For small and medium size companies workforce costs are one of the largest expenditures.
It’s no wonder why, in the current challenging economic climate, so many business owners get increasingly frustrated if the attendance of their employees is poor.
Employee absenteeism costs UK businesses £32 billion per year and therefore forward-thinking companies are proactively searching for solutions which would help them reduce this figure.
In a recent article John Timpson – the owner of the highly successful, family chain of 625 retail stores employing 3000 people – discusses the value of attendance schemes. John mentions that some critics of the attendance bonuses wonder why it is necessary to pay extra money to people just for doing the job they were hired to do.
He believes that if everyone gets paid the same amount whatever their commitment or contribution it is not surprising that the conscientious workers who are creating success get pretty disenchanted. What’s more, if a skiver gets away with throwing “a sickie” he is highly likely to take advantage and take more and more time off.
Timpson’s workers also have a chance to earn the attendance bonus every week but as soon as they take an unscheduled day off this is taken away from them. John adds: “Sloppy workers should not get the same pay as their more conscientious colleagues”.
Mr Timpson suggests 5 important points regarding absenteeism:
- If you have a problem with absenteeism it is the management who should be more often than not to blame for this.
- No business should turn a blind eye to people with a poor attendance record.
- Every period of absence should be discussed at a back to work interview and it pays to be tough on poor timekeeping by hitting the culprits in their pocket.
- It will always be a good idea to pay a little bit extra to the perfect timekeepers.
- Absenteeism and lateness could be prevented by rigorous recruitment standards and creating a great working environment
There are many ways how you could incorporate attendance bonuses into your organisation. For example, several of our clients award the bonus based on attendance and units produced per employee’s working time and in that way encourage people to be more productive.
Another one of our customers who specialises in printing on metal awards the bonus based on attendance, number of units printed and the amount of wastage – making sure that there is an emphasis on product quality.
Justyna Wilner is a marketing executive at time and attendance software supplier, Mitrefinch.
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