Too Many Sick Days? Use Carrots, Not Sticks
- Creating a rewards and recognition program for perfect attendance
- Educating and coaching staff about attendance, improving communication and rebuilding trust
- Creating flexible schedules, approving last-minute vacation requests and working to raise morale
What can your team do to reward and recognize one another?
Absenteeism can hurt the workplace. Morale takes a dive and that ringing phone means another employee is not showing up. The Outpatient Radiology lab at San Francisco Medical Center had a poor attendance record and that led to a low rate of collecting co-pays. The team created a rewards program with different thresholds for perfect attendance. They coached staff, adopted flexible schedules and approved last-minute vacation requests. Over a 33-month period, sick days dropped an average of 9 days per FTE.
An epidemic of sick days can wreak havoc on your department and lead to low morale. Consider reward programs and flexible schedules to help keep your workers on the job.
Be sure your employees know all of the work-balance options afforded to them at Kaiser Permanente.
number of sick days dropped on average per FTE