How to Deal with Attendance Problems

Do you ever experience attendance problems? Why is it that some people have such a hard time getting to work on time?

It is frustrating to a supervisor or manager to deal with an attendance problem. And, whether or not you realize it, it is one of the most frustrating things ever for your team.

I recall serving on a team where I did not have any influence over the attendance policy. I made it my business to always be at work on time. Through one stretch of my career I went over 10 years without ever calling in once. Yes, I was blessed with good health, and yes I was also disciplined.

The team I most recall with an attendance issue had a person who was a wonderful worker when he was there. He worked fast and his production was great. He was knowledgeable and he was skilled. When he was there. The trouble was, he wasn't there a lot. Maybe he had medical issues. I don't know for sure. The rumor was that his biggest issue was playing video games all night, getting too high to work, and getting too tired to work. Some days when he came to work it was clear that he hadn't slept much the night before.

So what as a supervisor do you do?

I'm a big fan of the force-field analysis method of identifying all of the issues that support a goal, plus all of the issues that stand in the way. Kurt Lewin designed a fabulous problem solving model that works especially well in dealing with attendance.

Get all of the reasons for poor attendance on the table. Keep asking, "what else prevents you from getting to work..." Eventually you ask, "is that everything that stands in the way of achieving your goal of getting to work every scheduled day on time?"

Doing this should identify all of the reasons AND all of the excuses.

Then you ask for that person's plan to overcome these obstacles. Let them develop a robust plan for every single reason and excuse. Then ask them if they are committed to achieving the goal and completing their plan to achieve their goal. If they say yes, ask how you can help. Hold them accountable for achieving their goal.

If they say no, it may well be time to consider helping them find their next opportunity -- outside of your team.

It's deeper than it sounds: attendance problems are often staffing problems. Get the right people on your team. And the wrong people off of your team.

It's what the rest of your team wants. Just ask them.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Comments

Leadership and Process Improvement

As a leader, how much attention do you give to improving processes? Do you watch your team install a process and then simply let it flow on and on -- or do you drive a constant focus to improve that process? Too often I've seen leaders spend their efforts trying to fix people , when the center of their problems is usually broken processes and procedures . Any process can be improved until it's no longer necessary. And then you can shut it down. It's work is done. So keep improving those processes. If you're still doing it, you can still improve it. -- Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com

One Kind of Choice

It is not always the answer, but surprisingly often it is: It's easier to hire a motivated worker than it is to motivate an unmotivated one. That's not the end of the story. It could be great hiring advice though. Whatever the technical skills are for people you are interviewing to hire, be sure to ask some questions about motivation that can't be answered with a yes or no. Questions like: When were you the most motivated in your life? What kinds of work motivate you? What's your approach to a work day when for one reason or another you don't feel very motivated? If you had been here for one week, what would we see that shows us how motivated you are? Start there, and follow-up with more questions. Give each candidate time to convince you whether or not they will bring motivation to your organization. You can teach people almost anything, but it's always easier if they are already motivated. -- doug smith

What to Blame

It's better to blame the product than it is to blame the customer because you cannot fix the customer. -- doug smith

Strong Self-Esteem

How do the people on your team feel about themselves? How about you? How do you feel about yourself? Self-esteem matters. The way we see ourselves influences the work that we do. If you want healthy, vibrant, vital work from your team, why not make sure that the way that they think about themselves is strong? There are few things stronger than healthy self-esteem. To strengthen self-esteem among your team members: Appreciate good performance by providing specific compliments Spend time talking one-on-one with team members just to let them talk about what interests them Smile The list is longer than that of course, but start with those three things and you'll like the results. And that is good for YOUR self-esteem, isn't it? -- doug smith

Don't Jump!

I do it. You've probably done it, too. It gets us into trouble misinterpreting and reaching false conclusions. Slow down. Ease up from that jump. Stop that jump to conclusions and you'll avoid many big falls. -- doug smith

Win The Game

It would be nice to win the game. But, do you ever feel like you're in a game that keeps shifting the rules and making it easy to make progress but impossible to win? You've probably noticed lots of game elements creeping into service. Points, incentives, expiring coupons followed by new expiring coupons, leader-boards...on an on a relentless attack on service comes from playing a game designed -- you guessed it -- to maximize profit. If the customer is happy, fine, but the point is to make money. Not to put too fine a point on it but that's a lousy point. What if there could be something better? What if customer service excellence became playing a game where the customer always wins and that makes you happy? You don't have to. "give away the store" to achieve a winning game for all of the players. Just stop stacking the rules against customers and watch how much more they will want to do business with you. -- doug smith

Side Hustle Blues?

As a leader, do you ever sing the side-hustle blues? That's when your team seems distracted because they're tired from working multiple jobs. When I worked in food service it was all around me: team members who were already wrestling with variable schedules and also juggling multiple jobs. Maybe because they enjoyed their other gigs -- like the musicians, actors, artists, and writers on the team. Or maybe because otherwise they couldn't make ends meet so there were the side-hustles in driving, delivering, retailing, and add-on food service shifts. People are wonderful and their potential is unlimited but their physical selves are not unlimited. Which can bring on the side hustle blues when people are tough to schedule, hard to motivate, and just plain tired. You'll never eliminate the gigs that team members enjoy, nor should you. Those are not the ones really sapping the energy as much as those that they are in only for the money. Employees won't need an only-for-t...

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