Mental absenteeism?
Recognize it and anticipate it!
The absenteeism rate says something about how your people are doing. Committed and satisfied employees are absent less often. Physical absenteeism due to illness is tangible. But what about mental absenteeism? The employee is physically present, but due to low engagement, does not contribute sufficiently to the organization’s goals. It’s usually not a matter of unwillingness. People are often forced into such behavior by circumstances. How can you get a grip on these circumstances?
Mental absenteeism can make employees feel powerless, stubborn, and rigid
Even though they would actually like things to be different. Research shows that people generally want to work. However, at a certain point, they lose their drive. This happens because they find themselves in a situation where they have insufficient control over their work. Work they once found meaningful becomes meaningless.
Causes of mental absenteeism?
Mental absenteeism is often rooted in collectively limiting beliefs and convictions. Ideas like ‘there’s no point here anyway’ or ‘that’s just how things go here’.
Mental absenteeism also increases as there are more reorganizations and mergers. The effect of cost savings, for example, can be lost because they actually cause more mental absenteeism.
Other causes of mental absenteeism may include employees feeling undervalued; their morale may drop if their employer lets colleagues go in a poor manner. Employees then fear the same could happen to them; personal factors can also form the background for high mental absenteeism.
At first glance, mental absenteeism seems to be about neglecting tasks. But actually it’s a decrease in the ability to really go for it. The employee is no longer committed to what they were once engaged in. Managers may think an employee is not suited to the job, but in reality, it’s a case of mental absenteeism.
How do you recognize mental absenteeism?
You’ll find mental absenteeism wherever things aren’t running smoothly. Mental absenteeism can also be recognized by the following symptoms:
- Conflicts and communication problems
- Loss of turnover and profitability
- High unwanted turnover of employees and customers
- Your organization has a poor image
- A loss of faith and trust in the organization and in each other
- Information is quickly distorted
- A closed culture and resistance to change
- Uncertainty and little self-confidence
- Lack of interest and indifference
- Employees often do not keep their agreements
- Staff are passive and shift work to one another
The costs of mental absenteeism are significantly higher than those of absenteeism due to illness. Mental absenteeism is two to three times more prevalent than known absenteeism due to illness.
How do you anticipate mental absenteeism?
By recognizing and acknowledging mental absenteeism in the organization, you already gain some control over it. It’s important to recognize your own share in mental absenteeism. Only then can mental absenteeism be tackled effectively. Look at the limiting factors you see in the organization. These contain the most important factors for the onset and increase of mental absenteeism.
If you have regular contact moments with your employees, for example during the review cycle, you’ll have a better idea of what’s going on. As a next step, a work scan can be a good instrument. Its aim is to increase awareness about one’s own motivations and qualities. So that people go to work again with pleasure and full of energy. This will benefit not only their work but also their private lives.
Source: HRPraktijk.nl
