Addressing management issues; decreasing absenteeism.

Q Any ideas on how to decrease absenteeism in the clinical laboratory? Most of our absenteeism is what I think is sick-leave abuse.

A Alton Sturtevant recommends, "The starting point is to have clear policies relating to vacation, holidays, and sick leave. A common, fair policy that encourages wise use of time is to combine sick and vacation hours into a category called earned time off (ETO). In the past, a company may have had an initial leave time of two weeks of vacation and two weeks of sick leave, or a total of 160 hours of time off per year at the lowest level. With ETO, those hours would be converted into fewer hours (i.e., 140). This would benefit those who did not take sick time, by allowing them 140 hours of vacation per year rather than the normal 80. This is an incentive not to call in sick and to have more paid vacation.

"Many companies have adopted a point system or a similar method of ranking sick-time absences. Time off could be designated as scheduled and approved, unscheduled and approved, or unscheduled and not approved. Designation of 'approved' would be at the discretion of the supervisor/manager following human resources' (HR's) guidance. 'Approved' commonly means the absence does not adversely affect the operation of the department (i.e., workload and other scheduled activities are not onerous)."

Dr. Sturtevant adds, "Following this logic, schedules based on the proper notification period and approved vacation time is easy to classify. The tougher part is defining the other classifications. If an employee-parent calls in for ETO on the day of her work shift due to an ill child, how do you classify that? Again, base classifications on the needs of the work for that day. If the department otherwise has a full staff and the workload is down, then it would be classified as unscheduled and approved. This classification is not based on how much you like the person, or if you feel sorry for a single parent, or if her child is really sick; it is based only on scheduling and workload. HR sets a limit on how many unscheduled and unapproved events per 12-month period would be allowed (commonly three or four). When the limit is met, then disciplinary action is taken up to and including termination.

"Also, points could be assigned to the classification, allowing all unscheduled time off to be graded and cumulative points to be used during a 12-month period for assisting in a decision for disciplinary action. The point system applies points to the entire unscheduled ETO event (e.g., 10 points per event, regardless of whether it is one day off or 10). Commonly, 50 to 60 points per 12-month period triggers disciplinary action. Using a system that rewards those who do not call in sick with more scheduled time off, and disciplining those who are not at work on a regular basis will help with your absence problems. Please note that none of these systems take into account the Family Medical Leave Act, which has its own set of guidelines."

According to Larry Crolla's view, "If you have chronic absenteeism, then you may have a morale problem on your hands--or else people are taking the time they believe they have earned. Their perception is that they are owed this time; and if they do not take it, they will lose it if your organization has a limit on accrual. You may want to put a program in place in which people can trade some excess sick leave for scheduled time off. At least in this scenario, you are in control of the schedule. Do you have a policy in place that requires a note from a physician for extended sick time? This may also help if you do not."

Marti Bailey advises, "I do not recommend trying to solve this problem on your own. If you have not already done so, contact your Human Resources department to find out if there is an institutional policy pertaining to absenteeism. If there is, you need to follow it. If there is no institutional policy, my best advice would be to hook up with your peer managers in other departments to find out if they are experiencing the same difficulties as you.

"If a group of you can present your HR folks with a well-documented case for an institutional policy, this would be the ideal way to go. If you develop and try to enforce an absenteeism policy only for the lab staff, there are bound to be differences in treatment of employees across the institution which will leave you open to criticism, non-compliance, or worse."

Bottom line. Do not try to solve this problem on your own. Find out from your HR department if there is an institutional policy pertaining to absenteeism. If so, follow that policy, and do not set any of your own policies that may conflict with it. If the institutional policy does not meet your needs, take your examples and suggestions for revision to HR. If HR does not receive feedback from managers, its personnel may not be aware of problems that could be resolved or curtailed by updating the policy.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Edited by Christopher S. Frings, PhD, CSP 

Christopher S. Frings, PhD, is an internationally known consultant and speaker on the topics of leadership, managing change, time management, reaching goals, and stress management. His consulting firm, Chris Frings & Associates, (www.chrisfrings.com) is in Birmingham, AL.

MLO's "Management Q & A" provides practical, up-to-date solutions to readers' management issues from a panel of laboratory management experts. Readers may send questions to Dr. Chris Frings at 633 Winwood Drive, Birmingham, AL 35226; fax, [phone]; or e-mail, [e-mail]. Unless otherwise noted as "confidential" by readers, all queries will be considered for publication without further notice to them. Names, institution, city, and state will be removed before publication. The following panel of laboratory directors, managers, and supervisory technologists have provided their input in the answers given in this column: Marti K. Bailey, MT(ASCP), work unit leader, Pathology, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA; Lawrence J. Crolla, PhD, consulting clinical chemist, Departments of Pathology and Respiratory Care, Alexian Brothers Hospital, Elk Grove Village, IL, West Suburban Medical Center, Oak Park, IL, and Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights, IL; and Alton Sturtevant, PhD, laboratory director, LabCorp, Birmingham, AL.