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Managing Absenteeism


One of the biggest challenges for managers with employees is managing their attendance. While most employees are fabulous, only taking sick days when they really need them – it is unfortunately not uncommon for a manager to have to deal with an employee who constantly takes “sickies”.  Poor employee attendance can cost your business in many ways – not to mention causing a lot of stress for the manager. It can lead to poor customer service due to unexpectedly low staff numbers; have a negative impact on the morale of other employees, who must pick up the slack caused by an absent co-worker; and, ultimately, absenteeism can damage your profitability.
Here are 8 great ideas on how to maximise your team members’ attendance at work.

  1. Have flexi-days.

    This is when employees work slightly extra time each day – subject to certain conditions – building up their hours until they have enough time saved to take one day off work a month. This allows employees, who may need to get something personal done during a workday, the flexibility to take a planned day off rather than calling in sick because they feel that is their only option. It also allows you to manage your employee numbers around that planned day off, rather than crisis managing reduced employee numbers when a team member calls in sick.

  2. Pay an attendance bonus. 

    Financially rewarding good attendance can be a cost effective way to ensure you have the people you need to service your customers. At the end of the year you could pay your employees a bonus equivalent to the value of their unused sick days. A company we work with gives their factory workers a bonus of $50 per week for being on time and present for 100% of their scheduled shifts. This gives them a cash incentive to stay healthy and at work. A good way to ensure your team is happy with the reward system is to involve them in its set up and design.

  3. Health programs.

    Encourage healthy lifestyles by supporting your employees’ well being. Personal training companies will provide free exercise and nutrition seminars at your workplace, or you could encourage healthy employees by organising lunchtime sporting activities or providing healthy snacks to eat.

  4. A great place to work.

    Make your work environment a fun, rewarding place to work so that your team members want to come to work. Let your employees guide you on what fun means to them but options could include footy tipping competitions, playing sport at lunch time or working together on a community project. Make sure you set guidelines on what is appropriate at work; you need to ensure that having fun doesn’t get in the way of servicing your customers or display a negative image of your business.

  5. Provide a safe work place.

    Make sure you have all of the elements in place to provide a safe work place for your employees. Having a safe working environment includes identifying all possible hazards in your workplace and then putting strategies in place to minimize the chance of someone getting hurt. In a warehouse this might be about ensuring boxes are stored correctly so that trips are avoided, whereas in a café this might mean ensuring your team has proper footwear to prevent injuries. Do the research or get expert HR advice to ensure you are doing all you can to minimise the safety risks in your workplace.

  6. Highlight the trends.

    Keep a one page annual calendar on your employee’s personnel file and highlight their sick days in colour. This will help you to immediately notice any sick day trends. Often just by noticing and communicating these trends to the team member you can motivate them to change their own behaviour. Keeping a calendar will also provide the necessary evidence you might need if you have to take more serious action to address employee absenteeism.

  7. Have a process in place.

    Have a process, in writing, for managing sick days. Communicate the process to all your employees so they are aware of how sick leave will be handled. Make sure a people leader talks directly to the employee when they communicate that they are unable to attend work, so that they can provide appropriate support and possibly create a solution whereby the employee can still do part or all of their day’s work. For example, if they can do some work from home or come in for part of the day. Be supportive of your employees so they know that if they have a genuine illness they will be looked after. Showing concern for employees when they need it engenders loyalty, meaning that they are less likely to abuse sick days.

  8. Know your rights.

    Make sure you know what rights – and obligations – you have with regards to managing employee attendance. Check out the government website www.fairwork.gov.au or seek expert HRhelp to get advice specific to your business.
 
Taking the time now to put an employee attendance plan in place will save you headaches in the long run…