Absenteeism Control

Dear Seniors,
Am working for a Shoe Uppers Manufacturing Company. Our Unit strength is 350 and out of that, daily 35 employees absent themselves. Out of that 35, for sure 10 will fall in "Unauthorised Absenteeism". Every morning, i do meet the absentees and inquire the reason behind their absenteeism. Still the number is not reduced. There are few employees, who will take leave then and there, with out any information. I suggested the Management, that a warning letter can be issued to those employees and it might have show some positive result, as the workers are having dont care attitude. But then, due to the manpower demand in the industry, they are not in a place to take any actions like this. I thought of creating a team among the workers themselves and thro' them attacking the absenteeism in the Floor. I hope this will work out. Kindly Suggest me, what better can be done, in this regard.
Regards,
Subha

Dear Subha,
It is learnt from the above post that the problem is attitude related. Though you seem to have a constructive approach in solving this problem and hopefully will make it. Still, I would suggest you to brief the issue to the management in a formal way and ask them to frame a guideline and instructions pertaining unauthorized absence. Get is signed by the management and communicate to all the workers in a training session exclusively designed for this particular topic.
You may request one of the senior Management personnel to the session whom the entire work force respects and admires.
This may solve the problem because merely warnings and stick-in-hand approach is not at all advisable looking to the current manpower shortage you mentioned above. According to me, that will be the best solution centric approach i would suggest.
Best Wishes,
Bhuvanesh Pareek
Kolkata

Dear Subha,
In manufacturing industries, issues of workers' absenteeism are always there. First, you can calculate impact of absenteeism of daily production out-put/ target achievement. In order to reduce absenteeism, you can annouce attendance allowance for workers as per requirement of skill set.
For instance, for Skilled Stichers, you can announce Rs.1,000/- per month if there is no leave/ absent. For semi-skilled, you can announce Rs.750/- per month if there is no leave/ absent. Similarly, for unskilled workers, you can set some incentive. You should discuss with your management and devise this attendance allowance precisely to improve workers' attenance.
In Shoe manufacturing industry, skilled stitchers are very important and need to be on job. Their demand is also there in apparal industry. So, strict action means losing skilled workers.
REgards,
Tariq Nadeem
Manager HR
Shafi Shoes