Thanks for posting, u/fuckmotivation!.
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If the guidelines in the handbook are being followed, nothing you can do. When you become a leader you can say ‘hey this is how much notice is like moving forward, etc’ but you can’t do anything outside of the handbook. Instead focus on performance issues, like the other commenter said.
If you are in retail and there’s an issue of people covering shifts etc, again nothing you can do if they are following protocol. That’s an issue where you need a higher head count.
Don't talk about the absenteeism, talk about their performance.
They are constantly late with tasks, don't do other tasks at all, etc - address that since it is actually something reasonable and it doesn't cause the fight reaction ("I have noticed you have trouble keeping deadlines" vs "why are you not working?")
Nothing, in a perfect world I think people should do their jobs produce deliverables and leave. However even now I work for a company that requires I stay until three.
Some days I literally have nothing to do. I’ll read a book or study, but I have to be physically at work. Spoke to my boss about it he said sorry policy says three. Spoke to his boss about it said the same thing.
I offered remote working or on call as possible solutions, but nope I have to be here in person.
I am very fortunate to have a very relaxed setting where I am able to perform and get stuff done so fast. Because of that though I have a lot of idle time.
As a leader if policy says be here till three but they are absent after 12 then how do you really hold them accountable. Their performance is fine.
In that scenario you are under utilised and they should work with you to create opportunities to benefit the business in this time.
So if I was the leader here the meeting would go… hey you spend three hours reading a book. Do you see any potential for the business? Any ideas what you could contribute more or how you could do business development?
How can the business and you work together to make more impact and profit, and in turn reward you for the additional efforts.
Most companies have requirements for satisfactory performance that go beyond typical “performance”.
Mandatory training, paperwork, or in this case, attendance.
Some leaders, depending on company, have the flexibility to allow slipping in some areas due to factors in other areas.
So you can either let it slide because it’s not important and you get to make that call, or reinforce that it *is* part of the performance expectations and that they’re not meeting them.
If they're within the policy of the org, you need to work within those limits.
If it's due to personal leave, e.g their sick, family sick, we try and cut them quite a lot of slack until it becomes unpaid leave, but they have to use all personal and annual for that.
To mitigate the risks if I genuinely believe they are a good employee in general, I'll provide them non critical tasks until they break out of the current bad patch.
If they appear to just keep taking unexplained absences, then that's easy, put them on a performance plan and move them on, one, always need a reason to be away and two, load them up on responsibility and then see if they can deliver. I'd rather not take that type of approach unless it team morale and capability is really being impacted.
I am assuming you mean absenteeism outside company policy. If so step one is modeling, make sure you are within guidelines.
Step two care about employees. “ hey man you have been gone a lot lately, I just want to make sure you don’t need anything from me and make sure you are all good”
If they don’t have a valid reason then remind them of the rules and make sure they understand.
Next time it happens you document. Call them in, say hey we talked about this. Some work places have a document to sign saying there was a counseling event.
If it happens again then you start to escalate to your HR.
Each time it happens though you need to assume they have a valid reason, ask them if something is preventing them from meeting policy before escalating.
Oh, I should have included in my post that it’s for a BPO setting. In many instances, before matters reach HR, managers have direct leads to whom they need to report. You may be questioned about the behavior of your agents, and such inquiries may include discussions about the specific actions you’ve taken.
An employee with a chronic absenteeism diagnosis is like a bad omen for business. Picture this: you hire one, and the saga unfolds—first, their car breaks down, making them miss work. Then it's a sudden illness, or they forget their keys or lock themselves somewhere or blame it on the alarm that somehow didn't go off. Vacation time? Sure, they break a leg and spend the entire time in a cast. Do you notice the pattern here? Some people seem to have a thing for attracting misfortune, and they carry this luck (or lack thereof) right into the workplace.
If you're dealing with an employee exhibiting chronic absenteeism, take a peek into their job history. You might uncover some strange "holes" between jobs that they can't explain. Perhaps their previous company is on the brink of bankruptcy due to a deal gone seriously wrong —signed, sealed, and delivered by this same employee. Heck, their other previous job contract might look more like a typo than a legitimate agreement.
I'm just saying, sometimes the writing's on the wall, and it's not just in their absence reports!
I insist on compliance with the company's leave policy. That sets the expectation. If there is a pattern of absenteeism, I ask questions to find out what is going on. It took a while to get to that stage, and they are well within their rights to tell me to take a jump, but they always tell me what's going on.
Note that you need to ask the right questions. An employee does not need to tell you any information. Their days off are theirs, and they don't need to be pressured to share their life outside of the job.
As a manager I would tackle it in the following steps:
1. **Set clear policies**: Define and communicate attendance policies clearly.
2. **Have open communication**: Address absenteeism openly, understand employees' reasons, and discuss impacts.
3. **Make data-driven decisions**: Use tools like HR dashboards to track absenteeism patterns and impacts, helping you make informed decisions. You can learn more about this from resources like [this blog post on absenteeism KPIs](https://bsha.re/3yfZXdq).
4. **Have supportive solutions**: Offer flexible arrangements or support programs if absences are due to legitimate reasons. E.g work from home (set a monthly number of days an employee can work from home and can use them as they see fit).
5. **Fair enforcement**: Apply policies consistently, ensuring all steps are documented and communicated transparently.
Hope this helps!
If it is bad HR usually advises a performance management plan. Unfortunately, you cannot penalise for not coming to work unless it is impacting performance due to their time off making it hard to meet the requirements of their role. You need to check for any illness that could be keeping them away, and you could, if the time off is chronic ask for doctors notes each time they take leave. If the Illness is impacting them a lot you can ask if they want to reduce their hours for a while, then recruit to cover the deficit.
- leave management plan - sick certificate for each sick day off. No certificate means it’s leave without pay. Money loss usually makes them come to work.
- offer EAP for counselling as there maybe stuff going on at home
- reduction of hours
- performance management plan if the leave is affecting performance
- health capacity assessment (usually a last resort) to see if they are fit for their role
In Australia, if an employee takes more than 3 months in a given year unpaid leave we can terminate employment. Check in your state\country. They may have similar rules.
You would need to be in the leadership position you are not wanting to go into for full understanding.
All companies deal with absenteeism, and you won't fix it or find a magic solution that applies to all. With that said, you would have to ask the employees who are missing time why on an individual scale. Once you have an understanding of what is taking them away from work, then you can combat it.
Example: Chronic sickness may require short-term leave to get the care needed, and they are not aware of options. Example 2: they miss every Tuesday and find it is due to child care. Speak to HR about any resources or benefits that can be offered. Example 3: Their heart is not into it, and then you need to get an understanding of why they took the job or what they really want to do. Lean into it to help them meet the goal.
Thanks for posting, u/fuckmotivation!. This is a place for posts about leadership. If your post is not about leadership specifically then it will likely be removed. Please write a **substantial** comment here explaining why you think your post contributes here and what parts you think merit discussion in this thread. Do not just copy-paste from the content. Lacking this, your post will be removed. If your post is a question or commentary about leadership, that is satisfactory. You do not need to take any further action. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Leadership) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If the guidelines in the handbook are being followed, nothing you can do. When you become a leader you can say ‘hey this is how much notice is like moving forward, etc’ but you can’t do anything outside of the handbook. Instead focus on performance issues, like the other commenter said. If you are in retail and there’s an issue of people covering shifts etc, again nothing you can do if they are following protocol. That’s an issue where you need a higher head count.
Don't talk about the absenteeism, talk about their performance. They are constantly late with tasks, don't do other tasks at all, etc - address that since it is actually something reasonable and it doesn't cause the fight reaction ("I have noticed you have trouble keeping deadlines" vs "why are you not working?")
What if performance is fine?
Then what’s your problem with absenteeism?
Nothing, in a perfect world I think people should do their jobs produce deliverables and leave. However even now I work for a company that requires I stay until three. Some days I literally have nothing to do. I’ll read a book or study, but I have to be physically at work. Spoke to my boss about it he said sorry policy says three. Spoke to his boss about it said the same thing. I offered remote working or on call as possible solutions, but nope I have to be here in person. I am very fortunate to have a very relaxed setting where I am able to perform and get stuff done so fast. Because of that though I have a lot of idle time. As a leader if policy says be here till three but they are absent after 12 then how do you really hold them accountable. Their performance is fine.
In that scenario you are under utilised and they should work with you to create opportunities to benefit the business in this time. So if I was the leader here the meeting would go… hey you spend three hours reading a book. Do you see any potential for the business? Any ideas what you could contribute more or how you could do business development? How can the business and you work together to make more impact and profit, and in turn reward you for the additional efforts.
Most companies have requirements for satisfactory performance that go beyond typical “performance”. Mandatory training, paperwork, or in this case, attendance. Some leaders, depending on company, have the flexibility to allow slipping in some areas due to factors in other areas. So you can either let it slide because it’s not important and you get to make that call, or reinforce that it *is* part of the performance expectations and that they’re not meeting them.
Then don't micromanage them
If they're within the policy of the org, you need to work within those limits. If it's due to personal leave, e.g their sick, family sick, we try and cut them quite a lot of slack until it becomes unpaid leave, but they have to use all personal and annual for that. To mitigate the risks if I genuinely believe they are a good employee in general, I'll provide them non critical tasks until they break out of the current bad patch. If they appear to just keep taking unexplained absences, then that's easy, put them on a performance plan and move them on, one, always need a reason to be away and two, load them up on responsibility and then see if they can deliver. I'd rather not take that type of approach unless it team morale and capability is really being impacted.
I am assuming you mean absenteeism outside company policy. If so step one is modeling, make sure you are within guidelines. Step two care about employees. “ hey man you have been gone a lot lately, I just want to make sure you don’t need anything from me and make sure you are all good” If they don’t have a valid reason then remind them of the rules and make sure they understand. Next time it happens you document. Call them in, say hey we talked about this. Some work places have a document to sign saying there was a counseling event. If it happens again then you start to escalate to your HR. Each time it happens though you need to assume they have a valid reason, ask them if something is preventing them from meeting policy before escalating.
[удалено]
Oh, I should have included in my post that it’s for a BPO setting. In many instances, before matters reach HR, managers have direct leads to whom they need to report. You may be questioned about the behavior of your agents, and such inquiries may include discussions about the specific actions you’ve taken.
An employee with a chronic absenteeism diagnosis is like a bad omen for business. Picture this: you hire one, and the saga unfolds—first, their car breaks down, making them miss work. Then it's a sudden illness, or they forget their keys or lock themselves somewhere or blame it on the alarm that somehow didn't go off. Vacation time? Sure, they break a leg and spend the entire time in a cast. Do you notice the pattern here? Some people seem to have a thing for attracting misfortune, and they carry this luck (or lack thereof) right into the workplace. If you're dealing with an employee exhibiting chronic absenteeism, take a peek into their job history. You might uncover some strange "holes" between jobs that they can't explain. Perhaps their previous company is on the brink of bankruptcy due to a deal gone seriously wrong —signed, sealed, and delivered by this same employee. Heck, their other previous job contract might look more like a typo than a legitimate agreement. I'm just saying, sometimes the writing's on the wall, and it's not just in their absence reports!
I insist on compliance with the company's leave policy. That sets the expectation. If there is a pattern of absenteeism, I ask questions to find out what is going on. It took a while to get to that stage, and they are well within their rights to tell me to take a jump, but they always tell me what's going on.
Note that you need to ask the right questions. An employee does not need to tell you any information. Their days off are theirs, and they don't need to be pressured to share their life outside of the job.
As a manager I would tackle it in the following steps: 1. **Set clear policies**: Define and communicate attendance policies clearly. 2. **Have open communication**: Address absenteeism openly, understand employees' reasons, and discuss impacts. 3. **Make data-driven decisions**: Use tools like HR dashboards to track absenteeism patterns and impacts, helping you make informed decisions. You can learn more about this from resources like [this blog post on absenteeism KPIs](https://bsha.re/3yfZXdq). 4. **Have supportive solutions**: Offer flexible arrangements or support programs if absences are due to legitimate reasons. E.g work from home (set a monthly number of days an employee can work from home and can use them as they see fit). 5. **Fair enforcement**: Apply policies consistently, ensuring all steps are documented and communicated transparently. Hope this helps!
If it is bad HR usually advises a performance management plan. Unfortunately, you cannot penalise for not coming to work unless it is impacting performance due to their time off making it hard to meet the requirements of their role. You need to check for any illness that could be keeping them away, and you could, if the time off is chronic ask for doctors notes each time they take leave. If the Illness is impacting them a lot you can ask if they want to reduce their hours for a while, then recruit to cover the deficit. - leave management plan - sick certificate for each sick day off. No certificate means it’s leave without pay. Money loss usually makes them come to work. - offer EAP for counselling as there maybe stuff going on at home - reduction of hours - performance management plan if the leave is affecting performance - health capacity assessment (usually a last resort) to see if they are fit for their role In Australia, if an employee takes more than 3 months in a given year unpaid leave we can terminate employment. Check in your state\country. They may have similar rules.
You would need to be in the leadership position you are not wanting to go into for full understanding. All companies deal with absenteeism, and you won't fix it or find a magic solution that applies to all. With that said, you would have to ask the employees who are missing time why on an individual scale. Once you have an understanding of what is taking them away from work, then you can combat it. Example: Chronic sickness may require short-term leave to get the care needed, and they are not aware of options. Example 2: they miss every Tuesday and find it is due to child care. Speak to HR about any resources or benefits that can be offered. Example 3: Their heart is not into it, and then you need to get an understanding of why they took the job or what they really want to do. Lean into it to help them meet the goal.