Positive Reinforcement Works

We all know that positive reinforcement works. Right?   So, are you using it? For example, do you provide recognition for employees with a perfect attendance & time keeping record? Setting up a monthly draw to recognise staff who have perfect attendance/timekeeping is used to great effect in a small number of organizations.

Perfect Attendance: An employee must be at work before or at the normal, agreed starting time. Anyone coming in after starting time is late. No excuses. The same employee must attend work every scheduled day throughout the month. Non-attendance at work for valid reasons e.g. Annual leave, Public Holidays, business trips, Jury duty and so on is acceptable.

Simple Rules: You need to make the ‘rules’ simple and straightforward to avoid endless debates (it’s an incentive plan, not a pub quiz). Examples of non-attendance that eliminate an employee from the draw might be: Uncertified and Certified illness or unpaid leave of absence. An important point is that although these may be genuine reasons for absence, they mean that an employee is not available for work.

The Prizes: You set up a Monthly Draw for ‘Perfect Attendees’. The monthly draw takes place immediately after the end of the month. A little trick here is to complete this draw in a public place (e.g. the canteen) to add extra fun and razzmatazz! You might have several prizes. 1st €500.00; 2nd €350; 3rd €250; 4th Prize €100 and so on (depending on how many people you employ).

6 Months: You can also have a draw for staff that have 6 or 12 months perfect attendance. That draw takes place in July/December of each year with a similar range of prizes – but only the ‘winners’ from each of the last 6 months are eligible to participate. A twist on this is that all staff with 12 months perfect attendance might receive a cash prize of €250.00 or perhaps become entitled to an extra days leave in the following calendar year on their birthday! There’s no particular magic about the ‘rules’ (as long as they are clear).

Overcoming Pushback: Oh, did I mention that you are likely to get ‘pushback’ from 2 different sources? The first are Dinosaur managers who will say: “We’re already paying people to come to work. Why should we pay them twice?” The Answer: run the numbers over your absenteeism rates and determine what this is costing you (in some organizations, this is a huge hidden cost). Then install a system which incentivises people to come to work and watch those € cost numbers fall. This type of system more than pays for itself and you are rewarding the ‘good guys’ (and girls). You will also get pushback from some people around the ‘rules of eligibility’. This will be along the lines of: “You’re encouraging sick people to come into work and bring their sickness in here.”  The Answer: “No, we’re not encouraging sick people to come into work. But we are recognizing those people who do make it into work every single day and we want to reward them for that effort.”

This works – both in economic and in staff engagement terms. Sometimes, the best ideas are simple. Try it as an experiment for 6 months and watch what happens. Now, that will cost you exactly 1 pint of Heineken the next time we meet!

Paul

PS Lighter Note:

To: All Employees From: Personnel Department

Subject: ABSENTEEISM

It has been brought to the attention of the Board that the attendance record of our company is a disgrace. It has therefore become necessary to revise some of our policies. The following changes take place with immediate effect:

SICKNESS: No excuse. We will no longer accept your doctor’s statement as proof, as we believe that if you are able to get to the doctor you are able to come to work.

DEATH: (Other than your own). This is no excuse. There is nothing you can do for the deceased, and we are sure that someone with a lesser number of obligations can attend to the arrangements. However, if the funeral can be held late in the afternoon we will be glad to let you off one hour early, provided that your work is sufficiently ahead so that you won’t inconvenience other employees by your absence.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE (For an operation).  We are no longer allowing this practice. We wish to discourage any thought that you might need an operation. Since we believe that as long as you are employed here you will need all of whatever you have, and should not consider having anything removed. We hired you as you are, and to have anything removed would certainly make you less than we bargained for.

DEATH (Your own). This will be accepted as an excuse, but we would like two weeks notice, as we feel it is your duty to train someone else to do your job.

TOILET BREAKS: Entirely too much time is being spent in restrooms. In the future we will follow the practice of going in alphabetical order. For instance, those whose name begins with A will go from 8:00 to 8:15, B will go from 8:15 to 8:30 and so on. If you are unable to go at your time it will be necessary to wait until the next day when your time comes up again.

The Management

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