Absenteeism can stem from a lot of places. Some employees don’t care, while others skip work to avoid a toxic manager. Whatever the causes, absenteeism can have a lot of negative consequences for your business. Those consequences can range from poor morale to missed deadlines. If you’re struggling with absenteeism with your warehouse employees, here are some steps to help you curb the problem.
1. Get It Down on Paper
You can’t take people to task if your attendance policy is nothing more than some verbal guidelines you mentioned during orientation. Put your attendance policy down in writing or add it to your employee handbook. Then, see to it that every employee gets a copy.
Takeaway: Sometimes, employees just need a firm reminder that attendance is mandatory for continued employment.
2. Have an Informal Chat
It’s often counterproductive to drop the hammer on someone who only recently started missing days. Pull them aside and just mention that you’ve noticed they’ve missed a lot of work recently. Remind them that their coworkers depend on them to show up and give them a fresh copy of the attendance policy.
3. Dig Deeper
If an otherwise good employee keeps missing work or showing up late, it’s time for a more serious conversation. Talk with them in private and ask them if something is going on that can explain all of the absences or tardiness. You’ll often discover that something has gone wrong in their personal life, such as a parent, spouse, or a child falling very ill.
Takeaway: While you do still need to remind them that showing up for work is important, a huge change in someone’s at-home situation can often be excused.
4. Institute Flexible Schedules
You might sometimes discover that employees are struggling with issues like getting children to school on time. If this is a common refrain among your employees, consider instituting a flexible scheduling policy. For example, you can let employees elect to work from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, rather than from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
5. Dismiss the Employee
If you’ve taken all the informal steps and an employee keeps skipping work, it’s time to get formal. Using your written guidelines from your attendance policy, starting giving the employee demerits until they’ve reached the maximum number. You can then dismiss the employee under your attendance guidelines.
Takeaway: Take care if there are medical issues at play since there are legal protections in place.
Attendance problems can damage your business through lost productivity, declining morale, and even missed deadlines. You can encourage attendance through informal and formal reminders about the attendance policy, as well as flexible scheduling. If none of these options resolve the problem, it’s time to start letting employees go.
Did letting employees go because of attendance leave you shorthanded at your warehouse? Timpl can help you replace those employees with qualified, experienced warehouse workers.
