This summer sees the Olympics landing in London after a long wait and this, coupled with the summer holidays, hopefully some sunny weather and other sporting events, inevitably means some disruption to businesses in Britain. How do you overcome employee absence so it does not impact your business?
Unplanned absence costs UK businesses up to 16% of payroll in a normal year according to the Institute for Employment Studies report 2011 and this increases during major sporting events. National success in the Olympics is far less satisfying if your team have all called off sick.
The best way to overcome this is to plan for your busy periods and make your expectations clear to your employees. Talking through plans with your staff will allow for open communication during this period and avoid potential unauthorised absences.
Let’s look at a number of ways to reduce unplanned absence during major events:
Plan – think through what events is happening when, who might be tempted, who wants to be there. Leaving it to the last minute, as with anything, means that the quality of decision making is compromised.
Consult – speak to the team about the situation and get their input; typically employees are more reasonable than we might expect and often come up with ideas to which we might not think of as managers. Very few people actually want to get away with as little as they can (NB if you do have a team full of people who are like this please review your approach recruitment and selection.)
Demonstrate flexibility – be prepared to make some changes . Putting a TV in the staff room or exceptionally being flexible around the hours people work can build a great deal of goodwill.
Be fair – remember those who don’t care about the Olympics or other events. While it is good practice to find solutions that suits fanatical Olympic watchers, let’s make sure those who aren’t interested are not left feeling as ‘poor relations’ or discriminated against.
Set expectations and communicate – having developed a solution, communicate the outcome , re-inforce expectations and the consequences of non-compliance. Too often managers become frustrated feeling let down by their team when in reality they have failed to be clear on what they expect.” We will do this, in return we expect …”
Deal with those who stray – The best way to lose respect and undermine our right to manage is to talk the talk but not walk the walk. Having set expectations clearly, we need to effectively manage absence and non-compliance and instigate disciplinary procedures appropriately.
Lastly,
Embrace it – use any major events to create some buzz in the team with themes and competitions. Have some fun with it.
Hope is not a strategy and we should use such occasions such as the Olympics to plan and devise a way forward that increases employee goodwill and engagement.
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