March 13, 2020

Simply put—you can’t run a workplace without employees! Attendance is important to get the job done, and when your workers call off frequently, it leads to decreased morale for the rest of your staff as they pick up the slack. Frequent absences can lead to staffing holes, “skeleton crews,” and even burnout and turnover. Long story short—it’s critical as a manager to establish practices that encourage your employees to come to work.  

Closely monitor attendance 

To ensure all time off is measured against an employee’s PTO, it must be closely tracked. If one employee gets away with untracked absences, this can be unfair and frustrating to other workers who play by the rules.  

Three ways to champion good attendance 

Once your attendance policies and tracking protocol are in place, it’s time to encourage your workers to come in. You can do that in the following ways:  

Offer rewards

Remember when your grade-school teacher handed our awards for perfect attendance? Working adults like to be rewarded for their commitment, too! Contests that encourage perfect or near-perfect attendance for a specified amount of time can be very motivating to your workers. You can entice them with gift cards, cash, merchandise, or even an invitation-only celebration.  

Allow flexible scheduling

Everyone has medical appointments, family obligations and other situations that can pop up during work hours. To help your employees balance everything in their busy lives, allow for flexible scheduling when you can. This will make it much less likely for them to miss work.  

Establish consequences

It helps to provide a reminder of your expectations, and this can be in the form of consequences. Be clear what your attendance policies are, and what will happen when they’re broken. For example, you might issue a series of warnings for unplanned and unannounced absences, with suspension and termination when it happens X number of times.   

Be kind, but be firm 

Everyone is human and people make mistakes. Plus, life happens—and this can lead to perfectly good reasons to miss a day of work. Flexible scheduling helps employees fit in their jobs and responsibilities, making it easier for them to get their work done. But if you feel you’re being taken advantage of, this can be demoralizing to other employees who follow the rules. Always stick to your policies and be firm when they’re broken.  

Get help when you need it 

Being understaffed can lead employees to become overworked and call off more than usual. And if you find yourself in need of new workers, Inter-Connect can help. We’ll work with you to understand your staffing needs and find qualified new employees who fit. To learn more, contact us today!  

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