question about sickness

bluenitsuj

As a manager of 50+ warehouse staff, we used to have an attendance bonus as our sickness was very poor, every month a list went up on the notice boards for all to see, those with 0 days at the top and those with the most at the bottom. There was never any problem with these lists from the staff.

It possibly did embarrass certain people but only those who had the most time off. We stopped the incentive a couple of years back as we got our absence rate down below 1% and had tackled the problem. I do not see a problem with putting a list up as all it is doing is stating fact. It possibly does put pressure on those members with the most absence to buck there ideas up and it worked in our case. Everyone is sick at some point but our main aim was to tackle those who were repeatedly taking days off here and there, and it worked. If anyone is off long term with back injuries etc then it is general knowledge within the warehouse and nothing to be embarrased about when the lists are published.

I do not agree that putting these lists up is bad management as our figures and feedback with all staff proves. We also put up lists of picking rates for all to see, again, the staff love seeing these as it adds a little competition and actually improves the overall picking rates throughout the warehouse.

citykid5

It possibly did embarrass certain people
your the management?
you should manage the staff,and not use embarrasment by others,to do your dirty work

VfM4meplse

LittleVoice wrote: »

How is it public? Perhaps because the employer has already broken confidentiality in passing on the information at the time.

No, because the work still needs to be completed regardless of the sickness absence, so people will be aware that they are covering for their colleagues. It can unsurprisingly cause resentment where illness is not genuine, so it's far better that the individual sees themselves as an outlier and takes ownership of the problem in an objective way.

bluenitsuj wrote: »

every month a list went up on the notice boards for all to see, those with 0 days at the top and those with the most at the bottom. There was never any problem with these lists from the staff.

bluenitsuj wrote: »

I do not agree that putting these lists up is bad management as our figures and feedback with all staff proves. We also put up lists of picking rates for all to see, again, the staff love seeing these as it adds a little competition and actually improves the overall picking rates throughout the warehouse.

I couldn't agree more.

The defensiveness on this thread is ludicrous. citykid5, it's clear that you don't need an excuse to down tools. Maybe if you had a role that involved some responsibility you would take it seriously? Or perhaps you should steer clear of work altogether?

Wellery82

citykid5 wrote: »

It possibly did embarrass certain people
your the management?
you should manage the staff,and not use embarrasment by others,to do your dirty work

It is easy to say that, but less easy to come up with ideas that have a tangible difference. People can chat about management styles, company culture etc, and they are right, this should be the long term approach to reducing absence levels. These are things however which take time to change, are hard to define, and possibly incur cost to bring about. If short term absence is a real problem, that is costing a business money, then personally i don't have an issue with the name and shame approach.

And on the subject of tables when i worked in recruitment we had a weekly league table sent around, showing everyones sales figures of the year so far, which had a big red line showing how much money we needed to have made for the business by that point in the year to pay our costs (wages, ni contributions, rent, lighting etc). If you were underneath it then it was inevitable you wouldn't be there long. Quite brutal but i guess fairly normal in sales

persa

Every time a colleague is off sick, I know. I have to know - if they just didn't turn up and no one told me why, they could be working from home or tucked up in bed with the flu. It's perfectly acceptable to call someone who's working elsewhere, it's not on calling someone who's unwell. A team can't function properly if it's members don't know who's doing what!

I don't ask for details of why someone is off sick - but in practice, they usually volunteer the details when they next come in. If I wanted to make a list of absences and reasons for them and share that list internally, I could do so quite easily. Common knowledge!

bluenitsuj

citykid5 wrote: »

It possibly did embarrass certain people
your the management?
you should manage the staff,and not use embarrasment by others,to do your dirty work

Hardly dirty work, my staff do not have any issues with the way the warehouse is run, I have a fantastic team and they are intelligent enough to understand and accept the reasons we put the list on the board.

Originally Posted by citykid5
if the companys policy,causes recentment between employes,how is that harassment?
every company in this country no matter how big or small,has a responsability,to stop any bullying and harassment.if i worked for a firm that published such a list,for public view,and then had to take time of sick,and then when i returned to work.was sent to coventry,and treated with recentment.i think i would have a very good case at a employment tribunal.
but i'm open minded,so would be interested to hear why you think publishing such a list would be usefull?


No resentment with my staff, and it is laughable that you use the words bullying and harassment. Do you think it is Bullying and Harrassment when the government release tables for best and worst schools, I don't think so.

Bad management? I also do not think so, you may ahve a bad manager but myself and my management team through to the workers on the shop floor are excelllent at all they do. Everything we do goes through HR also, and we are on the ball when it comes to HR matters.

citykid5

bluenitsuj wrote: »

Hardly dirty work, my staff do not have any issues with the way the warehouse is run, I have a fantastic team and they are intelligent enough to understand and accept the reasons we put the list on the board.

Originally Posted by citykid5
if the companys policy,causes recentment between employes,how is that harassment?
every company in this country no matter how big or small,has a responsability,to stop any bullying and harassment.if i worked for a firm that published such a list,for public view,and then had to take time of sick,and then when i returned to work.was sent to coventry,and treated with recentment.i think i would have a very good case at a employment tribunal.
but i'm open minded,so would be interested to hear why you think publishing such a list would be usefull?


No resentment with my staff, and it is laughable that you use the words bullying and harassment. Do you think it is Bullying and Harrassment when the government release tables for best and worst schools, I don't think so.

Bad management? I also do not think so, you may ahve a bad manager but myself and my management team through to the workers on the shop floor are excelllent at all they do. Everything we do goes through HR also, and we are on the ball when it comes to HR matters.

i don't think it's fait to compare publishing a attendance leauge table of a individual,with the way the government produce a schools leaque table? and i also think that if you were to ask teachers weather they thought this improved there teaching,they would disagree.i still don't see any valid reason for trying to cause embarrasment to a member of your excellent workforce?

bluenitsuj

citykid5 wrote: »

i don't think it's fait to compare publishing a attendance leauge table of a individual,with the way the government produce a schools leaque table? and i also think that if you were to ask teachers weather they thought this improved there teaching,they would disagree.i still don't see any valid reason for trying to cause embarrasment to a member of your excellent workforce?

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and you are always going to get the odd worker that does not like things in the workplace. Also, the embarrassment scenario you keep refering to, if you check my original post it says clearly that i said it POSSIBLY did embarrass. To my knowledge and feedback from staff it did not embarrass and only went on to improve the absence levels.

It was never our intention to embarrass staff, the intention was to improve absence, which it did in a big way. Amazing those people who had 15+ days off one year, then only had 1 or 2 the next couple of years after the table was put on the board. Interesting. Management are in place to cover many things, absence being one of them. Over the years people have been sacked for high absence levels, and this will continue.

VfM4meplse

bluenitsuj wrote: »

you are always going to get the odd worker that does not like things in the workplace.

And regrettably, sometimes there is the very odd worker that likes nothing about the workplace apart from the money at the end of the month, and will always look for an excuse to disrupt teamworking.

bluenitsuj wrote: »

Over the years people have been sacked for high absence levels, and this will continue.

Because with nearly 2.7million people unemployed (and that's just those claiming benefits, not counting those living off their savings) there's always a potential employee with a good work ethic to fill vacancies.