Handling No Show Essential Workers

May 18, 2020, by HR à la carte | Performance Management

Let’s face it.  Life has changed for all of us.  Many managers and employees are grappling with our new reality and as with anything, some are handling it better than others.  We are seeing this manifest itself most prominently during this pandemic in employees not showing up for work and basically going AWOL (absent without leave).  For those businesses that are an essential service, it’s a double whammy.  Not only do they have work, but sometimes overwhelming amounts of work in order to keep up with demand.  You can see the headache that is being caused as a result for employers and the people and businesses they in turn support.  Oftentimes managers are so busy they don’t have time to chase down absent employees.  This, in turn, enables the continued behaviour.  In some cases, these absent employees are even collecting CERB despite not qualifying for it.

Tips for Employers

1.  Put in place an attendance management process and assign a person to manage it

If you don’t have a process in place to manage attendance it will be difficult to consistently follow up with employees who are no call no shows.  Assign someone at your place of employment who is in charge of this.  Communication is key.  Follow up the first no call no show with a phone call to the employee to find out what happened and why.  Sometimes it is a legitimate issue and the employee forgot to call in.  Remind employees of the expectations and procedures they need to follow when they are not able to show up on time for their shift. 

Ensure the attendance management process is consistently followed.  This may mean being more diligent about instituting disciplinary measures for repeat offenders. 

2.  Find out what is driving the absences

In your communication with employees you will start to find out the reason behind the absences.  It could be a case of them caring for a family member who has become sick with COVID-19, or they are having difficulty finding childcare.  Another reason may very well be that the employee is too scared to come in to work.  If that is the case, work with the employee and explain exactly all the steps you have taken to ensure their safety.  Ensuring your business is following or even exceeding all the public health protocols is important.  If it’s a case of a formal work refusal you will have to follow the process outlined in Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. 

It is important to note that “[r]efusing employees must therefore have legitimate health and safety concerns, and the evidence must demonstrate the employee is at risk or likely to be at risk because of a hazard or condition in the workplace. For this reason, employees cannot refuse work because of preference, taste or personal comfort. Determining what constitutes a danger is not always an obvious exercise. The analysis will therefore be situationally driven and will crucially depend on the evidence of the case.”[1] (emphasis added)

3.  Incent Stellar Attendance

Consider putting in an incentive program for perfect attendance.  Rewarding those employees who are working above and beyond, doing more hours and more overtime, which is often required when their peers don’t show up for work, will help boost their morale as well.   

4.  Termination

It may come to a point where even though the employer has put in place all the health and safety precautions possible, the employee is still not showing up for work.  Employers may wish to consider the amount of effort and time they are spending on managing the situation, as well as the impact on the morale of those employees that have been diligently doing their duties day in and day out in an essential service.  Sometimes the last resort available to employers is to terminate.  It is often difficult to prove just cause termination, and in this case, it would be due to job abandonment.  It is also a tough decision when you need that employee to work, have a lot of work to offer them, and the role itself is difficult to replace or fill.  If the situation has progressed to this point, please ensure you are obtaining professional HR help to walk you through your options.

By putting in place an attendance management process and assigning an owner of this process, determining the reasons behind absences, communicating with absent employees and instituting an incentive program for stellar attendance, you will see an improvement in attendance.  Any outlier cases that are not resolved you may need to consider moving towards termination. 

Have you seen a spike in absenteeism during this pandemic?  If so, how have you handled it?

Other items of interest:

Out of Sight Should Not Mean Out of Mind for Employees on Sick Leave