Fostering an attendance culture: A guide for APS agencies

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Section 1: Introduction
Supporting employees with genuine illness and caring responsibilities underpins the Australian Public Service (APS) as a model employer. However, absenteeism is a significant issue that has the potential to reduce productivity and damage the credibility of the APS.

Section 2 Types of absence
Employee absence from the workplace can be divided into two main types, either planned or unplanned.

Section 3 Impact of workplace absence
A certain level of workplace absence is to be expected and can be beneficial for an organisation. Attending work when genuinely unwell is a health and safety issue for both the sick employee and others in the workforce. On the other hand, high rates of absence are costly and impact on individuals, business units and the organisation as a whole.

Section 4 Causes of workplace absence
Understanding the cause of workplace absence is not always straightforward—absence behaviour is variable and complex. For the same individual, absence is likely to have different causes at different times and in different contexts.

Section 5 Fostering an attendance culture – developing an approach
There is no quick fix, or ‘silver bullet’, to problematic workplace absence. It is necessary for individual agencies to develop targeted strategies to address specific issues.

Section 6 Conclusion

Section 7 Appendices and references

Appendix A: Agency consultations
Appendix B: Measuring workplace absence
Appendix C: Case studies