Excessive Sick Leave

[cstickel]

I'm new to this forum and there's a lot of good information here so I felt like this was great place to get an answer to this question.

I work in a small warehouse, and have 1, yes 1, customer service representative who handles all of my customer calls. We average about 20-30 calls a day. Not a big deal, the calls are not overwhelming. We have 20 employees total and are a small business in it's purest form.

My problem is that this rep has been with us since 9/4/04. Since she's been with us, she has used 52 hours of leave time which is 32 hours OVER her accrued time of 20 hours. She's still in our "90 Day Evaluation Period" and I'm on the fence about what to do.

The sensible thing to do is sever ties and find someone new. This much absenteeism is just outright....crazy. Since we're a small business, we tend to foster a great sense of family here. This job is my second family and I love it, we all do. So when an employee comes to us with family emergencies, hospital stays and various other reasons for not showing up, we tend to take them at their word.

So why don't I terminate her? Well, the end of November and into December is going to be a nightmare of a month for us. We need to reorganize our warehouse and perform physical inventories of our items. I need someone on the phones and don't know how I'm going to find the time to train a new employee for this job. It's not rocket science, but there are subtle nuances that this rep I'm talking about picked right up on and ran with them. She's a great rep. She's great with customers and she knows what she's doing. She's just not here enough.

Any suggestions? To terminate or not to terminate, that is the question.

If anyone suggests termination, any guidelines for discussing it or links to similar topics are much appreciated. I'm a new manager, so this is all very new to me. I know how "I" would handle it, but what's the most professional way to get the message across?

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to the responses.

Chad

[Dave Maharaj]

Chad,
Very ineresting situation indeed!

Bottom line - TERMINATE!! If this is the kind of attendance she has now, what will happen after 90days? Given it is a bad time of the month for you, really ask yourself if there will ever be a good time?

The other alternative is to draw up documentation addressing the attendance issue and extending the probationary period by say 30 days. Within that time, should you not see an improvement, you can then terminate. This way you can get the help during your "crazy time" and still have a way out??

Hope this helps,
Dave

[cstickel]

Originally posted by Dave Maharaj
The other alternative is to draw up documentation addressing the attendance issue and extending the probationary period by say 30 days. Within that time, should you not see an improvement, you can then terminate. This way you can get the help during your "crazy time" and still have a way out??

Dave, thanks for the response. I think I'm going to take your advice on extending the probationary period by 30 days. Good idea! I didn't think of that!

Thanks!

[ctaylor]

Chad,

It is clear from your post that you value and foster the feeling of family within the company...this is admirable. However I echo Dave's sentiments; this problem is not going to get better only worse. There could be an underlying medical issue here, but it is the employee who should have (already) raised this with you. I 2 months this employee has missed more than a week of work! Retaining this person also sends the wrong message to the rest of your staff. If the sick time limit is not enforced it becomes meaningless and other employees will wonder why they work so hard while others don't. You are not doing the employee any favors by letting this slide, you are reinforcing that they can come to work or call in sick whenever they want to.

You state that you are heading into your busiest period...think about the challenges you will have when this person missed another weeks plus time over the next 8 weeks. This will cause significant challenges in getting the work completed. I suggest you are better to cut your losses and bring in someone new as soon as you can.

In a word Terminate.

I hope that I have added value to this discussion. If I can be of any further assistance please contact me at ctaylor@thetaylorreachgroup.com

Colin
www.thetaylorreachgroup.com

[dpzim]

I agree strongly with what everyone's replys and ideas. My question to you is, Did you explain your expectations and guidelines as far as attendance goes when you hired her?

If you have, terminate immediately, cut your loses now.

If you have not, I would extend the probationary period for 30 days and when you sit to speak with her make sure that you let her know your expectations and what you will be monitoring and make sure that you document this with her signature,supply her a copy and your signature. Also make sure that you meet at the 30 day mark, do not let this go by.

[cstickel]

I just returned from a convention in Los Angeles, so my apologies for not updating sooner:

I have chosen to keep this rep on my team. She has been told that if she misses ANY days until the end of this year, she will be terminated without question, (unless she has a doctor's note). She has signed a document acknowledging this and knows the consequences of her actions. Since we do value team work and the sense of "family" here, I put it to her in such a way that her absences were affecting the team. When she understood this, she was visibly shaken. She also understands that she will NOT be accruing her 10 hours of leave for the month of December to make up for the discrepancy in her paid leave.

Starting next year, she will begin to accrue her 10 hours a month at a normal rate. She also knows that any days she takes over her accrued time will have serious repercussions on her employment here. I made myself VERY clear.

Thank you all for your responses, I appreciate each one.

Regards,
Chad