As a small business owner, your employees may ask off from work but how do you handle no show employees? Asking off work is understandable as everyone needs time off work for a variety of reasons. An employee must notify their employer when they need to take a day off.
No show employees don’t necessarily mean that the employee has quit. It may mean it is a miscommunication from the lack of clear policies.
Why Would Someone Not Call?
There are many reasons why someone will call in or not show up to work.
As stated above, many times it could be because of a miscommunication. For example, Sally may tell Lisa to tell their manager that she is sick. Sally may even have meant to text her manager, but she forgot.
Other times, it could be that they are angry about something or they have quit.
What Happens When Someone Doesn’t Show Up?
When an employee doesn’t show up to work, it can affect your business and your other team members. Usually, someone will have to fill in for that person. You may try to call someone else at the last minute, but it usually falls on the staff that is currently there.
For example, if you own a janitorial company and you have someone no show without warning you may find yourself placing people in different locations. Furthermore, you may have to notify the client your staff can’t make it that day to clean.
When that happens, your business will start falling behind and then you may find yourself trying to catch up.
Unplanned absences can hurt a small business. It can hurt your small business’s reputation when people miss work.
What Can You Do to Prevent No Show Employees?
Hire Great Employees
Making smart decisions when hiring employees is crucial. If you implement good hiring practices right from the start, it will become easier. Most hiring is done because of turnover. If you aren’t screening people well, writing good job descriptions, checking references, and writing good policies, you risk hiring bad employees.
When you hire great employees, they are good communicators and rarely miss work. Good employees follow policies and they aren’t usually no show employees unless something like an emergency occurs.
Ensure you hire great employees and you are a great place to work. If you hire good and they like where they work, they will recommend other top achievers.
Write an Attendance Policy
Your attendance policy should be clear and understood by all your employees. You should include in your attendance policy:
- Your expectations
- What absences are considered excused or not excused
- How to clock in and out
- The type of documentation that is needed
- The type of discipline that will be given when too much work is missed
A good attendance policy should be flexible enough, so you don’t lose your best employees.
Need an Affordable Mobile Time Tracking App for Your Employees?
Write a No Call, No Show Policy
Along with your attendance policy, you should write a no call, no show policy. Typically, this is to help prevent miscommunication. For example, if someone doesn’t show up to work one day, it may be because they didn’t report their absence correctly. You may not want to terminate an employee over what could potentially be a mistake.
Some businesses implement a 3-day no call, no show policy. Then they use their disciplinary process as each day goes by.
First day – Verbal Warning
Second Day – Written Warning
Third Day – Termination
If you have someone that has multiple times of no show, no call, then you may want to make sure these discipline methods are concurrent. For example, if they have a no show in January, that would be a verbal warning. If they have a no show in March, that would be a written warning. They should understand that a no call, no show is not tolerated.
Regardless of what method you implement, ensure your employees know the consequences of no call, no shows.
Implementing this policy ensures that you treat everyone fairly just like other policies. It also gives time to correct any miscommunications or problems.
Write a Policy that Clearly Explains How to Request a Day Off
Your policies should include written procedures about how to schedule a day off.
The policy should include:
- How to request time off
- How much notice should be given
- What methods are acceptable to request time off
- The type of documentation needed
- How a decision will be made if multiple people request time off on the same day
Consider Implementing a PTO policy
If you can, implement a Paid Time Off (PTO) policy. This prevents people from using excuses for why they need time off. It allows them, with notice, to request time off without giving a reason.
Many times, this can help prevent no show employees because the request was made ahead of time. However, emergencies will happen. You will need to determine if an employee can use PTO for same-day requests.
Invest in a Scheduling Software
By using a time clock app like ezClocker, you can prevent the confusion of who an employee should tell if they can’t come to work. Because the software is mobile, the employee can request their time off straight from the app. It will send a notification to the manager of this request. Then the employee will also know if their request is approved.
The app ezClocker is affordable and easy to use. It is ideal for remote employees who aren’t always at the same location. The manager will know instantly if someone requests off, hasn’t clocked in, or isn’t at their location (there is a GPS function to verify).
Communicate Your Plans
Once you write your policies, it is important to form small groups to communicate them. Ensure every employee knows they cannot just tell anyone if they aren’t going to be at work. They should now follow the correct procedures you have written.
Prepare to listen to your employees and answer their questions. Ensure your policies address them as well.
Your employees may ask these questions:
- What do I do if my child is sick and I don’t have a babysitter?
- How do I notify someone in case of an emergency?
- What if my manager isn’t responding to my request for a day off?
Enforce Your Policies
Enforce your policies to prevent future problems. It is very frustrating to managers and employees if someone is not following the policies. If one of your policies isn’t working, it is okay to change it. Just be prepared to let your staff know of the changes.
Communication, openness, and enforcement of all policies is extremely important.
Final Thought on No Show Employees
Ensure that everyone understands the burden of what happens to the company when someone doesn’t show up to work. If you have instances where this keeps occurring, you need to review your hiring practices and policies. No show employees should be a rare occurrence, if at all.
Also, make sure you understand your federal and state laws. It is important that you know that the policies you write follow laws.
If you have good communication, hire good employees, implement a great timekeeping app, and write good policies, you shouldn’t have any problems with no show employees.
1 comment