How can i get my employees to show up for work?

Question

I supervise 6 people in a very stressful, extremely short staffed animal control shelter. Being government we get benefits like sick leave, personal days, vacation and holidays off. Problem is, we are understaffed as it is and the work load is increasing and everyone feels the need to use all of their benefit hours instead of banking them of cashing them in. They complaim about the heavy workloads and the stress but then when they don't come to work it adds to the stress and workload! In may we have 7 days with a full staff, June was 9 days and July 7. The city will not hire more staff and the workload is not going to decrease. How do you make them understand that we are our own worst enemy? Calling in sick 2-3 days a month with 6 employees adds up! Scheduled vacations and doctor appointments are allowed and encouraged but having employees call sick damn near everyday is ridiculus!
What do you do? How can I motivate them with limited resources?

Answer 1

I would say you pull out the biggest table in the place and put as many chairs as employees that is there that day. Roll a big fatty, torch it up and you sit around the fatty and all your problems will be gone. Name the table "Big Fatty". Trust me I do this at me job and everyone shows up on time.

Sincerely Yours
Burn IT!

Answer 2

Generally government/county jobs require a doctors excuse to stay out of work and sick days can not be taken until a 3 day absence with a doctors excuse.

You should either study the rules and regulations for excessive absences or contact your human resource officer for clarity.

The absences should be documented in all cases. Being a "supervisor" you should be monitoring these employee absences, making notes, placing them on verbal warnings, then written warnings, then suspended leave without pay. This should be completely within the government guidelines.

Know YOUR company policies! Enforce them!

If "motivation" is what you feel is the key here then I would suggest more rigid hiring practices, checking references, personal motivation for wanting this job!

The right employee is a direct reflection on the supervisor! So hire the right people, be selective, don't just fill the position. If human resources is in charge of hiring then request a direct hand in this. YOUR position should allow you some say-so in who you supervise!

In addition to this, do employee meetings. Have a company/employee regulation test. Enforce the standard practices of the company. Re-issue employee handbooks.

Take command of YOUR authority.

You DON"T need "more" staff, you need a "working" staff! It is the supervisors responsibility to either reprimand or terminate an employee for violating policy.

Answer 3

under the conditions u describe there is little you can do. Ideally you could teach them all the benifits of total team cooperation but that isnt likely to happen. Yu could research efficiency methods to try to devise easier, quicker ways to get the work done, thereby relieving some of the daily stress. You might try getting the workers together as a group and trying to work out an informal schedule among them about taking "sick days" off THen at least you would know in advance who and how many workers you would have on any given day.Good luck , you face a problem that is widespread throughout business in this country.

Answer 4

Hire people who actually WANT a job! This bunch that you have are losers and they are yanking your chain with their excuses. Maybe you've been too nice and accommodating, Go over your policy and procedure manual and apply as written. Just because they work for the government doesn't give them a gold card to call in sick 2 -3 times a month. You're being taken advantage of. Give them a little tough love, they'll either sink or swim.

Answer 5

You have a challenge all right! Motivation, often, is all about creating a good atmosphere, ambience in work place, doing all you can to produce esteem in employees about their work, recognition, reward, meeting them on emotional plane, and, all this over and above personal example. All is not lost yet: think up ways and means to make the place attractive: some music in the recreation place, lunchroom, some informal contests (simple, but stimulating)..... surely, there are a few things you could do. Best of luck!

Answer 6

Sounds like you have a major problem. You cant pay them more, so that is out. You cant afford to fire them, which will make you even more short staffed. You cant hire illegals, as they will not do the work, and its illegal to hire them. Ask for volunteers in your area to help. Offer them whatever incentives you can, and find better workers amongst the volunteers, and offer them the jobs instead. If you can offer the volunteers discounts, or services for their time, you might be able to get them to help with the workload, making it less stressful for the rest of your employees. Talk this over withj your employees first, and see what can be done to give volunteers something by way of incentives or discounts for their help

Answer 7

maybe have an employee of the month award
or try to hire people that are in that type of work because its making a difference in the lives of animals instead of folks looking for $$.

also have a meeting or even just show them this question you wrote.
maybe some open conversation will bring up some new ideas

Answer 8

One of the best ways to motivate your staff is to empower them. If they feel that they are doing a worthwhile job, they will take pride in it. Empowered employees have lower absenteeism. Praise them and try positive reinforcement for a job well done. If you reprimand an already demoralized staff for their absenteesim all you will do is create more resentment. It becomes a vicious circle.

Answer 9

Duh, why do they have sick days and vacation? It looks like they deserve every second of that which they are taking. Look again, but it isn't necessarily the employees that are a problem.

Just keep repeating to them, "The beatings will continue until morale improves!"

I think if you were getting on the case of your superiors for more staff and resources, and your people heard about it, then your people might pick up the pace a tad in order to congratulate your going to bat for your people. Otherwise, "Where there's a whip, there's a way!"

Answer 10

Being a government entity, you cannot have competitive wages. It's like that everywhere. Check out all the happy faces at the DMV. They just love their jobs.
Unfortunately, there is no answer. If you fire them, (which you should) you'll just be more understaffed.