The lure of the sun, beaches, and time with family grows stronger with each passing week of summer. Employees will want to take advantage of their vacation time, and so long as employers manage the schedule, it shouldn’t be a problem. What is an issue, however, is unscheduled or frequent absences. Employees who always call out on Monday or seem to fall ill every Friday take their toll on the rest of the staff’s morale as well as their productivity. The following are several methods employers can use to manage summertime absenteeism.
- Remind employees of their current sick leave, vacation time, or overall paid time off (PTO). Employees who take a day here or there may not realize how much time off they actually have. Remind employees to check their leave bank so they remain aware of the time they are burning. This may curb the urge to call out on Monday if the employee realizes he or she won’t have enough time off to take their long-awaited vacation.
- Balance remaining employees’ workload when staff members go on vacation. Everyone deserves a break, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of the remaining employees at the office. Stressed employees are more likely to call out themselves, exacerbating the workload problem. Managers should spread load the absent employee’s work so as not to overwhelm the remaining staff.
- Provide incentives for perfect attendance. For example, every employee who has perfect attendance for a week gets his or her name entered into a drawing. At the end of the month, their employee will pick a name and give that employee a reward such as free movie tickets, a gift card, etc. This encourages employees to come to work on time every day to have their name entered as many times as possible to increase their odds of winning.
- Keep track of attendance. Companies that don’t have a system for tracking absences will quickly have an attendance problem on their hands. Implementing a system that allows employers to see patterns in absences gives them the opportunity to address attendance problems before they get out of control.
If you suspect that your business has a summertime absenteeism problem, Actec can help. Our absence reporting system can track casual absences, FML, and disability. Our system helps businesses reduce absenteeism while complying with federal and state laws regarding leave. Contact us to learn more.