How do you teach people who call in to work all the time a lesson when your boss won't.?

Question

This is the first person to raise the roof when another coworker may miss their one or two days a year due to a real sickness.
This employee also comes to work telling patients how she had been out drinking,and it looks terrible. So naturally , when she misses work, such as today everyone said " I wonder what kind of Halloween party she found last night". She often calls in around holidays and Mondays after a big weekend "of partying." This in the the healthcare field for gosh sakes!
We are all so sick of dragging in sick so people won't work short and she calls in every time you turn around, sometimes twice a month.Any suggestions would be so appreciated. It just has to stop and I guess we , the fellow workers, will have to handle it. By the way this person is in their 50's. Immature huh?

Answer 1

Ask the boss to hold a department meeting to discuss a matter of concern to the employees. Don't leave this offending woman out of the meeting - she needs to hear what the other employees are saying. All of the employees should bring up questions and issues - don't leave it to just one person to do all of the talking. Ask the boss to thoroughly explain the absenteeism policy and the disciplinary actions that are to be taken if someone exceeds his/her allowed absences. Bring up that the policy isn't being enforced evenly among the employees. Explain that uneven enforcement is very demoralizing to the employees and that excessive absenteeism causes a lot of problems for those who do show up for work. Explain that you would rather work short handed on a regular basis rather than not knowing from day to day if you'll be short handed. Don't let the meeting end without a committment from the boss that the policy will be applied evenly to all of the employees.

When I was a manager, I vigorously enforced the absenteeism policy. Not only does it affect a department's productivity and morale, but I found that high absenteeism was a sure sign that an employee had a poor attitude toward the job in general and was a poor performer. Firing someone for attendance issues always improved the morale of the other employees and productivity always improved.

Answer 2

Bring your concern to the boss. Don't try to handle this on your own. It's not your place. You're not the boss. Put your concerns in writing and have others sign it along with you so that the boss will know that it's just not one person who's concerned here.

Also, never go to work if you're actually sick. You don't want to give whatever you have to others.

Answer 3

I know how you feel but the lessons that we teach co workers should be also back up by are bosses and the supervisors but they act like that there too scared of other people except us but we need to stay strong and keep your eyes open for the day they truely mess up they just sit back and watch.

Answer 4

Unplug the phone, that would get their attention.

Answer 5

You don't, the boss does or does not.