Organizations are run by employees, and improving employee attendance can mean an improvement in overall productivity. Stringent attendance policies that penalize absences are one way to ensure that employees show up to work regularly, but fear-based strategies do little to help with employee morale or address the real issues. Encouraging good team attendance through hands-on methods that make it worth their while is a much better alternative, reducing absenteeism at work by leading with empathy.
If you’re worried about absenteeism and want to improve employee attendance, here are 5 strategies to help you get a head start. (Image: Freepik)
How to Improve Employee Attendance at Work: Quick Strategies That Keep Flexibility in Mind
Some degree of absenteeism is to be expected at any workplace, as workers have their lives to live outside of it. Unexpected illnesses can catch anyone off guard, and so can caregiver responsibilities. A parent-teacher meeting can be as unpleasant for working parents as it is for an employer who is forced to accommodate the break, but all employees eventually have to take a few days off for reasons of their own.
Absenteeism grows to become a problem only when employees frequently choose to skip out of work, making it a habit rather than a result of their circumstances. Some of these issues require management intervention with a stern warning to do better. Others require flexibility, ensuring that workers feel supported in managing the responsibilities weighing on them.
Setting clear attendance improvement strategies in the workplace isn’t merely about finding new ways to surveil employees and ensure they are glued to their desks, but instead ensuring that they are both physically and mentally dialed into work for as long as the clock is running on employer time.
Why Good Attendance Matters
Boosting team attendance is beneficial for employers, employees, and the workforce as a whole. Reducing absenteeism at work can have many benefits that include:
- Uninterrupted flow of work as employees stay focused on their goals without frequent breaks
- Easier division of responsibility, where employees don’t have to take over for each other
- Reduces the chances of unfairly heavy workloads on employees who have to cover for their colleagues
- Improved communication and collaboration as employees don’t have to play catch-up on the progress made on tasks
- More productive hours spent on the job rather than having to extend deadlines
- Better career prospects for employees who display consistent, dedicated performance
- Reduced friction between HR and employees, as there is little need for intervention or corrective strategies
- Better employee retention rates, as engaged employees are not likely to be on the hunt for another job
Navigating Attendance Strategies Within the Workplace
Understanding why good attendance matters is easy enough. The work gets slightly more complex when it comes to enforcing relevant strategies to improve employee attendance. Before you get to planning out how to reduce absenteeism at work, it’s important to evaluate when your organization has an actual issue with poor attendance.
Employees are bound to take breaks every once in a while, and becoming overly controlling about how and when they do it can backfire. If the level of absenteeism at work isn’t concerning, it’s better to focus on engagement strategies instead. If there is truly a need to improve employee attendance, there are a few different strategies you can try.
1. Understand the Absenteeism and Communicate More with Workers
Employees with high absenteeism likely have good reasons for the issue. Speak to employees directly to understand the challenges they are facing and how you can support them. An employee struggling with their health could benefit from a temporary lightening of their workload. Another employee who lives too far away from work could improve their attendance with travel support.
2. Structure Your Attendance Policy Clearly with Flexibility in Mind
It might sound counterintuitive to boost your team’s attendance by giving them more breaks and days off, but these recovery days are extremely useful in helping employees stay on their feet. Those who frequently skip their doctor’s appointments in favor of work end up sicker than they would have been if they were just allowed to take a day off to go get checked earlier. Lead with empathy, and employees will show their appreciation with greater commitment to their roles.
3. Offer Childcare Assistance to Employees
Attendance strategies in the workplace can extend to aiding employees with some of the responsibilities in their personal lives. This ensures they can commit to their professional ones. Maternity benefits and other parental assistance policies can go a long way in helping employees work to the best of their abilities, content in the knowledge that their kids are at a safe daycare or will be taken care of while they are on the job.
4. Improve Your Workplace Culture and Recognize Good Attendance
Hostile workplaces can be grueling on employees, leaving workers struggling to show up. Ensuring that there are no underlying issues in the workplace causing poor attendance is a critical step to improving employee attendance. While you’re at it, it can also help to create a culture that acknowledges and rewards good performance, particularly when it comes to a stellar attendance record.
5. Set Terms for Disciplinary Action for Frequent Offences
The best way to encourage team attendance is to lead with empathy, however, there are some conditions where employees may have to be reprimanded. Every organization occasionally encounters employees who are not serious about their roles, and who can provide no explanation for their absenteeism. Even with corrective assistance in place, some may fail to comply with attendance policies. In such cases, progressive disciplinary action may be necessary to set things straight.
Understand and Adapt to the Problems at Hand to Reduce Absenteeism at Work
Exploring attendance strategies in the workplace is only beneficial when the strategies target the root cause of the problem. Boosting team attendance requires businesses to understand the challenges that employees face and address these specific issues rather than solely relying on one strategy to do the heavy lifting. It also requires organization to establish clear guidelines on these workplace regulations, so employees know where the line is and where they can expect some flexibility.
Accommodating some absences may require more work than others, and organizations must ensure they make an informed decision on what exceptions they are willing to make. Federal and state guidelines also provide accommodations for some employees, and it’s important to review them while making any critical decisions on how to approach an employee for their absenteeism.
Once a set approach is determined, training managers and HR teams to handle these issues is just as important to ensure they know how to approach such matters on their own. At the end of the day, an empathetic approach with an open-minded consideration for the employee experience is what will ultimately determine whether an organization succeeds with its attendance management strategies.
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