Here Today, Gone Tomorrow How to Reduce Absenteeism at Work

It is more difficult to find employees who have a strong work ethic and are willing to put in a "good days work." A lot of people tell me, "I hire for attitude and train for skills." That philosophy is as outdated as carbon paper when you consider today's work environment.

Today, there are more jobs than people. Employers now tell me it's tough to find either the attitude or the skills. So what is a boss to do?

First accept the fact, that we are going to have to manage people differently today. What worked yesterday is the very same thing that will get us in trouble tomorrow. Further complicating the matter is you can't treat everyone the same. With each new employee you hire they bring a totally new set of expectations, needs and problems. It takes more time and skill to manage today's workforce. Bad managers are the biggest cause of high turnover, low attendance and low morale.

For those of you who have people with good attitudes and good work ethics... count your blessings and insure you take good care of them so they don't leave you for someone else. Here are a few ideas to think about.

Nucor Steel has a unique pay-for-performance compensation system. Employees earn money based on their individual productivity. Employees are paid a lower than industry average hourly rate. On top of that they receive an additional bonus if they exceed hourly quotas. For example the steel industry average says an individual should be able to straighten 10 tons of steel an hour. Therefore, Nucor's goal is to straighten 8 tons an hour and for every ton over 8 tons they get an additional 5% bonus. However to qualify for the bonus they have to meet the following requirements.

• If they are late to work they loose their bonus for the entire day.

• If they miss a day of work during the week they loose their bonus for the entire week.

As a result, Nucor's productivity took off like a rocket. Absenteeism rarely falls below 1.5% a year. The key strength of this program is employees see a direct correlation between what they do and their paychecks a major incentive. Employees were working so hard Nucor decided to give them 4 non-forfeiture days a year. Even with this only half their employees use their 4 days.

Lottery System-One company uses a lottery system to reduce absenteeism. Only employees with no absenteeism during the month can participate. The lottery includes prizes such as a television, a bicycle and so on. They were able to reduce of absenteeism by 75% and reduce costs by 62%.

Play Poker-Another company improved attendance in a game of poker. Employees who came to work each day were allowed to draw one playing card. Those who attended all week owned five cards on Friday. The player with the best hand wins 20 dollars.

Try a Perfect Attendance Program-One large rental business has several excellent incentives for its 200 plus employees. Any employee who has perfect attendance during the year receives $300.00, a limo ride to a restaurant for a free dinner with their spouse and a gift certificate worth $100.00.

These ideas won't work in every situation and could backfire if you are not careful. Keep in mind that good employees don't need the carrot and stick approach and might find these ways offensive, unfair or unnecessary. The key is to know the individual needs of your workforce.

Be aware that workers who have child care responsibilities find it difficult, if not impossible, to have a perfect attendance record. One study completed in Canada shows that women with preschoolers took an average of 11 days off in 1998, compared with an average of 6.3 days for men with preschoolers.

Flexibility may be the best strategy. A better attendance strategy may simply include flextime for people who have children or parental responsibilities. Some businesses give their employees 5 personal days in addition to normal vacation times to be used any way the person sees fit.

MBA Hiring Outlook: Sunny Today, But Clouds on the Horizon

The MBA class of 2008 is harvesting a bumper crop of offers, but given the poor quality of today’s economic soil, the class entering this fall may not reap the same rewards.

“The Fortune 500 were very active last fall and most schools saw a 20 percent increase in the number of companies coming to campus,” reports Maury Hanigan, president of Hanigan Consulting Group in New York City, a campus recruiting firm that produces the MBA Scouting Report for corporations. “Student organizations and schools were overwhelmed by employers who wanted to give presentations or set up events last fall.”

However, MBA recruiting always lags the economy by two years, so those entering MBA programs now will graduate in a different market, she warns. “It takes so long for companies to build their presence on campus and put in place an effective MBA program that they’re reluctant to shut them down when the economy slows,” Hanigan says. “It’s a bellwether when you know how to read it.”

Despite the economy, companies are still recruiting MBA students at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, says Pat Perrella, senior associate director of the school’s MBA Career Development office.

“What I think is happening, especially in the financial industry, is that firms are laying off more experienced people with bigger salaries, but they don’t want to turn off the spigot of incoming talent,” he says. “They did that in the tech bust of 2000, and five years down the road, they had a real problem filling vice president spots, because they didn’t have that rising talent coming up through the firm. They’re trying to avoid that.”

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

Demand is particularly strong for MBAs with finance, accounting and information technology experience, says Patricia Di Nunzio, regional managing director for recruitment firm The Mergis Group in Columbus, Ohio. “They’re very placeable,” she says. “Every organization has a need for a good, solid financial analyst with two to three years experience and an MBA.”

Six weeks before graduation, some MBA students at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business were still waiting for job offers, because their first-choice employer was a startup or small business that doesn’t hire nine months before graduation, like large firms do. Stacey Rudnick, director of MBA Career Services, says she has an increasing number of MBA students eschewing traditional investment bank, corporate finance and consulting jobs in favor of niche positions in real estate, entertainment, corporate social responsibility and nonprofits.

At Notre Dame, students who limited their job search to single cities or small lists of acceptable employers were having a harder time finding jobs, Perrella says. “If you are geographically tied down, you’re limiting your pool [of potential employers],” he explains.

The hiring environment has not been as robust for international students, who typically make up about a third of the class at top-tier universities, Rudnick says. “Because of H-1B visa caps, we continue to see that, unless there’s a change in immigration laws, it’s hard for companies to get visa applications through,” she explains.

Proceed with Caution

If the economy continues to weaken, the job market could be especially hard for MBA graduates who went directly into their program from undergraduate school. That’s what happened to new graduates who flocked to MBA programs during the 2001 to 2004 economic downturn, says Phil Gardner, director of research for the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. “Employers were negative about that, because those young people didn’t have a lot of experience before they got those expensive MBAs,” he says. “There was a huge supply of MBAs that came out in a weak economy that was slow to respond. We’re just finally seeing some employers increase MBA hiring. In the last two years, it’s gone up about 11 percent.”

Whether they came from the workforce or undergraduate school is unclear, but more students are headed to MBA programs these days, which will mean more competition for jobs in the next few years.

Nearly two-thirds of full-time business education programs received more applications in 2007 than they did in 2006. Among part-time programs, 69 percent reported increased application levels, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). And 63 percent of executive MBA programs -- typically geared for professionals with eight or more years of experience -- said more applicants came to their doors in 2007 compared with 2006, according to GMAC’s latest data. The most competitive executive MBA programs typically have high placement rates.

Earning an MBA won’t change overall job market conditions or solve your personal job woes if you have little experience and then enroll in a school that is not selective, Gardner says. “You spend a lot of money and there’s no guarantee you’re going to get that money back,” he says. “Go to Wharton, you’ll get your money back. But if you go to a [low-ranked] state university or a for-profit online school, there’s no guarantee.”