Data Analysis Fun: Helping Cow Industrials Ltd Reduce Absenteeism

[soph.]

Looking for guidance on the following: The text outlines a company's problem, and ways to solve it. Results are hypothetically to be presented to the 'Board of Directors' ina week's time. Help please!

Cow Industrials Ltd is a medium sized Engineering Company. A number of their regular customers have made complaints over the last few orders they have received from Cow Ltd. These complaints are as follows:

• Products have been of a substandard nature
• Products are arriving late
• A combination of the above

Some of the customers have threatened that if this continues, then they will cancel their future orders and find another local supplier.

Consequently, the Managing Director has asked the Production Manager to investigate this immediately. He has replied, saying that he cannot meet production and deadline targets, because a large number of his workforce is constantly absent. He has done some basic statistical calculations and says there is strong correlation between production and workers attendance. Clearly something must be done about this, as the company does not want to lose their valued customer base.

The company has therefore called you in, the Information Analyst, to help the Production Manager. You are being asked to give advice regarding the absenteeism of the production workforce, and your brief is to analyze certain factors to try and reduce this high absenteeism and therefore increase production.

After an initial discussion with the Production Manager, you have decided to take a representative sample of ten employees and look at three possible factors – the age of the employee, their holiday entitlement and their hourly rate of pay (grade) - that may affect absenteeism. The Production Manager has given you the required data for each employee in your sample:

EMPLOYEE DAYS PAY HOLIDAY AGE
A 12 B 25 18
B 14 C 25 57
C 10 B 25 44
D 18 C 20 32
E 6 A 30 21
F 4 A 30 19
G 20 E 20 23
H 19 D 20 39
I 28 E 15 45
J 7 B 30 52

N.B. Employees are paid different hourly rates depending on their grade. These are as follows:

Grade A - £ 10.00 per hour
Grade B - £ 8.00 per hour
Grade C - £ 7.00 per hour
Grade D - £ 6.00 per hour
Grade E - £5.00 per hour
Grade F - £4.75 per hour

In a week’s time, the Production Manager and Managing Director will be asking a variety of questions regarding the above data. You are therefore advised to comprehensively analyze this data and do your calculations.

Hope you can help meee :)

 

[FredGarvin]

What do you need help with? Have you started looking at the basic data? Are there any kinds of trends or coincidences in the data? What have you done?

 

[kyle8921]

Greetings,

Thank you for reaching out for guidance on analyzing the data provided by Cow Industrials Ltd. I understand the importance of addressing and solving problems in a timely and efficient manner. Based on the information provided, the company's main issue appears to be a decrease in product quality and timely delivery, which has led to customer complaints and the potential loss of valuable customers. The Production Manager has identified a possible correlation between absenteeism and production targets, and the company has tasked you with analyzing the data to find solutions to reduce absenteeism and increase production.

To begin your analysis, I suggest first looking at the data provided for the ten employees in the sample. The three factors you have been asked to consider are age, holiday entitlement, and hourly rate of pay. It would be helpful to first calculate the average number of days each employee has been absent in the given period. This will give an overall picture of the absenteeism rate among the sample.

Next, you can look at the relationship between absenteeism and the three factors mentioned. This can be done through various statistical methods, such as correlation analysis or regression analysis. By doing so, you can determine if there is a significant relationship between any of these factors and absenteeism. This will provide valuable insights to the Production Manager and the company's management.

Additionally, it would be beneficial to compare the absenteeism rates among different grades of employees. This can be done by calculating the average number of days absent for each grade and comparing them. This will help identify if there is a particular grade that has a higher rate of absenteeism and if there are any patterns or trends among different grades.

Furthermore, it would be essential to explore any potential underlying causes of absenteeism among the employees. This could involve conducting surveys or interviews to gather more information from the employees themselves. By understanding the reasons for absenteeism, the company can implement targeted solutions to address the issue.

In conclusion, with the data provided, there are various methods and techniques that can be used to comprehensively analyze the factors contributing to absenteeism and provide solutions to reduce it. I hope this guidance will assist you in presenting your findings to the Board of Directors in a week's time. Good luck with your analysis and please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions.

Best regards,