Absenteeism among younger workers
Paul in Cannon Beach
4,703 Posts
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.
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.
Comments
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?
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.
employee brings in a Dr.'s excuse for the day
missed there is no point.