The world and work models are changing, leading employers to implement a new system to track employee attendance. Time and attendance software helps you record clock-in and clock-out times, manage leave requests, and calculate overtime for accurate payroll processing. Companies using an outdated system to track attendance have huge financial losses and a productivity drop.
Significance of Time and Attendance Statistics
Time and attendance statistics are important for any industry. These statistics help to understand employee behaviour and productivity and how organizations can adopt new changes or implement policies. In manufacturing industries, they help maintain production and meet delivery. If employees are absent frequently, it will disturb assembly lines and decrease workflow. You have to pay more employees to complete it, which can increase costs.
Healthcare is a basic service that requires a 24/7 operation. Regular attendance is crucial to ensure patient care. If employees are absent, the workload on present staff may increase. This will compromise the quality of care patients receive. It is similar in retail and hospitality industry. They have to deal with people and rely on the present employees. The lack of employees can affect their service, customer satisfaction and sales. Learning is also a continuous process, so teacher and staff attendance is important for students' learning. People working in the tech world know that project deadlines are often short. Remote work makes attendance tracking challenging for employers in the tech industry.
Relevance of These Statistics for 2024
The year 2024 has unique challenges and opportunities for employers. Many companies have shifted to post-pandemic shifts (hybrid and remote work models). This will make it important for employers to understand time and attendance statistics. These work models change workplace environments and make it challenging for employers to track employee attendance. These statistics will help them track attendance as organizations implement hybrid work policies. They will also help assess the effectiveness of these models and ensure productivity. About 80% of companies plan to track office attendance in 2024 to monitor employee presence and performance.
Regular attendance is often linked to higher employee engagement. Organizations can identify disengagement early and implement corrective measures by analyzing attendance patterns. Accurate attendance records are essential for compliance with labour laws and regulations. You can easily process wage and hour laws, overtime calculations, and leave entitlements if you keep track of employee attendance correctly. Absenteeism has direct financial impacts. You can calculate the cost if you have the statistics properly.
Criteria for Selecting the Statistics
While selecting the top time and attendance statistics for 2024, the following criteria were used to provide a comprehensive and relevant overview. The statistics must be relevant and related to 2024 and reflect recent trends. The data should be sourced from reputable organizations, such as government agencies, industry reports, and academic studies. Gather statistics of various industries and sectors to provide a complete and detailed view. Focus on those statistics which show a significant impact on employee management and organizational strategy.
Data Sources Use For Research
The data can be gathered from many resources, such as industry reports, white papers, and academic journals. Go through the extensive review of recent publications to gather relevant statistics. You can use the data collected by government agencies such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and international labour organizations. Recent surveys and polls conducted by reputable firms are also helpful to observe trends. The accuracy of the data can be checked by referencing statistics from multiple sources.
Global Attendance Trends
Employee attendance is a critical aspect influencing productivity and operational efficiency across industries. Recent data indicates that absenteeism remains a significant concern globally. In the United Kingdom, absenteeism rates are higher in the public sector than in the private ones. Unscheduled absenteeism costs employers approximately $3,600 yearly for each hourly worker and $2,650 yearly for salaried employees in the United States.
Regional Comparisons
Attendance trends vary across different regions, influenced by factors such as culture, economics, and laws:
North America: The US experiences significant financial losses due to absenteeism, with employers losing over $225 billion yearly due to total productivity loss from absenteeism.
Europe: In the UK, absenteeism due to mental health issues costs employers up to £42 billion yearly.
Asia-Pacific: In this region, cultural emphasis on presenteeism often results in lower reported absenteeism rates.
Post-Pandemic Shifts
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly influenced attendance patterns globally. Many companies have shifted to remote and hybrid work models, which don't require the physical presence of employees in the workplace. Today, many businesses and companies use this model because it increases productivity and is flexible. Many people prefer this work model. Statistics show that 80% of companies plan to track office attendance in 2024 to monitor employee presence and performance.
Although remote and hybrid work models have many benefits, they can cause stress and burnout. The pandemic raises awareness of mental health issues, which can increase absenteeism due to stress and burnout. Stress-related absenteeism costs Canadian employers over $3 billion annually. There was a notable increase in health-related absences during the pandemic. In January 2022, nearly 5.4% of full-time workers were absent due to health-related issues.
Absenteeism Cost to Employers
- Moving from weekly timesheet updates to daily would recover $52,000 per employee yearly (Affinitylive, 2014).
- On average, a shift worker costs a company $2,660 yearly absenteeism costs (Circadian, 2014).
- "Buddy-punching", where an employee clocks another employee in, costs companies about $373 million yearly (Workplus, 2019).
- Time theft makes companies lose about $11 billion yearly (Workplus, 2019).
- Every year in the US, $36.4 billion is lost from employee absenteeism (CDC, 2020).
- Almost 10% of employers admit to taking time off employee timesheets (Tsheets).
Time and Attendance Overview
- 88% of the "best in class" companies automate their time and attendance data collection (Aberdeen Group, 2011).
- The most common reasons for unscheduled absenteeism are personal illness (30%), family issues (20%), personal needs (27%), and stress (12%) (Circadian, 2014).
- 93% of employees say paid time off is an important or very important contributor to their job satisfaction (SHRM, 2016).
- 86% of respondents who use outsourcing management systems reported high satisfaction with their systems (SHRM, 2017).
- On average, US workers typically work 7.7 hours a day (TSheets)
- Almost 3% of an employer's workforce was absent on any given day (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019).
Time Management Systems
- Employees who log their time at least once a day are 66% accurate, whereas those who log their time weekly are only 47% accurate (Affinitylive, 2014).
- 38% of employees track their hours, while 18% of respondents said their manager tracks their hours (Tsheets, 2017).
- 80% of timesheets must be corrected (Wagepoint, 2019).
- 38% of employers in the US use punch cards and paper timesheets (Workplus, 2019).
- One in three timekeeping methods are outdated (Wagepoint, 2019).
- The most common ways of receiving shift schedules are on a piece of paper (45%), via phone or text (10%), spreadsheet (10%), and whiteboard (3%).
HR Strategies to Combat Absenteeism
- 84% of respondents had a time and attendance system as part of their workforce management strategy (Deloitte, 2014).
- Only a quarter of respondents felt their organization was tracking financial liabilities for paid leave "very accurately" (SHRM, 2014).
- 40% of large employers have an outsourcing leave-management system, whereas 27% of small employers outsource to vendors (SHRM, 2018).
- CDC recommends employers introduce, promote, and support workplace wellness programs to help lower health-related absences (CDC, 2020).