Absences on the factory floor can significantly impact productivity and efficiency. When an employee is absent, their work may need to be covered by another employee or left incomplete, disrupting workflows and leading to production delays. Manufacturers usually track and manage absences to better anticipate and plan for these disruptions, which can help to minimise their impact on the business. However, an area often overlooked in building the absence management and timekeeping strategy is how useful it can be in proactively achieving compliance and reducing unplanned and unanticipated costs.
Non-compliance with labour regulations can be costly.
Absence management can digitise and record the tracking of employee absences, both planned and unplanned. Employers can ensure that they comply with labour laws and regulations, such as rules around sick leave or family leave. This is particularly important in cases where absences are protected by law, as failing to comply with these laws can result in costly fines or legal action.
In addition, several countries mandate accurate timekeeping to ensure workers are paid fairly and are not subject to burnout and fatigue. The Health and Safety Act 1974 in the UK, EU Working Time Directive 2003, and the 2019 ECJ ruling in Germany are a few examples of government guidelines and laws with provisions that require employers to either track working hours, absences, or signs of fatigue due to improper scheduling.
In a recent example, a French court ordered an employer to pay €350,000 in back payments for overtime worked by a former employee. The employer had failed to provide timekeeping records that could prove that the employee did not work these overtime hours.
Implementing a comprehensive absence and timekeeping strategy can ensure your workers get the best experience with fair pay and only work for safe durations. In addition, this strategy is a proactive way of being compliant with regulations around working hours, absence, overtime and much more. Proactive compliance can reduce unnecessary costs during audits and heavy penalties such as overtime backpay.
Compliance efforts can drive productivity and efficiency.
Systems and strategies put in place to help remain compliant with absence and timekeeping laws can provide advantages beyond just compliance. With the data collected from these systems, employers can identify patterns or issues that may be contributing to absenteeism and take steps to address them.
For example, suppose a production line is experiencing a high rate of unplanned absences due to illness. In that case, they may consider implementing policies or practices that promote healthy behaviours and reduce the spread of disease. Further, they may investigate why certain areas of the factory floor are impacted more by unplanned absences as compared to others.
By addressing the root causes of absenteeism, employers can help to improve health and safety compliance and reduce the frequency and cost of absences. Employees with better health will not only have higher productivity, but also this will reduce unplanned shift swaps and downtime on the shop floor leading to better efficiency of the manufacturing operations.
Overall, labour compliance across employee relationship aspects such as wages, working hours, safety, and health is essential for the successful operation of any manufacturing organisation. It helps to ensure that workers are treated fairly and are protected from harm while also helping to mitigate risk and maintain the trust of employees and stakeholders. Building a comprehensive absence and time-keeping strategy can go a long way in boosting manufacturing objectives to reduce cost and improve productivity.
