The situation where an employee does not show up for work for several days in a row without informing their superiors or anyone in the organization is called absconding. The person who is absconding from their job is referred to as an absconder.
Employee absconding is looked down as it is highly unprofessional and troublesome behaviour for the employer. There can be the possibility of dependency on the absconder which can cost the company.
- Mismanagement of work
- loss of crucial work data
- missing deadlines
- losing clients
- repeated recruitment
As employees leave the company without informing anything, there is a period of uncertainty where the company put efforts to find reasons for their absence likely with no success. That also adds to the frustration and loss of productivity.
When an employee is absconding the work they might get a legal notice from a company. Sometimes it can be the end of their entire career or at least scar their image as an employee by demonstrating such unprofessional behaviour. The employer often take efforts to defame the absconder so that they won’t get another job.
Why do Employees Abscond From Work?
There can be a few reasons for absconding from the work let’s discuss some of those here.
Getting Leave
One of the reasons for absconding can be a lack of leave approval maybe they need to do something urgent or important and the employee is not leaving for the same. After repeated requests for the leaves to their manager, absconding employees think that there is no other option.
In this situation, the reasons for leaving can be taken as more important in their perspective than to continue to work for a company that does not see the reason as important enough. In such a situation, an employee sees absconding from work as the only option.
Stress
Work stress and pressure can be huge issues. This is one of the common reasons for employees absconding from their work. Employees work to pay the bill and make a living but when the work conditions become too much to handle absconding is often the option they chose. Things like repeated checks on their work, and too little time to handle their responsibility.
Having toxic people around them or the combined effect of all the negative aspects of work makes them want to leave the work. This can also happen due to a lack of appreciation for the rigorous work hours employee put in the stressful times. This can be avoided if an employer can get in touch with the employee at regular intervals and try to get insight into their work situation.
Better Opportunity
Sometimes when an employee finds a better opportunity and wants to leave the employer can be the reason who makes them abscond. In the normal scenario if an employee wants to leave a company they are likely to put in their resignation and complete all the formalities before they level to get the relieving letter. But if they see that the employer does not allow them to leave and is reluctant on keeping them in their present position longer, the employee often chose to abscond.
People are often aware of taking legal action that the employer can take legal action against the employee. Absconding happens when an employee has to join the new company immediately or sooner than their present employer is ready to allow them. If the opportunity is too big to miss they often take a risk and leave the job without notice.
Theft
If an employee intends to or has stolen some data, money or products of your company they need to hide it. Maybe they won’t be out of your organization by the time someone detects the theft and absconding from the work can be taken as an easy way out of possible legal action from a company and other types of troubles.
Lack of Employee Management
An employee may not be someone who supports the unprofessional behaviour of absconding from work. Sometimes such employees adopt absconding work as a last resort. It can be the case when an employee is not feeling comfortable with their work situation for a while and may have communicated the same with the employer by various means but does not get an appropriate response.
The issues that an employee face in the workplace can be anywhere on the spectrum from personal to professional. But if an employer is aware of the problems they dealing with and yet does not take action that makes them feel unappreciated and neglected and they feel disconnected from work. If the challenges do not get resolved for a long time in the organization and it is unbearable to the employee, absconding is the way they chose to express their resentment towards the employer.
Lack of Appreciation
This is one of the many reasons for the employee to abscond from work. Everyone wants to be appreciated for their work. If the employee is constantly putting in remarkable work and they might even go a step further than what is expected from them, the employee is likely to lose their interest in the work.
When employees witness a lack of appreciation on the occasions they deserve recognition in some form they get highly unsatisfied by the lack of appreciation. Sometimes the absconder also feels victimised or has resentment towards the company thinking that the employer is taking advantage of their hard work. Absconding from work can be their way to punish the company for taking advantage of the employee as that’s what they think is company doing to them.
Fierce Competition
All the employees want to be good at their work. When there is too much competition and instead of the ample opportunities they get. the feeling that there are people acting against the employee can take place in their minds if they are not used to a competitive environment and fail to adapt to it.
That is likely to make them stressed from work, they want to be out of competition and abscond. The employee absconding the work is likely due to they do not easily adapt to the work culture and think that the organization is not right for them. They often leave without the notice period from work because being unfit in the office makes them want to leave at the earliest.
What are Restrictive Measures for Employee Absconding?
Background Check
You should check for the history work of the employee before hiring them. If the employee has a series of work history with only a few months in a workplace it is the pattern of absconding they are likely to continue at your place too. So if you want to ensure that your employee works for a longer period and serves a proper notice period, you must check their employment history.
Frequent Feedback
The employee should get one-on-one meetings with the HR or their manager at regular intervals. This ensures that the company stay aware of the issues employees face at the organization. When an employee communicates some challenges to some problems that are stopping them to work properly, the management should take appropriate action.
Recognition
Employee recognition is a good strategy for employee retention. Make an employee recognition strategy and ensure that your staff feels appreciated for the work they do. When people are appreciated and well-recognised for work they have more engagement and develop a greater loyalty towards the company.
Work Culture
Work culture is an important factor for an employee to choose their workforce. It is good to have a friendly and supportive work culture so that people feel more engaged in their work. If an employee is absconding from their job the w0rk culture plays a key role in the form of stress, over-responsibility, toxic colleagues and office politics. Whereas absconding is less likely to happen in places with a vibrant work culture.
Also Read: 5 Ways Company Culture Impacts Business Strategy and Employees
What Actions can be Taken Against the Absconding Employee?
Legal action can be taken against the absconder by the company if such a clause is mentioned in the employment connection. The organization have to give legal notice to the absconder if they don’t respond to the warning letter. In the act of absconding the organization can take actions such as
- Holding back payment of salaries
- Not going through the process of FnF settlement
- Asking an employee to pay for the notice period
- Serving them a legal notice
- Refusing to give them an experience letter
Summary
Most organizations face the issue of employee abscounding at some point and it often happen to be a costly affair for the company. The firm need to invest in recruitment, training and development of the employee all over again. It is best to work on the organization culture and the employee engagement strategy to ensure that employee do not feel like absconding the work.
