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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, February 9, 2003

Companies seek ways to reduce absenteeism

By Stephanie Armour
USA Today

Thinking of calling in sick? Employees who do that too often might be fired.

Workers with perfect attendance are getting thousands of dollars in bonuses. Absences can even affect raises — some companies are changing job reviews to include attendance ratings.

Employee absences have become such an epidemic that companies are going on the defensive. More than

70 percent of employers rated controlling costs in their disability absence programs as the top priority, according to a survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

The attention comes as absenteeism costs more than ever: an annual average of $789 per employee in 2002, a 30 percent jump in two years, says a study by human-resources information provider CCH.

What some are doing:

• Starmark International, a Fort Lauderdale-based marketing firm with about 40 employees, includes attendance information on performance reviews.

They also pay employees $100 for each unclaimed sick day. The policy allows for six sick days a year, so that's an extra $600 for perfect attendance.

• Some companies are firing employees who call in sick too often. At Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, workers were allowed nine separate episodes of illness a year before being fired. This year, it's seven.

For every six months of perfect attendance, workers get $100. After a year, employees are put into a drawing for $3,000.

• Communications firm Sturgesword switched from sick days to time-off banks. Instead of specific sick days, employees get a set number of days off each year that they can use for any reason, from vacation to illness.

And some employers are flat-out asking workers not to be sick. Last year at American Airlines, more than 5 percent of the workforce was absent on an average day, costing more than $1 million a day. CEO Don Carty sent his 110,000 employees a voice mail asking them to stop taking unneeded sick days.

But experts say being too tough will prompt employees who are sick to come in, endangering co-workers. And they say programs can backfire by making workers feel they're not trusted.