2. Inter-Capital Limited is a 500-employee firm faced with a 3.7 percent annual absenteeism rate over the 1,960 hours that each employee is scheduled to work. About 15 percent of absentees are blue collar

(average wage $26.96 per hour), 55 percent are clerical employees

(average wage $22.25 per hour), and the remainder are management and professional workers (average salary $44.75 per hour). About 35 percent more of each employee’s salary is spent on benefits, but employees are not paid if they are absent from work. In the last six months, supervisors (average salary of $28.90 per hour) estimate that managing absenteeism problems costs them about an hour a day for each of the 245 days per work year. It’s a serious problem that must be dealt with since about 20 supervisors are directly involved with absenteeism. On top of that, the firm spends approximately $890,000 more on costs incidental to absenteeism. Temporary help and lost productivity can really cut into profits. Just how much is absenteeism costing Inter-Capital Limited per year per employee? (Use the software available at http://iip.shrm.org.)