Hi
I have recently joined a company in the role of a manager
In the last 6 months I have been here I have noticed a trend of people taking Sick leaves as and when they wish
Sometimes they take two sick leaves along with their normal off days giving them 4 days offs.
Believe it or not most people in the department have close to 8 to 9 sick leaves (overall permitted are 12)
I want to start a system to discourage this process, where people use sick leaves as causal leaves
I want help on how to rate people’s monthly/ quarterly / annual appraisals based on the number of sick leaves taken.
End of the day it has to be a fair parameter but should be strong enough to discourage unwanted sick leaves
If you get what I mean, please help
From India, Ernakulam
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I have recently joined a company in the role of a manager
In the last 6 months I have been here I have noticed a trend of people taking Sick leaves as and when they wish
Sometimes they take two sick leaves along with their normal off days giving them 4 days offs.
Believe it or not most people in the department have close to 8 to 9 sick leaves (overall permitted are 12)
I want to start a system to discourage this process, where people use sick leaves as causal leaves
I want help on how to rate people’s monthly/ quarterly / annual appraisals based on the number of sick leaves taken.
End of the day it has to be a fair parameter but should be strong enough to discourage unwanted sick leaves
If you get what I mean, please help
From India, Ernakulam
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Dear,
I very much agree with you. Please make some necessary amendments in your leave policy.
CL - 0.5 a month
SL - 0.5 a month
PL - 1.5 a month - after 6 months he/she can avail. So an employee will earn 0.5 CL & the same SL. It means in a quarter - 0.5 * 3 = 1.5 only/-. PL - 1.5 * 12 = 18. This can be done. Don't club SL with PL.
Regards,
Vipin
From India, New Delhi
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32I very much agree with you. Please make some necessary amendments in your leave policy.
CL - 0.5 a month
SL - 0.5 a month
PL - 1.5 a month - after 6 months he/she can avail. So an employee will earn 0.5 CL & the same SL. It means in a quarter - 0.5 * 3 = 1.5 only/-. PL - 1.5 * 12 = 18. This can be done. Don't club SL with PL.
Regards,
Vipin
From India, New Delhi
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Hi Dimitrz,
You have to review the leave policy and its implementation part, which can contribute to maintaining discipline. I also agree with Vipin. Please review the leave policy and devise a plan for effective implementation.
Thank you.
From India, Jaipur
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You have to review the leave policy and its implementation part, which can contribute to maintaining discipline. I also agree with Vipin. Please review the leave policy and devise a plan for effective implementation.
Thank you.
From India, Jaipur
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Hi Dimitrz,
You need to review the leave policy and its implementation, as it plays a critical role in maintaining discipline. I also agree with Vipin. Please refer to the attached leave policy. The implementation part is essential as it supports you in addressing and controlling any issues that may arise.
From India, Jaipur
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You need to review the leave policy and its implementation, as it plays a critical role in maintaining discipline. I also agree with Vipin. Please refer to the attached leave policy. The implementation part is essential as it supports you in addressing and controlling any issues that may arise.
From India, Jaipur
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Thank you, Anurag and Vipin. However, what I was ideally looking at was how to fairly penalize team members if they end up taking too many sick leaves, i.e., how do I make sure the sick leave impact during their appraisal (unless it's due to a long sick leave where there is proof via a medical certificate). Hope you got my query :)
From India, Ernakulam
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From India, Ernakulam
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Hi Dimitrz,
I don't know whether it is possible to change your policy but it may work:
* Remove sick leave clause from your policy
* Merge SL with CL i.e. CL + 12 a year
* Allow only (CL + 12) / 12 in a month; the rest of availed leaves are to be treated as LWP in the month
* It would be of accumulative nature, and more than 2 or 3 CLs must be allowed with a medical certificate only
* This would reduce the practice of taking sick leave frequently and unnecessarily
* Link the leaves availed with the confirmation/increment/promotion policy
* If an employee avails after 3 CLs, as LWP, their confirmation/increment/promotion could be extended on a pro-rata basis. For example, if an employee takes 10 or more LWPs in a year, their confirmation/increment/promotion would be extended for 1 month
* This is somehow linked to the appraisal of the employee
Hope this would be of some help.
Regards,
VK
From India, Indore
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I don't know whether it is possible to change your policy but it may work:
* Remove sick leave clause from your policy
* Merge SL with CL i.e. CL + 12 a year
* Allow only (CL + 12) / 12 in a month; the rest of availed leaves are to be treated as LWP in the month
* It would be of accumulative nature, and more than 2 or 3 CLs must be allowed with a medical certificate only
* This would reduce the practice of taking sick leave frequently and unnecessarily
* Link the leaves availed with the confirmation/increment/promotion policy
* If an employee avails after 3 CLs, as LWP, their confirmation/increment/promotion could be extended on a pro-rata basis. For example, if an employee takes 10 or more LWPs in a year, their confirmation/increment/promotion would be extended for 1 month
* This is somehow linked to the appraisal of the employee
Hope this would be of some help.
Regards,
VK
From India, Indore
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Yes, Vidya. I was looking for something like this: "If an employee avails after 3 CLs as LWP, his confirmation/increment/promotion could be extended on a pro-rata basis. For example, if an employee takes 10 or more LWPs in a year, his/her confirmation/increment/promotion would be extended for 1 month."
I just need to try and get this to work when I give monthly ratings for monthly appraisals :)
From India, Ernakulam
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I just need to try and get this to work when I give monthly ratings for monthly appraisals :)
From India, Ernakulam
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Hi,
been reading your thread and AM NOT a HR Professsional however was a senior manager within Internet industry for 8 years. Now am project manager / trainer / facilitator.
Had the same problem in a department of 150 people. We made a major reduction in sick leave by introducing the following steps:
1. One 2 One's with Line Manager
EVERYTIME someone rings in sick, they needed to complete a sick leave form which was then followed by a one 2 one meeting with their TL - this has to happen without fail...through the ranks including YOU with your boss!!!
Impact
This meant that all staff felt that sickness was an issue and was being reviewed everytime it happened. With the message to the management team that there may be levels of sickness that we're missing which could be impacted such as
"I get migraines" - "do you need to get an eye test and wear glasses?"
This actually creates a platform where staff feel attended to and that there is a concern for their welfare. The additional point is that they start to run out of "excuses" for getting out of bed. Patterns can quicly be identified and it's obvious when people just aren't happy in their work. (refer to Herzberg's Hygiene & Motivational Factors). This increases the amount of "can't be bothered!". If this is identified through having a relationship with their line manager this can be addressed by the same by identifying work which will motivate staff to want to come into work.
2. Reward System for Positive Behaviour
I've NEVER seen a penalty system implemented into a workplace that has had a long term positive impact. We reduced our churn rate, in a technical support call centre, from 70% to 7% in 2 years.
Would suggest identifying KPI's that can be attributed to your staff on some base indicators relevant to your area...i.e. Productivity, Accuracy, Punctuality, Attendance.
Then record and mark these on a weekly basis which attributes to a monthly program where the best scores acheive a rank in the department.
For attendance...those that DON'T have a day off sick receive 250 bonus points. Those that are never late all month receive 250 bonus points so on and so forth. Depends what's important in your team.
Impact
This creates an environment where people have goals to acheive and can see the fruits of their labour. You're going to need to request budget for this for rewards, however they don't always need to be financial. You could award an addiitonal days paid holiday or 2 days? Something you can manage internally. Or you can assign the member of staff to a team once a week each month to another department for them to understand how they work as part of their personal development process. Get creative! Find out what motivates them!
As part of all the above you'll need to ensure your line management team all understand the new culture of encouragement. Might be an idea to set up a team scoring process where the best peforming team of the month then is rewarded with a lunch out together paid. Peer pressure is extremely effective!
I've attached a note on Herzbergs theory. Let me know if this is any help. It's the first time I've replied on this site, quite interested.
Thanks
Dylan
Frederick Herzberg – Hygiene and Motivation Factors
1923 - 2000
Frederick Herzberg proposed from his research, that satisfaction and dis-satisfaction at work resulted from two different factors – “Hygiene” and “Motivation” factors.
Hygiene factors
Motivation factors need to be present for job satisfaction, and are different to dis-satisfying hygiene factors. Motivation factors are not the opposite reaction to hygiene factors.
Herzberg called the dis-satisfiers "hygiene factors" because they helped prevent dissatisfaction, but in themselves would never provide real satisfaction. Perhaps you have a good salary, in a secure job in a company you like, but there's something missing. You're not dis-satisfied with your work, but you're not satisfied either. The key to job satisfaction is having one or more of the "motivator factors" present.
To put Frederick Herzberg theory into practice, consider these two questions;
1) "Which of these cause me irritation or frustration if I don't have them?"
2) "Which of these when I do have them, make me feel fulfilled and involved in my work?"
Critics consider Herzberg's two factor theory to be simplistic - what motivates me may be a dissatisfier for someone else. For example, increased responsibility for one person may be a motivator as they can grow and develop in their role, allowing them to further their career. But to another person, increased responsibility can be a dis-satisfier, particularly if pay does not reflect the new role or if they are over-stretched already.
To make use of this criticism, you need to consider your team as a collection of individuals, not as a homogeneous group with one set of wants and needs. Take each individual and ask the same two questions, and by the time you've worked through your team, you will have a clear idea what you need to do to increase job satisfaction.
Some factors may be within your control, some may not. For example, it many not be possible to influence company holiday policy, but you could decide within the team how holidays are allocated. Work with what you can change and highlight those you can't to your manager or through the company's employee feedback mechanisms.
Unlike some staff motivation theories, Frederick Herzberg theory is easy to remember, easy to explain and easy to use. By considering Herzberg's two factor theory, you can work out what dis-satisfies your team, what motivates them and most importantly, what you can do to increase job satisfaction.
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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been reading your thread and AM NOT a HR Professsional however was a senior manager within Internet industry for 8 years. Now am project manager / trainer / facilitator.
Had the same problem in a department of 150 people. We made a major reduction in sick leave by introducing the following steps:
1. One 2 One's with Line Manager
EVERYTIME someone rings in sick, they needed to complete a sick leave form which was then followed by a one 2 one meeting with their TL - this has to happen without fail...through the ranks including YOU with your boss!!!
Impact
This meant that all staff felt that sickness was an issue and was being reviewed everytime it happened. With the message to the management team that there may be levels of sickness that we're missing which could be impacted such as
"I get migraines" - "do you need to get an eye test and wear glasses?"
This actually creates a platform where staff feel attended to and that there is a concern for their welfare. The additional point is that they start to run out of "excuses" for getting out of bed. Patterns can quicly be identified and it's obvious when people just aren't happy in their work. (refer to Herzberg's Hygiene & Motivational Factors). This increases the amount of "can't be bothered!". If this is identified through having a relationship with their line manager this can be addressed by the same by identifying work which will motivate staff to want to come into work.
2. Reward System for Positive Behaviour
I've NEVER seen a penalty system implemented into a workplace that has had a long term positive impact. We reduced our churn rate, in a technical support call centre, from 70% to 7% in 2 years.
Would suggest identifying KPI's that can be attributed to your staff on some base indicators relevant to your area...i.e. Productivity, Accuracy, Punctuality, Attendance.
Then record and mark these on a weekly basis which attributes to a monthly program where the best scores acheive a rank in the department.
For attendance...those that DON'T have a day off sick receive 250 bonus points. Those that are never late all month receive 250 bonus points so on and so forth. Depends what's important in your team.
Impact
This creates an environment where people have goals to acheive and can see the fruits of their labour. You're going to need to request budget for this for rewards, however they don't always need to be financial. You could award an addiitonal days paid holiday or 2 days? Something you can manage internally. Or you can assign the member of staff to a team once a week each month to another department for them to understand how they work as part of their personal development process. Get creative! Find out what motivates them!
As part of all the above you'll need to ensure your line management team all understand the new culture of encouragement. Might be an idea to set up a team scoring process where the best peforming team of the month then is rewarded with a lunch out together paid. Peer pressure is extremely effective!
I've attached a note on Herzbergs theory. Let me know if this is any help. It's the first time I've replied on this site, quite interested.
Thanks
Dylan
Frederick Herzberg – Hygiene and Motivation Factors
1923 - 2000
Frederick Herzberg proposed from his research, that satisfaction and dis-satisfaction at work resulted from two different factors – “Hygiene” and “Motivation” factors.
Hygiene factors
- Supervision, work conditions, salary, security, relationship with peers and management
- Achievement, job itself, recognition, responsibility, advancement.
Motivation factors need to be present for job satisfaction, and are different to dis-satisfying hygiene factors. Motivation factors are not the opposite reaction to hygiene factors.
Herzberg called the dis-satisfiers "hygiene factors" because they helped prevent dissatisfaction, but in themselves would never provide real satisfaction. Perhaps you have a good salary, in a secure job in a company you like, but there's something missing. You're not dis-satisfied with your work, but you're not satisfied either. The key to job satisfaction is having one or more of the "motivator factors" present.
To put Frederick Herzberg theory into practice, consider these two questions;
1) "Which of these cause me irritation or frustration if I don't have them?"
2) "Which of these when I do have them, make me feel fulfilled and involved in my work?"
Critics consider Herzberg's two factor theory to be simplistic - what motivates me may be a dissatisfier for someone else. For example, increased responsibility for one person may be a motivator as they can grow and develop in their role, allowing them to further their career. But to another person, increased responsibility can be a dis-satisfier, particularly if pay does not reflect the new role or if they are over-stretched already.
To make use of this criticism, you need to consider your team as a collection of individuals, not as a homogeneous group with one set of wants and needs. Take each individual and ask the same two questions, and by the time you've worked through your team, you will have a clear idea what you need to do to increase job satisfaction.
Some factors may be within your control, some may not. For example, it many not be possible to influence company holiday policy, but you could decide within the team how holidays are allocated. Work with what you can change and highlight those you can't to your manager or through the company's employee feedback mechanisms.
Unlike some staff motivation theories, Frederick Herzberg theory is easy to remember, easy to explain and easy to use. By considering Herzberg's two factor theory, you can work out what dis-satisfies your team, what motivates them and most importantly, what you can do to increase job satisfaction.
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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Dear Mr. Dylan,
A very warm welcome.
It seems to be a good suggestion for implementation. The only perception of mine is that people get more motivated to save than to achieve something over time.
For example, if an employee is performing excellently, they would never want to deteriorate their career by taking unnecessary leaves if this is linked to their appraisal. Appraisal is the tool that decides one's career and financial growth. After all, an employee works to make themselves and their family happy, for which they need both time and money.
Time and money are the two factors that affect employees' motivation levels throughout their lifecycle. I agree that there are also other motivational factors like esteem, social security, recognition, and self-actualization, but ultimately, time and money matter most with loved ones.
Motivational boosters must be decided while considering the age of employees.
Now, coming to the main question for discussion... How many of you would prefer to receive 250 bonus points in exchange for a holiday with your family without losing your pay? What is more motivational: getting 250 points or accumulating leaves for a planned vacation with your family members?
I agree with Mr. Dylan that theories can provide a starting point for creative thinking in designing a good motivational program. However, in my opinion, strict adherence to theories would not do them justice. We need to look forward, considering factors like time, age, region, culture, work environment, and industry type when designing a motivational program.
Thank you for bringing this deep human behavior discussion to this forum. I would also like to hear the opinions of my seniors because all the thoughts expressed here are mine alone. There may be differences with someone, but I would appreciate if they express their viewpoints.
Regards,
VK
From India, Indore
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A very warm welcome.
It seems to be a good suggestion for implementation. The only perception of mine is that people get more motivated to save than to achieve something over time.
For example, if an employee is performing excellently, they would never want to deteriorate their career by taking unnecessary leaves if this is linked to their appraisal. Appraisal is the tool that decides one's career and financial growth. After all, an employee works to make themselves and their family happy, for which they need both time and money.
Time and money are the two factors that affect employees' motivation levels throughout their lifecycle. I agree that there are also other motivational factors like esteem, social security, recognition, and self-actualization, but ultimately, time and money matter most with loved ones.
Motivational boosters must be decided while considering the age of employees.
Now, coming to the main question for discussion... How many of you would prefer to receive 250 bonus points in exchange for a holiday with your family without losing your pay? What is more motivational: getting 250 points or accumulating leaves for a planned vacation with your family members?
I agree with Mr. Dylan that theories can provide a starting point for creative thinking in designing a good motivational program. However, in my opinion, strict adherence to theories would not do them justice. We need to look forward, considering factors like time, age, region, culture, work environment, and industry type when designing a motivational program.
Thank you for bringing this deep human behavior discussion to this forum. I would also like to hear the opinions of my seniors because all the thoughts expressed here are mine alone. There may be differences with someone, but I would appreciate if they express their viewpoints.
Regards,
VK
From India, Indore
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I think you're missing the point...
My point is, as opposed to setting up a solely penal system against people being sick and taking time off, I'm suggesting rewarding POSITIVE behavior by attending work. This is directly linked to the issue of "how to address the sick leave issues in the workplace."
Irrespective of what might work in different workplaces according to cultural or realistic norms, my suggestion to rectify this is to create an environment of awareness and interaction as opposed to "legislation/bureaucracy" through additional HR policies.
Does that clarify it more?
Your thoughts,
Dylan
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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My point is, as opposed to setting up a solely penal system against people being sick and taking time off, I'm suggesting rewarding POSITIVE behavior by attending work. This is directly linked to the issue of "how to address the sick leave issues in the workplace."
Irrespective of what might work in different workplaces according to cultural or realistic norms, my suggestion to rectify this is to create an environment of awareness and interaction as opposed to "legislation/bureaucracy" through additional HR policies.
Does that clarify it more?
Your thoughts,
Dylan
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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dimitrz <link updated to site home> [IMG]https://www.citehr.com/images/statusicon/user_offline.gif[/IMG]
I find a problem with your attitude as being jealous of employees enjoying their sick leaves.
As an HR professional, one must not take every employee's right for granted, whether it be casual leave (CL), sick leave (SL), or paid leave (PL), etc. An employee has the right to enjoy their entitled leaves. You cannot act like a teacher or headmaster trying to restrict their rights.
In my organization, I always feel happy when people take leave and return with a fresh mind and joy because leaves help people break away from monotonous and fatiguing work cultures.
If an employee spends their whole life in service of their employer, what is left in the employee's life then? Is he not a human being? Don't you think he has emotions, health, and social obligations, or is he just a machine to be treated like bonded labor?
Today's new nomenclature of HR, as opposed to the designations of Labor and Personnel Officers from our time, does not change the medieval age attitude and mindset of feudal Indians. They still try to bring these outdated practices into the modern corporate world.
Open your eyes and liberate your mind from such feudal characteristics; avoid causing inconvenience to employees. Let them live a life as human beings; do not deny them their human rights to live a healthy life.
Rashid
From Saudi Arabia
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I find a problem with your attitude as being jealous of employees enjoying their sick leaves.
As an HR professional, one must not take every employee's right for granted, whether it be casual leave (CL), sick leave (SL), or paid leave (PL), etc. An employee has the right to enjoy their entitled leaves. You cannot act like a teacher or headmaster trying to restrict their rights.
In my organization, I always feel happy when people take leave and return with a fresh mind and joy because leaves help people break away from monotonous and fatiguing work cultures.
If an employee spends their whole life in service of their employer, what is left in the employee's life then? Is he not a human being? Don't you think he has emotions, health, and social obligations, or is he just a machine to be treated like bonded labor?
Today's new nomenclature of HR, as opposed to the designations of Labor and Personnel Officers from our time, does not change the medieval age attitude and mindset of feudal Indians. They still try to bring these outdated practices into the modern corporate world.
Open your eyes and liberate your mind from such feudal characteristics; avoid causing inconvenience to employees. Let them live a life as human beings; do not deny them their human rights to live a healthy life.
Rashid
From Saudi Arabia
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Hi, I agree with Dylan as well as Rashid.
Reward positive behavior and show your concern for employees. At the same time, don't be so aggressive and agitated over the fact that they are taking leave for reasons other than sick leave.
Do you know one thing - I have never been sick (by health :-) in the last 4 months. I have been continuously attending work from 9 to 6/7 pm, including Saturdays. I just started feeling irritated with myself as I am not giving priority to my home life or "pampering myself." But I know that if I am away from work for at least a day or two, I get back to work with a higher level of enthusiasm and better projects for implementation.
Do you think I can tell my boss "I need a leave - just like that"? No - I make use of the sick leave. It's MY benefit. So I occasionally take a day or two off to unwind myself and get back to work.
Dylan, I agree with you: to reward positive behavior so that people don't misuse the benefits available. But let them use what is given to them - if they exceed, let them explain.
When you start penalizing for something they should have the benefit for, you make them think "HR is bad - and so - - - company is bad." Then your question will turn to "Retention Strategies."
From India, Madras
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Reward positive behavior and show your concern for employees. At the same time, don't be so aggressive and agitated over the fact that they are taking leave for reasons other than sick leave.
Do you know one thing - I have never been sick (by health :-) in the last 4 months. I have been continuously attending work from 9 to 6/7 pm, including Saturdays. I just started feeling irritated with myself as I am not giving priority to my home life or "pampering myself." But I know that if I am away from work for at least a day or two, I get back to work with a higher level of enthusiasm and better projects for implementation.
Do you think I can tell my boss "I need a leave - just like that"? No - I make use of the sick leave. It's MY benefit. So I occasionally take a day or two off to unwind myself and get back to work.
Dylan, I agree with you: to reward positive behavior so that people don't misuse the benefits available. But let them use what is given to them - if they exceed, let them explain.
When you start penalizing for something they should have the benefit for, you make them think "HR is bad - and so - - - company is bad." Then your question will turn to "Retention Strategies."
From India, Madras
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LEAVE-ATTENDANC E POLICY.doc
Ascent - Attendance & Leave Management - Presentation.pp s