6% of employees did not show up for work during the third quarter of 2023, according to figures from the Work Absenteeism Report | Third quarter 2023 carried out by Randstad Research based on official figures. Every day, 1,277,119 people did not go to work, but only 995,626 had medical leave: that is, nearly 300,000 did not justify their professional absence, thus adding to a “serious problem for Spanish companies.”with a direct impact on productivity and business costs, also hindering its competitiveness,” points out this recently published bulletin. A possible illness is not the boss’s responsibility, but he could reduce these rates with good leadership practices, says Diego Antoñanzas. , trainer and business speaker for companies such as Amadeus, Sanitas, CaixaBank, Banco de Santander, Carrefour, Makro or Danone.
To try to combat this absenteeism, as detailed by the coach from the International Coaching Federation, The executive has to generate an excellent work environment that promotes happiness in the office. As? The expert lists “three keys to success”. The first, “giving flexibility. The mandatory return to the workspace, as long as it is not inevitable, increases abandonment. This freedom when choosing where to carry out the task improves the mental health of workers.
Furthermore, it is very important to thank and recognize the achievements of the employees, also the personal ones, which greatly humanizes the figure of the manager. And, as a third point, the maximum respect for the private life of the staff. The new generations believe that what is really important is what happens when they leave the office and the company must promote that particular aspect if it wants to get positive, happy and passionate employees.also when they arrive at their chores the next day.
The sociological situation of recent years, accelerated by Covid, prioritizes mental health, a determining factor when analyzing the professional environment. “We have become people again,” emphasizes the leadership expert. “There is almost no hierarchy that differentiates the boss from the employee, from the client or supplier, but rather we all speak from person to person. Yes, emotions are unique to each person, but I am clear that an employee is infinitely more motivated and committed when going to work if he receives affection“says Antoñanzas, who considers that “the same headache can be interpreted as today I am not going to my job or I am going to take something so I can go because it contributes to my happiness, to my own professional and personal growthl”.
The same goes for possible overtime, he points out: nor leave the office by system at 10:00 p.m. nor leave the post at 5:00 p.m. sharp. “I think the ideal is to have enough responsibility to know how much you have to invest more in the company, because you know that they will surely compensate you later.”
Physical well-being also lies in satisfaction, which is why Antoñanzas recommends that the person in charge of the company provide tools to achieve it, such as gym bonuses, meditation sessions or even training courses (including those that have nothing to do with with the company’s objectives), “because they result in a positive or excellent work environment, which invites employees to come to work with a good attitude and reduces absences.”
If absences in the office reduce the company’s productivity and it is in the hands of the manager to avoid them, he or she has to control and measure what the work environment is like, through questionnaires, personal interviews or 360 to know the reality. Some advice for both the manager who has been in the company for years and for the one who inherits a team or has just joined the position, says Antoñanzas: “Whoever is going to lead a new group must have data on the qualitative situation in which that staff finds itself and it would be a fundamental question in order to accept the challenge: managing an office with a good environment is not the same as one where toxicity is at risk. order of the day“. The complexity is not even similar.
Once this professional climate has been valued and evaluated, a commitment must be made. “With the data, the leader has to act. It is useless to measure if the result is not used to manage continuous improvement. Not from 0 to 100, but a little every day“, suggests the expert.
What is the leadership style that ensures the well-being of the staff? According to Antoñanzas, the old command model, “the one that is hierarchical, vertical, that works with very established and inflexible organizational charts, that feeds in silos, works as much as the liquid, transversal, let-do leadership style, where delegation is practically complete, which values the culture of error as part of learning and encourages both physical and mental care of the employee as the purpose of the company.
“They are both operational, yes, they perhaps achieve goals,”but the first leaves corpses along the way and the new leadership, which should be the current one, achieves much better results because it takes care of the people“analyses the expert.
Furthermore, adds Antoñanzas, the modern boss allows the development and promotes the professional career of his employees: “It helps them grow every day in every way, even if they are going to surpass their managerial position.“. Honesty in command.