We schedule employees and hope they show up for work, but it seems to be a daily decision as to whether they will: so much so, that absenteeism is a huge workplace problem. We can complain about that until we’re blue in the face, but we need to figure out how to get employees to come to work when they’re scheduled. Even though it’s a difficult conversation to have, at the first incident of problem attendance managers should ask the offending employee about what it would take to get them to want to come to work. You probably think that’s crazy, but if what you’re doing - most often some form of progressive discipline based on a point system – isn’t working, it’s even crazier to keep doing that in hopes that one day it might. Flexible schedules, team building, shift swapping, shorter workweeks, or making work more interesting and fun should be considered rather than continuing to terminate employees and replacing them with others who might also have poor attendance tendencies. Talk to your employees to better understand their motivations and needs: that’s a good way to start motivating them to show up for work today.
Aimee Bender (b. 1969): American novelist and short story writer
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