Are you struggling with no-shows at work but are afraid to take action for fear of affecting your employee retention rates? Here’s how you deal with the issue.
Dear Jane,
The company I work for doesn’t have any formal policies in place regarding no-call no-shows at work and they’ve started to notice more and more employees coming in late or not turning up at all without any warning. My employers want to have a very open and relaxed work culture within the organization and so they refuse to take any action against these employees but the absences are starting to hurt the work done at the company. We, the HR team, have been tasked with dealing with these no-shows at work but there seems to be little we can do without our employers giving us room to take action against such behavior. We can’t warn employees against this practice if there are no rules that say the practice is not allowed at our company.
We’ve been set up as the “bad guys” for chasing a policy for no-shows at work but if we don’t make some improvements, we will be held responsible if the absence numbers keep going up. Please help, how do we start dealing with these issues?
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Dear reader,
It sounds like your organization wants the benefits of a formal workplace without the responsibilities of setting up a formal organization, leaving the no-shows at work to be handled discreetly by HR. Unfortunately, they cannot have one without the other. While it is great that they want to prioritize employee retention and ensure the workplace culture is a fun one that keeps employees coming back voluntarily, even such open workplaces need some rules. Stability does come from respecting the conditions on which the freedom is available to them and employees might need to be given some instructions on what is and is not acceptable. If an employee is never informed that “this is what happens if you give in to a no-call no-show at work” then they have no reason to plan for it because all signs point to it being completely alright.
Dealing with No-Shows at Work
It might be time to talk to your senior officials about the “no-show at work consequences” so they’re more aware of the “no-show at work policy benefits” that could be established. Do not goad them into developing a policy, but try to draft a set of rules that allow employees some flexibility and still create a structure for how they need to coordinate with their colleagues. Once you have a draft, seek their insights and work with them to ensure that they are satisfied with the final plan of action. It doesn’t have to be a nightmarish policy that penalizes employees too harshly for having to take time off. Instead, you can devise a policy that addresses “ no-call no-shows at work.”
Simply put, employees who cannot turn up can at least be guided towards a process of informing the next in command regarding their unavailability. This way, their tasks can be handled by someone else or arrangements can be made towards finding a solution to their absence. This will automatically ensure that the employees who do turn up for work have an easier time with things. For those who do give in to no-shows at work too frequently, you can decide on a specific course of action that doesn’t have to start with pay cuts or firing right off the bat so employee retention is not put at a serious risk.
- Set up a system of putting in a call to let employees and colleagues know you can’t come in during emergencies so employees can plan ahead—no-call no-shows can be prevented at least
- Talk to the employee following their return to understand why they were unable to make it to work
- Try to help the employee in some capacity to ensure this does not occur again
- Discuss alternatives to not showing up at all such as working from home, starting work from the second half of the day, switching their posting with another employee, taking a desk day instead of on-field work, conducting an online meeting and delegating their tasks, providing the necessary documents for others to work on, etc.
- Plan ahead for how many such no-shows will be permissible before it is addressed more seriously
- When an employee is found missing from work too frequently, set consequences for no-shows at work such as finding ways to reorganize their schedule to still get their tasks done on time, being moved away from tasks they cannot commit to, being asked to take leave to resolve the issue and return to work, etc.
- Even after such levels of coordination the employee continues to be a no-show at work, then you might just have to have a serious conversation about their future at the company as they may not be the right fit for you
Being a “fun” company is great and it always sets up an environment where employees enjoy working, but it can quickly go very wrong if some guidelines aren’t set to ensure work is still done. You might have to work with the senior executives to set some firm boundaries on what is permissible and what isn’t, to ensure you don’t allow negative behaviors to take root in your organization.