How To Improve Employee Absenteeism and Reliability
I hear you. Your business can’t function if your people don’t show up. Reliability and absenteeism is a major pain point for many small business owners.
Here’s the thing. This issue is not a quick fix. In order to see improvements over the long term, you’ll need to build a culture where reliability is valued, and employee well being is a priority. It’s a balancing act, and not an easy one.
People will not do their best work for you if they’re not allowed to take care of themselves and their family. If they’re not allowed to have a car that doesn’t start sometimes or a sitter that calls in sick. That’s real life. You didn’t hire robots, you hired people.
That said, there are some things you can do to make things better. To address your absenteeism problem, try these 5 steps:
Coverage: The most urgent issue is what to do when someone misses work. Do you have enough people with enough availability to cover for them? How is coverage assigned and/or do they have the authority to find their own coverage? Are your people cross trained or does the whole operation shut down because nobody knows what to do when Mary catches the flu? Are you, as the owner/manager, working yourself into the ground covering every single missed shift personally? Because this is not a viable solution. Think of a better one. Create a workable system because if you can’t plan for absences, your business model needs tweaking.
Review Policy: Your hours of work, absenteeism, late to work, work from home, coverage, time off request, medical leaves, disability protections, and disciplinary action portions of policy will all have some bearing on this issue. Is it clear what constitutes an unexcused absence? Is it clear what the consequences are for an unexcused absence? Is working from home a viable option sometimes? Consider each point carefully with the issues of reliability and employee well being in mind and make updates. Then (this parts important) be sure to share these clear guidelines with all existing employees and every new employee that walks in the door.
Metrics: Make data driven decisions. How often are people on time and present for their shifts. Report quarterly on an individual and company basis so that you can track improvement and notice when a problem crops up. This way you can say “Hey Hank, I notice you’re late to work at a much higher rate this quarter. This is unusual for you. What’s going on?”
Communicate: If you aren’t meeting regularly 1:1 with your employees, you should be. Talk to them. Tell them how they’re doing. Care about them. Hold them accountable and support them. This is not a waste of time, this is your job! If someone is late/absent too much, they need to hear that directly from you in a 1:1 setting. Use specific dates and examples and tell them your expectations for the future. If it continues to happen write them up according to your policies and let them know that they’ll be let go if it happens again. If it continues to happen, terminate their employment.
Screen for Reliability:
Update your interview questions to address absenteeism. I’ll post a list of reliability related questions next week.
Only consider applicants who have been reliable in the application and interview process. Eliminate candidates who don’t do what they say they’re going to do. Who don’t show up on time and who make lots of excuses.
Look back at interview notes & communications for your most reliable employees, see if you can learn anything from that. Ask them how they would respond to your new interview questions before you implement them. Ask them for their insights, it simultaneously validates their efforts and helps you.
Look for candidates with a consistent job history, no inexplicable gaps in resume, make sure they spent longer than a few months at each job.
Reference checks can sometimes be helpful for this purpose depending who/how many you contact and how forthright they are.
I hope you take the time to try these, see how they land and let me know how it went at rachelle@thrivehrstudio.com. I’d love to hear.
Rachelle Elliott MS, SPHR*This article is not a substitute for legal advice. If you have a legal concern please contact a licensed attorney.