Attendance at work is always a part of employees’ success. Poor attendance might affect the work and even the relationship among co-workers. This may also lead to disciplinary action if poor attendance gets even worse. Strict supervision is needed to ensure that everyone comes to work regularly.
As a manager, you can deal with your employees’ attendance in many ways. Any strategy, technique, or method will do as long as it fits the situation and to the employee. It is important that you attend to their needs or problems in order to encourage your people to always come to work regularly. Going on hunt for a quality time and attendance software would always be a wise choice to manage your team effectively.
Here are five steps for you to consider in encouraging your subordinates to have regular attendance at work. Consider these things in dealing with your employees in your company. There is such a best strategy, method, or ways on how to attain 100% attendance of your people. But there are ways on how to encourage them to come regularly to work even without forcing them to do so.
Steps on How to Encourage Employees Attendance
- Commit to managing absenteeism
You must learn how to manage and deal with absenteeism among the employees and encourage them more in having a regular attendance in their jobs. Deal with these things personally and seriously. You should call the attention of the concerned employee immediately so as not to create more conflicts in the future. Emphasize to your employees there’s a great impact if there is habitual or irregular attendance at work.
Absence from work will surely affect the workplace and even the co-workers. Talk to the person concerned in a professional and ethical way. Do not blame or even shout at the employee without listening to his/her explanation. Weigh things accordingly. Sometimes, you just need to listen so that you can think and decide on suitable ways on how to deal with absenteeism properly. Be sincere in your conversation and think of a strategy on how to motivate the employee to attend regularly to his/her work without being offensive.
- Always show flexibility in the workplace
Emergency cases are inevitable in any circumstance. You should anticipate those situations in order to meet the needs of your employees. You must be flexible also in giving them enough time for urgent calls or appointments and other concerns in the family and other personal matters. Remember that they should be free from worries when they get back to work for them to become focused and productive.
Therefore, extend help or assistance to their priority concern and offer them flexible time in getting back to work. Make them feel that you understand them. Your employees will surely be happier in the workplace if they feel that their needs are also being taken care of by their managers.
- Have a reward and recognition mechanism
It is already proven and tested in many situations that giving rewards, incentives, and recognition to those deserving employees can boost their confidence level. It also gives them more motivation and determination to work harder and be more productive even if nobody is watching them. Learn to appreciate your employees’ work and efforts in various ways.
Simple words of appreciation can be a great thing for them. You can also offer monetary rewards for those who will show a perfect attendance each month. You can have an outstanding employee for the month or other related awards and recognition. You can also have gifts for employees who are regular at work. Through this, you will notice that the cases of irregular attendance will be lessened. Remember that it is better to impose positive discipline rather than punishment.
- Have a tracking system at work using employees’ attendance software
You may also use an application or a software that can help you to track or monitor the attendance of your employees. It should be clear to your employee the Paid Time Off (PTO) Policy, sick leave policy, and paid vacation leave. See to it that everyone is treated fairly and promotes justice in your workplace. Equal benefits should be given to all employees; thus, promoting gender equality. It very essential that there is a good relationship among co-workers.
Proper orientation to employees should be done as part of the hiring process. If it is needed depending on the situation, you can conduct a re-orientation to emphasize policies and rules regarding attendance at work. Otherwise, the employee may face the consequence of being absent most of the time, such as salary deduction or the worse, he/she will be subjected to a replacement.
- Lay down the consequences of absenteeism
Let your employee experience the consequence of his/her actions in case they violate policies in your company, especially on the issue of attendance. From the very start, orient them to the terms and conditions in case they have irregularities of attendance at work. This will inform them and be able to attend regularly. Let the employees reflect on the value of attendance and how this will help him/her succeed in any endeavor in life. Remember that other employees who have regular attendance will be affected by those irregular ones.
Therefore, coaching and feedback mechanisms are very important to set things right and know what went right and what went wrong. If a positive form of discipline does not work on a particular employee, then maybe, it is time to do the other way around. It is necessary to provide disciplinary action to those who will fail to attend to work regularly. That is the last option if all other strategies do not work. With all the steps on how to encourage employee attendance at work, it is still vital to become a good example to them. As a manager and as a leader, setting a good example to your subordinates will help them realize that they, too, should regularly come to work for better work outcomes. They will surely listen to you if they can see that you are also doing what you keep on telling them. Therefore, walk your talk. Sometimes, even without telling them that they should always be present in their jobs, they will do it because they can always see you at work. Being visible all the time in your workplace is a good example of leading your people to value attendance at work.
