How do you manage unscheduled absences?

[Kathryn Jackson]

I was just talking with a member who is trying to figure out how to manage unscheduled absences on Monday (the highest call volume day). What do you do? Incentives? Disincentives? Specific examples and/or guidance would be greatly appreciated by this member. Please respond below. Thanks!

[Kathryn Jackson]

This is something that has come up often in our organziation. We have a specific departmental policy for this group, which is business need driven. If employee's do not comply there is a verbal warning, followed by a written (with dates of absence outlined) warning which includes terminology "up to termination if not corrected immediately". We offer managers the discretion to work with their employeee's as they see fit based on business need and we are here to help guide and advise them. Hope this helps!

Regards,
Julie
Sr. Business Partner (A CCPF LinkedIn Member)

[Kathryn Jackson]

WIth 15 yrs in call centers -- support & shared svcs -- I have done the following to ensure attendance:

> During hire process, both talk to potential new hires and when accept offer, have them sign a separate piece of paper which basically says 'I know if I am absent on Mondays' I am subject to progressive discipline up to and incl termination'. You must then enforce it! It works

> Gift cards for those employees not being absent on Mondays for the last X weeks. Cards have ranged up to $100 for constant attendance.

> use "floaters", those being high caliber people that are trained in most all jobs in the call center. When not filling in for an absence, they are working in areas to reinforce learning or where new processes/info are found.

> Incentives -- quarterly incentive for perfect attendance on Mondays. Given once a quarter as % of current wage/salary. It has a cumulative scale where someone that has had perfect attendance over two back-to-back quarters receives a greater %-age than someone having only 1 perfect qtr.

Hope that helps. Questions contact me.

From a CCPF LinkedIn Member: Michael, 919.302.0216, [e-mail]

[Kathryn Jackson]

In addition to what experts have added, a proactive approach towards attendance also contributes to manage the real time attendance specially in an inbound center.

For this, a real time analyst persons needs to do a regular follow up with the immediate manager of the agents 2 hours prior to every scheduled login to check the expected numbers and also check whether he/she can arrange for swap by a person on a scheduled off.

Also instead of taking a fixed shrinkage for attendance, it should be planned by integrating trend of last 6/12 weeks and nullify any special occasion from that trend. Adding stardard deviation would be best.

From a LinkedIn CCPF member: Shreyas Nagar, Analyst, WFM at IBM Daksh

[Kathryn Jackson]

So, from the WFM perspective, it's absolutely critical that you plan for a certain amount of unscheduled absenteeism into your shrinkage calculation.

In regards to operational efficiencies, I would HIGHLY recommend that you do not offer any incentives around attendance, schedule adherence, etc. I believe that to be the worst investment of money. All that is doing is creating a reward incentive for something that is a necessity for your job. The idea behind incentives or rewards is to reward behavior and performance that goes above and beyond expectations. I've been involved with plenty of companies/programs that have rewarded employees for attendance measures and it did nothing for the longevity of the business and in fact, when the reward or incentive was over, nothing permanent changed. However, I do believe in awarding perfect attendance incentives over a quarterly basis. Something small like recognition or induction into a company award group or even a company logo'd item. Anything beyond a small token of appreciation is a waste of money.

Offering pay differentials is still along the same lines of an incentive and is wasting money for placing a band aid on the problem. At the end of the day, accountability needs to be enforced. If employees miss particular days of need, offer additional corrective action for an absence during a high volume day or time. It might sound harsh, but you have to remember that employees are employed by you to do a job. You pay them to perform specific job functions. If they aren't adhereing to their schedule, which is step one of working a job, then nothing else should really matter.

I apologize for the lengthy response, but this is a topic that I am very passionate about. I'm not against investing money to increase performance metrics (Customer Satisfaction and Quality Management), but it's understanding what you are trying to accomplish versus what you are trying to buy!

From a LinkedIn CCPF member: Ed Porter, Director of Partner Programs at CallCopy Inc.

[Kathryn Jackson]

If you have fostered a positive workplace where your personnel can take pride in their work, understand the importance of their position and how it contributes to both the company's goals and the well being of their co-workers, and are appropriately compensated, you will go a long way to reducing excessive unscheduled absences.

That's a lot harder to do than write about!

With that rosy picture painted, you also need to plan for historical and forecasted dips in occupancy as Mark, Shreyas, and Ed noted. Ensure that managers and employees are clear on the appropriate corrective actions that will be taken should attendance be an issue as Mark and Ed noted. I also think it's appropriate to modestly reward excellent historical attendance as Ed noted.

I have integrated attendance very modestly into sales and performance contests as well. Scavenger hunts, bingo, and tic-tac-toe contests can have a very modest prize or kicker to playfully remind everyone of the importance of attendance without going overboard in trying to compensate an employee for one of the most fundamental parts of their position.

Bottom Line: I'm out of a job if I elect to take off a few Monday's unannounced. Why should it be any different for advisors?

Good luck everyone!

From a LinkedIn CCPF member Steven Lamberti, Director of eCommerce & Services at Creative Labs

[Kerrie Watson]

We implemented a very rigid "occurrence" program allowing for x number of instances per rolling 6 month period. The occurrences can be tardies, early out for the day, or calling in - all unscheduled. In addition for those reps who have attendance issues and go on and off of the verbal or written performance plans throughout the year, they receive less or no merit increase and are not eligible for bonuses.

[Peter Scott]

I would review the cause of the absences. What level of Engagement is there in the team and how strong is the leadership of the operation