We have a disappointing start to this year in regards to attendance and we haven’t had a day yet where we have achieved our target of 94% attendance.
Please keep in mind some of the ongoing things we should be doing to help manage absenteeism:
Supervisors - When an employee calls in with an unplanned absence, please don’t simply accept what you are being told. Please let the person know how important it is to the team that they attend work. Please remind them they are important to us and we need them here to help us achieve our targets. Please offer to pick them up or assist them in some other way if it will help them to come to work. If an employee calls to tell us they are not coming in and we simply say “thank you for letting us know” we are communicating to them it is ok for them to not come to work. Our communication needs to remind them how important they are to us and how much we need them here at work.
Supervisors - We need to strictly follow the OT after absence rules. Even if we really need people for OT, we can’t offer OT to people who have had an uplanned absence, in line with our rules. We need to consistently apply the rules in every area.
Managers - We need to take the employee attendance record to the employees work station and have a discussion with them after every unplanned absence. This is a critical part of letting people know we noticed they weren’t here and that we missed them. It provides us with an opportunity to remind them their absence will impact on their bonus and ability to do OT. Remember to also take people off the floor for a formal discussion after every 5 absences.
Let’s actively work towards achieving our target attendance rate of 94%, as a minimum. Thank you in advance for your focus on this issue.