Absenteeism among younger workers

Paul in Cannon Beach

I am developing a plan to address the ongoing problem of absenteeism among our younger seasonal workforce.

Each summer we hire about 90 summer staff to live and work here. For the most part, they are great employees. But there seems to be a very casual attitude about calling in sick for almost any reason (sunburn, headache, dizzy, etc).

I think the staff sometimes exaggerate their sickness just to have a bit of time off or sleep in. Others maybe are lazy. It can be very frustrating.

We have a demerit system that works extremely well for discipline problems. You get 10 points for the summer and you lose points for being late, breaking rules, etc.

But calling in sick has always been a loophole. I think some of the staff realize that and exploit it.

I have some ideas for next summer but I wanted to see what other suggestions the forum might have.

ritaanz

The best attendance program I administered was the "no fault" one. After a certain number of absences you received a point or, in your case, lost a point. Each individual company decides on the nuymber of absences allowed, maybe 6 a year, 8? 10?

LindaS

If you do not want to create a "no fault" attendance system, the next best option would be to limit the number of "illness" absences each EE gets. Our policy allows only twice in one year for an EE to be absent due to injury or illness (outside of FMLA) without getting "points". Once an EE uses these two, they get the points.

Lisa In Iowa

Our attendance policy is based on "excused absences" versus "unexcused" absences. If an employee makes arrangements to be off of work (for whatever reason) ahead of time, it is considerd an excused absence and does not count against them. These include such things as an illness covered under FMLA, vacation time,etc. We require that the employees use PTO for these unexcused absences, if available. If the employee does not arrange to be off ahead of time, but simply calls in on the day, that is considered as as unexcused absense. This can include such things as unexcused tardiness or leaving earlier than the schedule allows, calling in sick (unless covered under FMLA), car trouble, oversleeping.....etc. Because our departments are so different, each department sets the criteria for the number of unexcused absences that are allowed. (For example, one department allows 2 unexcused absence occurrences within 30 days). Calling in sick and missing two days of work, would only count as one occurrence. After the limit is reached, and if there are more occurrences, the supervisor will usually begin the disciplinary process. Although, most of the supervisors may begin to counsel the employees after having one or two occurrences.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Thanks for all your responses. They have been helpful. I am still interested in what anyone else can suggest.

I am considering instituing something that sounds like a "no fault" policy. Basically, summer staff would be allowed to miss 24 cumulative hours of work.

I have broken it down to hours instead of just days because many of the shifts are just 4 hours and they tend to sometimes be "sick" in the morning but make it in for their evening shift.

A staff member who has missed more than 24 hours of work during the summer would begin losing points from their summer demerit system point total. I would have to figure out an appropriate # of points to deduct for missing full and half day shifts due to illness.

Additionally, staff who miss work due to illness may be required to work an additional shift on one of their upcoming scheduled days off. This would decrease the incentive to call in "sick" to get more time off.

I would exempt any illness covered by FMLA or ADA. I would also exempt any missed shifts due to being "quarantined". We occassionally have to quarantine staff who are sick with a noro-virus flu.

Does that sound workable?

Paul in Cannon Beach

On a more general note, do those of you who employ 18-22 year olds find that they miss work more frequently than older workers?

ritaanz

Yes the younger ones like to party and the older ones can't afford to. x:D

NaeNae55

We only have one employee in that age category, and she does miss more work than other employees. However, she has been genuinely ill. She has only missed once or twice due to her lifestyle (she and her S.O. travel to do motorcycle races and they don't always return injury free).

2445428

Yes. Younger workers have a very relaxed attitude about attendance. I'm not sure what the cause(s) are, but it's frustrating, to say the least. Expecially frustrating for those who the workload falls on.
It has been my experience, that a formal verbal warning helps. For example, "Regular and predictable attendance is a must if you want to work here. If you can't meet our expectations in that area, I can find someone who can."
I explain to them what "regular" and "predictable" is.

Berni

Our policy is a point system also, but if the
employee brings in a Dr.'s excuse for the day
missed there is no point.