience of being removed
from normal job. If yes, this will add to the differential.
d) Extra labour employed : Some companies, as stated earlier, may employ some extra labour
than would be necessary if there were no absenteeism in order that there shall be no gaps in
production when individual are away labour may be deployed usefully or it may be due to
inaccurate estimates by departmental managers of the amount of labour actually required.

e) Cost of lost sales : This is a cost which if present may be one of the most serious financial
result of absenteeism. If absence is creating hold-ups or actual loss of production, then delivery
dates may have to be changed or customers left unsatisfied. Besides effecting the company’s
profit such a situation may harm the goodwill and thus have serious long-term effect. Apart from
the variable costs, there are some fixed costs that a company has to incur as a consequence of
absenteeism. These costs are follows.

a) Administration: This refers to such costs as salary paid to an employee dealing with
absenteeism only, time of supervisors in finding replacement, filling up paper work, the cost of
maintaining records etc.

b) Medical department: This includes cost of maintaining a medical department along with
a medical staff to deal with sick employees. The medical benefits paid to employees are not to be
included here as they dealt with separately.

c) Fringe Benefits: Apart from wages a company provides a lot of fringe benefits etc which
remain constant per employee per annum. These represent on the following page gives a good
idea about how costs can be calculate.

CAUSES OF ABSENTEEISM

Absenteeism is a serious problem and can prove to be very expensive for any
organization. Hence, it is necessary to understand the underlying causes of absenteeism if one is
to find a lasting solution for it. It is also necessary to mention here that the causes for each
organization are unique. The cause may be internal to the organization or external to the
organization. The cause may be due to social reasons, demographic composition of the work
force of due to economic and market condition. Internally, the cause could be management
related, due to working condition etc. Thus, there could be several reasons. However no single
reason alone is responsible for this problem in any organization but it is normally a combination
of several reasons operating at the same time. This complicates ascertainment of cost by causes.

The simplest way of classifying absences can be based on the theory that, good
attendance is found where employees are able and willing to work. If this is true, the main causes
of absence are obviously those, which interface with the employees’ ability and desire to work.
Here again, however, this oversimplifies the case. Sickness absence, for instance, falls in the
category of ‘unable to work’. If this is the case, why does sickness vary with the type of benefits
the company provides, with the days of the week, with the sex of the employee, and even with
the economic cycle? Similarly, off-the-job accidents, would also clearly fall in category of
‘unable to work’ but seem to vary with the type of sickness benefits the company provides.

Another way of categorize absence would be as follows:

 1. Absence caused by conflicting motivation of the worker.
2. Absence caused by physical incapacity of the worker.
3. Absence resulting from interfering personal obligations and needs of the worker.
4. Absence encouraged by wage condition.

Another method of classification is in which absence caused by conditions inherent in the job
are segregated. These include working conditions, supervision, etc. and simlar factors that are
clearly under the control of management. External factors may include transportation facilities
(The lack of them) or lack of community facilities etc. However, most of the external factors are
related to employees’ ability and willingness to come to work, and a few studies have shown that
supervisory behaviour is the single greatest factor affecting ‘willingness’.

The most comprehensive model for factors affecting employee attendance that is given by
the Steers and Rhodes (1978). This model (figure 3.1) incorporates both voluntary and
involuntary absenteeism and was based on a review of over 100 studies of absenteeism. Briefly
stated, the Steers and Rhodes(1978) model points that employee attendance is largely a function
of two variables : a) an employee’s motivation to attend and b) an employee’s ability to attend.
The model suggested here rests on the fundamental premise that an employee’s motivation to
come to work represents the primary influence on actual attendance, assuming he or she has the
ability to attend. Available evidence indicates that such motivation is determined largely by a
combination of (a) an employee’s effectiveness response to the job situation and (b) various
internal and external pressures to attend.

A major contention of Steers and Rhodes model is that, other things being Equal, when an
employee enjoys the work environment and the tasks that characterize his or her job situation,
we would expect that employee to have a strong desire to come to work. Under such
circumstances, the work experience would be a pleasurable one. In view of this relationship, it is
logical to consider the manner in which the job situation affects one’s attendance motivation.
The job situation (box 1 in figure) includes variable such as (a) job-worker relations and (G)
opportunities for advancement. Here we are referring to the general work environment and not to
nature of tasks.

JOB SCOPE

Absenteeism has been found to be inversely related to perceived measures of task identity,
autonomy, variety, level of responsibility, participation in decisions affecting employee’s
immediate jobs, sense of achievement and job challenge. Experimental interventions aimed at
redesigning and improving nature of job leads to reduction in absenteeism. The rational, it
seems, is that increased job scope increase challenge and responsibility experienced by an
employee which in turn lead to more positive job attitudes: which then translate into an increased
desire to participate in what are perceived to be more desirable work activities.

JOB LEVEL
Another factor affecting job situation is one’s level in organizational hierarchy. It appears that
people who hold higher level jobs are more satisfied and less likely to remain absent. It is
possible that more challenging nature of higher level jobs leads to higher job satisfication which
in turn leads to level of absenteeism.

ROLE STRESS

Studies on role theory have emphasized the importance of role stress and conflicts as important
variables in work behaviour. Role conflict is found to be associated with job-related tension and
reduced job satisfaction. Also absenteeism is found to be higher on jobs characterized by high
level of stress or anxiety. Such anxiety, dissatisfaction and tension may lead to workers looking
for reasons for not coming to work.

WORK GROUP SIZE

Studies show that there is a linear relationship between work group size and absenteeism among
workers. It was also found that increases in size of total organization were also modesty related
with increased absenteeism. A possible explanation could be that increased work group size
leads to lower cohesiveness, higher task specialization and poorer communication which may
make it more difficulty to satisfy one’s higher order needs and hence job attendance becomes
less appealing.

Appendix B
QUESTIONAIRE

1. Name :

2. Age :
3. Sex :

4. Marital Status :

5. Marital Status : Married / Unmarried / Widower

6. Religion : H / M / C / J / Other

7. Education : (a) Primary/Secondary/HSC/Graduate/PG

(b) ITI / Polytechnic

8. Category : Skilled / Unskilled / Semi-skilled

9. Place of Residence : Township / City / Others

10. Type of family : Joint / Nuclear / Single

11. Total No. of Dependents :

Nature of job/Perception of job

11. Designation :

12. Do you work in shifts : Yes / No

13. Do you mind working in Shift : Yes / No

14. Do you like your job : Yes / No

15. Do you think, this is the

Appropriate job for you : Yes / No

16. Do you find your job interesting? : Yes / No

17. Do you think your job is challenging?: Yes / No

18. Do your friends & family approve

of your job ? : Yes / No

Work Condition

19. Is your work place neat & clean? : Yes / No

20. Are you happy with canteen facilities? : Yes / No

21. Are you satisfied with facilities provided : Yes / No

22. Is the environment pleasant? : Yes / No

23. Are medical facilities sufficient? : Yes / No

24. Will company promote you according to your merit and ability? : Yes / No

25. Are you given proper hearing when you have a grievance? : Yes / No

26. Does the company give attention to suggestions regarding work

improvement? : Yes / No

27. Is your tiring : Yes / No

28. What are your expectations from company job :

Supervision

29. Do supervisors appreciate you for a fine job? : Yes / No

30. Do supervisors help you in work related problems? : Yes / No

31. Are you supervisors capable to give correct and clear instructions? : Yes / No

32. Are supervisors well trained for their jobs? : Yes / No

33. Are supervisors interested in your growth and advancement? : Yes / No

34. Can a supervisor be a friend? : Yes / No

35. Do supervisors help you in a personal problem if you approach

them : Yes / No

Involvement

36. Do you hold any post in Union : Yes / No

37. Do you actively participate in Union activities : Yes / No

38. Do you participate in election for union representatives : Yes / No

39. Do you participate in the elections for union Bi-partite committees?: Yes / No

40. Are you an active member of any of the committees : Yes / No

Company Communications
41. Do you know all the products of the Company? : Yes / No

42. Do you know the importance of these products for the country’s
Economy : Yes / No

43. Do you know the names of all departments of the company : Yes / No

44. Are instructions given to you clear and precise : Yes / No

45. Do you know the basis of promotion in the company : Yes / No

46. Are you aware of leave rules : Yes / No

47. Do you know consequences of absence : Yes / No

Social Factors

48. How many festivals do you celebrate in a year? : Yes / No

49. Has festival affected your presence in the last year? : Yes / No
If yes, how many times.

50. During last year, has a marriage / funeral affected your presence. : Yes / No
If yes, how many times.

51. Do you ever remain absent because of guests? : Yes / No

If yes, how many times.

52 Do you often visit your native place?

If yes, how many times in a year and for how long? : Yes / No

Personal matters / Attitudes

53. How often do you travel every year? For how many days? :

54. What is your native place? :

55. Do you drink regularly? : Yes / No

56. Does it affect your presence at company? Days ? : Yes / No

57. Do you gamble : Yes / No

58. Are you in debt ? With whom you have taken loan ? How much : Yes / No

Work groups
59. Do you like the person you work with? : Yes / No

60. Do you prefer to work with people from own district/caste? : Yes / No

61. Do you think productivity will increase if group is made up of

friends : Yes / No

62. Will your colleagues help you in case of family or personal

problems? : Yes / No

63. How is your health recently? : Yes / No

V. Good / Good / Satisfactory / Not Good

64. In past year, have you suffered from any illness? : Yes / No

65. If Yes, what ? : Yes / No

66. Has illness of family members affected your presence at company

in past one year? : Yes / No

67. In past one year, have you remained absent due to accident? : Yes / No

68. If yes, how many days?

Other External factors

69. How much is your income per month :

70. Any other source of income ? :

Business / Agriculture / Wife earnings / Children earnings / Rent :
How Much :

71. Total income per month? :

72. House you live in is own/rented /company provided? :

73. Are following facilities available ? :

Water / Electricity / Drainage

74. Have you done any major repair work in your house in your
house recently? Has it affected your presence? :

75. How do you come to work? : Self / Company Bus

76. If self, by what means? : Cycle / Scooter / Bike / Car

77. Do you face any problem? : Yes / No

78. list comman problem that affect your coming to work :

79. Suppose you have a festival and no leave available. Would you
go to the work or prefer to remain absent

80. Would you put in extra effort to make company more productive? : Yes / No

81. Do you feel your values & company values are similar : Yes / No

82. Are you proud of working for HAL : Yes / No

83. Are you happy you joined HAL instead of any other company? : Yes / No

84. Do you care whether HAL makes profit or not : Yes / No

85. Do you think this is the best organization for you : Yes / No

86. Do you think company policies benefit workers most : Yes / No

87. Does your family and friends approve of your job in HAL : Yes / No

Company Image

88. Will Company help you if you have a family or personal problem : Yes / No

89. Do you think company helps in improving your skills : Yes / No

90. Do you think you get paid what you deserve : Yes / No

91. Will you advise friends to work for this company : Yes / No

92. Do you think welfare measures are good : Yes / No

93. Do you think welfare measures are good : Yes / No

94. Is management impartial? : Yes / No

95. Do you think HAL is better than other companies : Yes / No

 RESPONSES OF THE WORKERS

Given below are the responses of workers of various departments. The departments where these
questions were asked were Sheet metal Shop, Heat treatment Shop, Structural Assembly, LCA
Composite Shop, Civil Maintenance, Finance e.t.c.

The responses are listed as group responses as the workers were interviewed in groups and the
form of interview was that of a free discussion. The researcher just let the workers thought the
various subjects that needed to be discussed some of the questions were from the questionnaire
but mostly there were no questioned asked. All the subjects in the questionnaire were discussed
nevertheless.

The workers were unanimous on quite a few matters despite the fact that all the departments
were quite different. Thus we can say that the validity of the responses is quite high.

Group 1.

Management Attitude : Management cares for the workers only to the extent that it relates to
production otherwise it does not care for workers.

Salary : The pay difference between officer and worker is too large. Workers are not being paid
enough.

Promotion : There is lot of irregularity and favoritisms regarding promotion. There are
 Appendix - C
Responses of workers
Given below are the responses of workers of various departments. The departments
where these questions were asked were CNC Shop, Machine Shop, Sheet metal shop, Finance,
Maintenance, IMM and heat treatment shop.

The responses are listed as group responses as the workers were interviewed in groups
and the form of interview was that of a free discussion. The researcher just let the workers
through the various subjects that needed to be discussed some of the questions were from the
questionnaire were discussed nevertheless.

The workers were unanimous on quite a few matters despite the fact that the entire
departments were quite different. Thus we can say that the validity of the responses is quite high.

Group I

Management Attitude : Management cares for the workers only to the extent that it relates to
production otherwise it does not care for workers.

Salary : The pay differences between officers and workers is too large. Workers are not being
paid enough. Shifts pay different is also very large.

Promotion : There are lot of irregularity and favouritism regarding promotion. There are many
cases pending regarding promotion of junior worker over senior workers.
Leaves can be had very easily. Management does not take any action for absence.
Dress and safety equipments including safety shoes are not provided on time.
Health condition is not good. At least 50% workers of the department suffer from high blood
pressure or sugar or both.
20% of the workers have their side business.
There should be job rotation. There is no strict job rotation policy in the company.

Group II

Company does not take care of our grievances. Work related problems are also not solved.
Union also does not listen to our problems as our union fees are cut directly from the pay.
Management is very partial. Promotion policy is very bad. Promotions come at intervals of 10 to
15 years. Pay scales are very low compare to the private companies involved in the same type of
the business.
Group III

There is a lot of contract work given out in the company. A lot of corruption takes place due to
this. Also company spends so much money on useless civil maintenance.
Salary is very less. Company was one of the top masters when I joined the company, today it is
not even in the top 100.
Job classification is very poor. Brilliant engineers are made to do the paper work.
Local people take more leaves than the outsiders.
At least 25% of the workers have side business. Leaves are no problem, we get them easily and
nobody asks questions.
There is not enough work. We are free most of the time.
Management is very partial.
There should be encashment facility for sick leaves and casual leaves also.

Group IV

Nobody listens to our grievances.

The policy regarding leaves is very liberal. Even if there is no leave balance, we can remain
absent and just give medical certificate. Then no questions asked.
At least 20% workers have agriculture business.
Salary of TIML and other companies are better than ours.
There are lots of health problems in the company. We even get aromatic urine because of
inhaling chemicals.
Canteen facilities are not good enough. The food is very oily and not well prepaired.

Group V

Working condition is very bad. The area has lot smoke and is dirty. We have to inhale naptha
fumes while loading it. There is no way to stop that. Company is not doing anything about it.
This affects our health very badly.
We have to be the part of the society so we have to attend social functions.
Company does not care for our problems. Suggestions are also not taken seriously.

Group VI
Salary is poor. Company once used to pay very well. Now , inspite of the workforce being
reduced and the productivity having icreased, the salary is comparing very badly with other
companies.
Working condition are not very good. We have to sit here in AC for most of the time. But when
we have to go out for some manual activity, the pollution is very bad.
Canteen food is very bad. So Many no of employees are suffering from diseases.
The grievance handling is also very poor.
Quality of work life is non-existent. There is no scope for self development. We cannot even
leave the job because nobody will take a worker who has worked in public sector and also
because the company does provide very good welfare facilities like loans and medical benefits.

Group VII

The working condition in the company are not good. We have face lots of pollution while
working. Salary is also not so good.
Taking leave is very easy. Nobody asks questions. Company sometimes even gives earned leave
4 to 5 times a year when there is an emergency. If there is no leave balance, we can still take
leave and give medical certificates are available easily. Some people apply for leave 10 days
after taking the leave.
Health of the worker is not very good. We have to face pollution while draining water or filling
drums.
A lot of workers have side business or agriculture. Some times we have to go for marriage or
funeral so also we take leave.
Company does not care for grievances. Management does not listen to us. They are very
corrupted. Suggestion Scheme is not taken seriously. Whenever somebody gives suggestions, his
name appears in the bulletin and the management says that it is being looked into. Then nobody
does anything about it. Some times the suggestion is implemented two years late so that the
worker who has given the suggestion does not get the credit.
Appendix -D

REFERENCES
1.