46 Tips for Managing Absence

Effectively managing employee absence is crucial for maintaining operational efficiency and fostering a positive work culture.

Managing employee absence can be difficult if you have not established a clear absence management strategy in your workplace.

High absenteeism can lead to increased costs, reduced productivity, and lowered morale. So, how do you go about reducing absenteeism?

We asked for your advice on this question, and it seems to have hit a bit of a raw nerve!

Tips for Employee Absence Management

We have compiled 46 essential strategies and best practices for effective absence management, all suggested by our audience, and grouped them into key sections to provide a more focused approach to managing employee absenteeism.

Attendance Policy and Documentation

You should review your attendance policy and documentation to make sure you have clear guidelines and accurate tracking of absences. This sets expectations and gives you a solid foundation for managing attendance issues consistently.

1. Establish a Clear Call Centre Attendance Policy

Having a clear attendance policy that is communicated to all staff is key; employees need to understand what is expected of them and what is considered to be acceptable.

Having absence procedures in place should ensure that all employees know exactly when they should call in to report their absence and who to.

There should be a high level of consistency in the way that the business deals with unacceptable absences.

Contributed by: Phil Anderson at The Forum

2. Assess if Your Attendance Policy is Too Strict

You need some flexibility to accommodate unforeseen absences, like snowstorms, major traffic accidents, or delayed commuter trains.

Balancing strictness with reasonable exceptions demonstrates fairness and understanding

Verifying these events and ensuring they impact a broad group of agents is crucial to avoid exploitation of the policy.

Balancing strictness with reasonable exceptions demonstrates fairness and understanding, which can lead to increased employee loyalty, improved morale, and greater overall engagement, reducing the risk of absenteeism in the long term.

Contributed by: Chris McCallister

3. Implement No Show and Call-In Policies

A No Show, Call In policy outlines the procedures and consequences for employees who fail to report to work without notifying their employer in advance, and

I have implemented No Show, Call In policies in call centres I have worked in. The process is a little dragged out, but the decrease in turnover, increased retention and morale helps out the centre overall.

The key is consistency. If the process is not fair across the board and there is no real follow-up auditing the process it won’t work.

Having a good working environment, allowing call centre employees to take ownership within their roles and using metrics that include attendance to review individual performance is, of course, key. Employees who understand their incentives, bonus, raises and promotions will be tied to these metrics as well.

Contributed by: Carlos Lopez

For advice on how to measure and calculate absenteeism, read our article: How to Calculate Absenteeism – with Formula

4. Maintain Good Documentation of Absences

For employees with chronic or habitual late arrivals or absenteeism, implementing a comprehensive occurrence program is essential to address and manage attendance issues effectively.

Proper documentation is crucial, ensuring a clear record of attendance patterns. Additionally, the rules and consequences should be consistently applied across the entire population of contact centre agents, fostering fairness and accountability.

Regular communication about the attendance policy, along with transparency in its enforcement, can also help create a sense of trust and mutual understanding.

Contributed by: Chris McCallister

5. Implement a Seven-Point System for Absence Tracking

To effectively manage attendance and absenteeism in the workplace, it’s important to follow these structured steps that ensure clarity, consistency, and support for both managers and employees.

i. Review your existing policies, check they are up to date and most importantly check everyone has the same understanding.

ii. Hold calibration sessions with different people managers, to understand how the policy is being applied and learn about difficult and different situations that have needed to be managed.

iii. Provide a clear support structure for your people managers, so they know who to turn to if they are unsure of a situation.

iv. Introduce clear reporting so the business understands absence levels, along with the different types of absence, e.g. short-term and long-term sick, emergency leave, maternity, paternity, unpaid leave, etc…

v. Report the numbers as a count of people, a FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) and a percentage.

vi. Review your back-to-work interviews, and again support those who are delivering these meetings.

vii. Finally, ensure there is accountability and responsibility at all levels.

Contributed by: Phil Anderson at The Forum

6. Include Attendance as Part of the Agent’s KPIs

We’ve included attendance as part of the representatives KPIs. We use the monthly KPIs and the scores earned to determine everyone’s ranking for shift bids.

Each of the KPIs has different weighting and attendance has one of the highest (40%) because it’s one over which the employee has a great amount of control.

Contributed by: Sheron D. Copeland

Not sure what KPIs you should also be tracking? Read this article: 32 Call Centre KPIs That You Need to Track (And Why!)

Shift Management and Flexibility

Think about offering more flexibility in your shift management to accommodate employees’ personal needs. Flexible options can improve attendance and reduce unexpected absences.

7. Manage Annual Leave in Hours, Not Days

Managing absence in time is a great way to better control employees’ annual leave entitlements and make sure that they are aligned with business needs.

An example would be if an agent needed to go home early to see their child’s play, or someone who needs an hour for a medical appointment.

Requests for full days, which would normally be denied, could then be part-approved. Also, on the quiet days you can look to flex down by approaching agents and offer them the opportunity to use up an hour or two of annual leave.

By doing so, the agent goes home early, the service level does not suffer and you now have less annual leave to manage later down the line (when it could be damaging to the service level). Everyone’s a winner!

Contributed by: Scott Budding

For advice on managing annual leave in the contact centre, read our article: How to Manage Holiday and Vacation in the Contact Centre

8. Provide Flexible Scheduling Options

Flexible scheduling can reduce absenteeism if handled correctly. Some employees are forced into absenteeism situations for reasons that are beyond their control.

Allow employees the opportunity to choose custom-designed schedules that better match their personal needs and help them to maintain predictable work patterns.

Contributed by: Chris McCallister

Watch this video where Vosy Gordon explains creating flexibility in schedules and how to avoid the flexibility trap:

9. Let Agents Design Their Own Schedules

Let agents come up with their own schedules that fit into the needs of the centre. If it works, what does it matter if it adds complexity to the resource team or to their supervisor, aren’t they there to support the agent, not the other way around?

Lets face it, it’s a tough job that most of us wouldn’t do again, even at our management salaries. So put yourself in their shoes, what would it take for you to do that job again?

Contributed by: Michael Lloyd

10. Introduce Shift Bidding to Provide More Flexibility

We shift bid every quarter so our reps know that they have the opportunity to move into a more desirable shift simply by performing well.

This has worked tremendously well for us.

When I took over the contact centre three years ago we were struggling with churn of close to 200% and chronic absenteeism.

One year, we reduced our churn to a miraculous 2% and had no churn the next year. We have also reduced our attendance occurrences to a very negligible amount. There were no unplanned absences for the entirety of the next year and only 15 tardies for the entire year.

Contributed by: Sheron D. Copeland

11. Allow Shift Swaps for Greater Flexibility

Allowing for shift swaps (i.e. trading shifts) can also significantly reduce absenteeism by offering flexibility to employees.

Allowing for shift swaps can also significantly reduce absenteeism by offering flexibility to employees.

Some contact centres maintain a shift-swap board where agents can post the days they need off along with their schedule, and other agents may volunteer to trade days off or shift start times, creating a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Larger contact centres may even automate this process using their scheduling software, making it easier for employees to manage their schedules and reducing the administrative burden on managers.

Contributed by: Chris McCallister

12. Build Flexibility Into the Workforce Management System

I do agree, however, that some schedule flexibility is warranted in a call centre.

In the centres where I was the WFM (Workforce Management), agents were required to be available to work during a minimum 10-hour time frame daily, 6 days per week in a 24/7 centre, or 5 days a week in a regular Mon-Fri centre.

Within the limits of business need, agents could choose the 10-hour time frame during which they were available, and they could request a change to that time frame no more often than every six months.

We re-scheduled every two weeks, and agents had approximately ten days’ warning of their upcoming schedule.

Shift swaps or ‘giveaways’ were allowed between any two team members with like skills, so long as no overtime was incurred by the agent taking on the shift. Swaps could be executed with a minimum of two business days’ notice. In an emergency, one business day was allowed. That helps a lot!

Contributed by: Marla Goldman

If you want information on the basics of contact centre workforce management (WFM) software, read our article: Beginner’s Guide to Workforce Management Software

Leadership and Accountability

Strong leadership and a culture of accountability are crucial for promoting consistent attendance. When leaders are engaged, it sets the tone for reliability and commitment across the team.

13. Segment the Contact Centre into Small Teams for Accountability

Dividing the contact centre into groups can provide a sense of team spirit, which can reduce absenteeism, as each agent is more likely to feel a sense of duty to their fellow colleagues and “teammates”.

To spread this feeling further, add team incentives to individual awards, so you boost that community atmosphere and togetherness of each group, whilst sparking friendly competition that can only benefit the contact centre.

Contributed by: Charlie Mitchell 

AO’s contact centre in Bolton is split into different sections, all of which are given a certain theme. Find out how they do so by reading: 17 Things You Can Learn from the AO Contact Centre

14. Train Line Managers in Absence Management

If a line manager takes the time to understand more about the reasons behind an employee’s absence and their individual needs, they can play a crucial role in facilitating a quicker and smoother return to work.

This understanding allows the manager to offer tailored support, such as adjusting workloads, providing necessary accommodations, or offering additional resources that may be required.

Open communication between the manager and employee also builds trust and helps in identifying any underlying issues, whether personal or work-related, that could be contributing to the absence.

Contributed by: Jonty

15. Increase Leadership Presence on the Contact Centre Floor

According to a study by Gallup, “More than 80% of British workers lack any real commitment to their jobs, and a quarter of those are ‘actively disengaged’.”

This “disengagement” is no doubt a contributing factor to absenteeism. So, to greater engage your workforce, it may be time to start leading from the front..

One way of doing so is to place a coach to work alongside the team leader. This can be particularly effective if you promote a highly skilled agent, who you are afraid you may lose, to take on the role of a coach.

Whilst this would not be a promotion of much greater pay, it would provide that agent with a clearer route of profession and give extra support to agents.

Furthermore, this takes some of the responsibility away from the team leader, who can instead focus on engaging agents, improving company communication and monitoring absenteeism.

Contributed by: Charlie Mitchell 

Take a read of this article on the importance of a call centre culture and how to improve it, for information on how to get your leadership close to the front line staff.

16. Employ a Dedicated Absence Manager

A growing trend in many companies is to employ an Absence Manager, whose role is dedicated to monitoring and managing employee attendance.

This person can track absences by team or department to identify any recurring problems, patterns, or areas of concern that may require attention.

Additionally, the Absence Manager can proactively contact employees who have not reported to work to check in on their well-being, determine the reasons for their absence, and explore if there are any accommodations or support the company can provide to facilitate their return.

Contributed by: Jonty

17. Foster a Sense of Accountability Among Employees

When I took over my last position I requested the files of the team only to find out that the company had team members with over 40 attendance events and no action. The team was basically a good team but had no sense of accountability.

A simple weekly team performance email summarises the totals call, abandon rate and service level of the week including the attendance events.

To address the issue I started re-writing job descriptions and adding working with the team to build up responsibilities and accountability.

In the process we added attendance to KPIs and included a weekly team performance communication. A simple email with the totals call, abandon rate and service level of the week including the attendance events.

So the team had first-hand knowledge that when the attendance was down, the service level was lower and so on. In addition we included progress reports and, yes, we placed some agents on probation and some as a result of not following up with their commitment upon the individual progress cards.

Contributed by: Gustavo Arias

18. Leverage Peer Pressure to Drive Accountability

I found an interesting principle that has really turned things around, I raised the bar.

Working small teams, driving individual accountability, and insisting that agents meet a higher standard in personal appearance, personal integrity, personal actions, with the group deciding adherence has made all the difference.

This uses peer pressure positively, drives individual accountability, and hones the team atmosphere that is so crucial in call centre work.

Proper incentives like pizza parties, ice cream sundaes, team dress-down days, etc… all provide the impetus for striving a little more.

Stretched over six months or so, the improvements are barely noticeable on the individual level and many don’t even realise they are changing until the changes have already been accomplished.

Contributed by: Dave Salisbury

For more information on how to create accountability in the contact centre, read our article: The Power of One.

19. Suspend Employees Without Pay Before Termination

Once an employee is late a specified number of times, and has gone through the step-by-step write-up process to the brink of self destruction, suspend the employee without pay before you terminate.

If you want to get their attention quickly if discussions do not work, then take their pay away for a few days as an alternative to termination. If that doesn’t do it, then you’re dealing with someone who just doesn’t care.

This will send a strong message that manipulation will not be tolerated. And, let’s face it, not many problem employees are going to last through 90 to 120 days of “No Tolerance”.

If they do, then coach to that if you see them getting a little loose later on and discuss that you both know they can do this.

Contributed by: Larry Cook

Employee Engagement and Motivation

Focus on creating a positive work environment that motivates employees to stay engaged. Higher morale often leads to better attendance and overall productivity.

20. Show Agents the Impact of Their Absence on the Business

I am a great believer in visibility. Giving the agents visibility of how many instances of absence/sickness they have had, in a given period of time, is a great way to remind them that they need to be mindful of the number of occasions they are absent.

If agents can actually see the days lost to the business as a result, not to mention the fact that another instance could trigger a disciplinary of some type, the agent is less likely to be sick on a further occasion.

This can be done manually or through permissions to reports, within certain Workforce Management solutions.

Contributed by: Scott Budding

21. Connect Absenteeism with Agent Engagement Survey Results

There are agents that are habitual offenders, and agents who will show up every day without fail. But, there is a larger population of your employees that fall somewhere between these two groups, and for them their working environment can be a tipping point in your battle to improve attendance.

Survey your agents, and ask them what would contribute to a happier workplace and encourage attendance. You may see responses that indicate you need to make their break areas more attractive, or they may want to personalise their cubicles.

In extreme cases, you may see agents that want new parking arrangements, or perhaps you can arrange local daycare discounts for working parents.

Contributed by: Chris McCallister

For more advice on measuring employee engagement, read our article: How to Measure Employee Engagement

22. Encourage Employees to Take Charge of Their Own Attendance

I would suggest reading the book, Discipline Without Punishment. This features partners in accountability. Basically, the employee is in charge of their destiny.

At first, Employee A has an undocumented discussion with their manager just stating the facts and letting it be known that if they call out again, then there will be an “action plan” discussion.

If the same employee calls out for the 8th time, then upon their return, the manager has a discussion that is documented where the employee must create an action plan to take care of their problem of calling off from work.

Responsibility is thrown back on the employee. Together, the employee and the manager craft a plan to get the employee back on track.

The employee signs the document and it is placed in their file. If the employee violates the action plan, then they have another documented discussion and are given an ultimatum of whether or not they should be employed with the company.

The employee is given a 24-hour period to decide. If the employee decides to remain with the company, then they must recommit to the action plan. The manager then explains that any more infractions will result in termination. While this is a lengthy process, it results in far less employee turnover.

Contributed by: Susan Leighton

23. Make Employee Engagement the Number One Priority

We built and communicated a vision for our organisation and our No. 1 priority is engagement. We clearly communicated that absenteeism was a sign of poor engagement or we had very sick people (both a problem).

I also let them know that I look at our absenteeism every day to ensure we do not have the above problems.

I also task the leaders with managing this metric and it is part of their variable compensation. What we have seen are employee engagement scores in the +80% for the last four quarters and a reduction in absenteeism of 30% Year On Year.

Contributed by: David Bradshaw

If you’re looking for ideas on how to engage your call centre employees, read our article: 50 Staff Engagement Ideas to Motivate Your Team

24. Incorporate Team Games to Improve Attendance

We included team games where KPIs were the guide to a Home Run or a bingo game in which anyone with less than perfect attendance was out of the contest for the payroll period.

After a few months and two separations the behaviour started to change up to the point that at the time of the yearly evaluations 85% of the team showed absence below the maximum allowed by the employee handbook.

Contributed by: Gustavo Arias

25. Display Major Sporting Events in the Contact Centre

Absenteeism often peaks during, and in the aftermath of, significant sporting events, such as the Olympics, World Cup and the Superbowl.

So, it may be a good idea to stream a live broadcast of the event into the contact centre, displaying the live action on wallboards or agent desktops, to reduce the impact of staff shortages.

This can be taken even further by embracing such occasions and playing contact centre games that revolve around the World Cup and Olympic Games, to bring that celebration into the working environment.

Contributed by: Charlie Mitchell 

Incentives and Rewards

Link attendance to tangible rewards, like bonuses or extra time off. Offering incentives for good attendance can motivate employees to make it a priority.

26. Reward Perfect Attendance with a Free Day Off

I supervised a dysfunctional team which enjoyed burning up their sick leave. I created an incentive programme giving them one free vacation day every six months if they did not call in sick. Of course visits to the doctor would not count against them.

It worked! I gave out more vacation days for perfect attendance than any other manager. I even allowed for planned vacation without affecting their score if they really needed a break.

Contributed by: Arnold Talbott

For more information on giving staff a free day off, read this article on How Duvet Days can Reduce Staff Absence, which discusses how call centres have used this scheme in in practice.

27. Use Tokens to Reward “Five Days in a Row” Attendance

The bottom line that we have found to improve attendance immediately at our clients is to give tokens for daily attendance and extra tokens for “five days in a row” attendance.

The tokens are used to play brief games that generate a random (but controlled) number of points. The points are then used to “buy” prizes such as time off, money onto a debit card or anything (tangible or intangible) that the client wishes.

There are a few key factors involved here. The first is “continuous positive reinforcement” and is a great way to change behaviours in conjunction with receiving the tokens and the ability to redeem points for prizes immediately.

As a rule of thumb, spending about two hours worth of labour per month on incentives and programme management will improve KPIs by at least 20% almost immediately.

Another factor is “random intermittent reinforcement” and is an equally powerful motivator. Finally “choice of reward” is key because an undesired prize has no value.

As a rule of thumb, spending about two hours worth of labour per month on incentives and programme management will improve KPIs by at least 20% almost immediately.

“Continuous positive reinforcement” is a great way to change behaviours with the ability to redeem points for prizes immediately. “Random intermittent reinforcement” is an equally powerful motivator. “Choice of reward” is also key because an undesired prize has no value.

These methods are nothing more than what we’ve all observed at contact centres that run reward contests with tickets put into a bowl and draw for prizes. The problem is that many companies look at incentive/reward programmes as short-term fixes rather than on-going and don’t regularly monitor the ROI. The result is that KPIs revert to prior levels once the programme concludes.

Contributed by: Robert Cowen

Rewards don’t have to e complex or costly, as Paul Weald explains a simple way to motivate call centre agents with cheap, personalised rewards, in this video:

28. Value and Reward Long-Time Service

We highly value long-term service and celebrate employee loyalty with special awards ceremonies. When an employee reaches 10 years with the company, we honor their dedication with a ceremony and a significant gift, such as diamond earrings or a fine watch.

To further recognize outstanding commitment, we hold a second awards ceremony at the 20-year milestone, where the employee is rewarded with an all-expenses-paid trip for two.

These events not only show our appreciation for their continued service but also foster a strong sense of belonging, motivation, and pride within the organization.

Contributed by: Stephen Shooster

29. Weight Attendance on the Employee Scorecard

In one of my previous centres, we not only linked absence to performance and made it a key performance indicator, we weighted it appropriately to indicate how important good attendance was to us.

We had a complete balanced scorecard that included productivity, quality/accuracy and professionalism metrics, and the chief metric for professionalism was attendance. This included on-time log-in/log-out for shift, timely return from break and lunch, and full absences.

Everything was included on a per-instance basis, and each instance was awarded a point value, with an 8-hour or longer absence in a day having the highest number of points (2.0), and a small point value assigned to a tardy instance of 10 minutes or less (.25 pts).

Agents were allowed a rolling 90-day “balance” of three points total. Any greater than that was a call to action for their supervisor, starting with a documented discussion during their monthly scorecard.

Both monetary and non-monetary rewards were paired with attendance. For perfect attendance, attendance that “met” the target, and “most improved” attendance on each supervisor team.

If the balance continued to rise or did not decrease over the next 30 days, a performance improvement plan (PIP) was developed. If, during the PIP term of 90 days, an agent was absent or tardy for anything other than a legitimate FMLA instance, the agent could be terminated.

Supervisors were also made accountable for delivering these discussions and PIPs in a timely manner by means of a measurement (% complete) on their monthly scorecard. I developed the reporting for this, and tracked it from implementation to finish.

We sustained a 20 per cent decrease in overall absenteeism in a six-month time frame without increasing our attrition.

This plan was paired with both monetary and non-monetary rewards for perfect attendance, attendance that “met” the target, and “most improved” attendance on each supervisor team.

Contributed by: Marla Goldman

If you want advice on how to create a contact centre scorecard, read our article: How to Create a Contact Centre Quality Scorecard – With a Template Example

30. Tie Promotions to Attendance Records

It’s important to tie promotions to attendance as well. Few things demoralize a team more than seeing a co-worker promoted to a leadership position, only to be tasked with enforcing attendance policies that they themselves failed to follow before their promotion.

Ensuring that candidates for promotion have a strong attendance record not only promotes fairness but also reinforces the importance of leading by example.

This approach helps build credibility and respect within the team, while also ensuring that those in leadership roles are fully aligned with the company’s values and expectations regarding attendance.

31. Link Incentive Programmes to Attendance

Let’s say you have two employees with nearly identical sales achievements for the month. Both are in line to receive cash bonuses.

Is it appropriate for one employee with an abysmal attendance record to receive the same bonus as the employee that has a stellar attendance record?

No. Both employees were present during core selling hours, but only one employee was conscientious enough to arrive at work on time and help their team.

Contributed by: Chris McCallister

For advice on incorporating creative and motivational incentives, read our article: 100 Great Staff Incentives to Motivate Your Team

32. Link Absenteeism to a Lack of Promotions

Anyone who exceeds the agreed number of tardies or absences will not be eligible for career growth within the company. This policy emphasizes the importance of punctuality and attendance as key factors in advancement.

Additionally, link missed punches to the accumulation of occurrences (for example, one missed punch could equal 1/3 of an occurrence, or whatever guidelines you set) to prevent employees from manipulating the system by avoiding clocking in to hide late arrivals.

Contributed by: Larry Cook

33. Tie Attendance to Pay Through Performance-Based Rewards

I’ve seen this method work effectively in five different countries. By establishing the expectation that attendance is linked to performance-based rewards, you not only filter out individuals who prioritize hourly pay over commitment but also significantly reduce the number of typical Monday, Friday, weekend, and holiday call-outs.

Setting this clear standard from the outset ensures that employees recognize the importance of attendance and their overall commitment to the organization.

This leads to a more dedicated and reliable workforce, ultimately fostering a more consistent and productive work environment for everyone involved.

Contributed by: Dana Masel

34. Link Salary to Attendance

Reward good attendance, motivate employees so they want to come to work and, as a last resort, fire those who don’t fix their issues is the key.

Hiring the right people from the start, effectively motivating and leading them, and providing appropriate support is crucial.

Tying salaries to attendance, creating a flexible work schedule, and managing out employees when all other attempts, such as action plans, have failed will help establish an environment conducive to improved employee attendance.

Reward good attendance, motivate employees so they want to come to work and, as a last resort, fire those who don’t fix their issues is the key.

Contributed by: Shobhit Bhutani

Absenteeism Causes and Management

Take time to understand why employees are absent by addressing the root causes. This lets you implement targeted solutions and offer better support.

35. Monitor Events That May Cause a Spike in Absenteeism

Ensure that the contact centre team knows that you are aware of what is going on outside of work, including sports events, festivals and other special occasions of this nature.

In a previous role, I had the HR Director sent out an email on the Friday before a big music festival.

Contributed by: Alison Conaghan

36. Analyze Increased Absenteeism on Mondays, Fridays, and Weekends

Most contact centres that track attendance data notice increased absenteeism on Mondays, Fridays and weekends. If attendance is tied to your centre’s financial results, think about offering an incentive plan that includes perfect attendance as one of the key targets.

You may also want to look at an annual recognition bonus for those who have perfect attendance over all four quarters.

Contributed by: Chris McCallister

37. Investigate and Address the Root Causes of Absenteeism

Are the calls they are taking “fair”? Sometimes agents are placed into a toxic environment. This can be caused by poor management and not pushing back on the team that is asking for the impossible.

This is delicate, but upper management respond quickly to cost of training and quality issues, so focus on these instead of individuals.

Then there is the troublesome employee who pushes back, and the only way to deal with this is to be firm with the dress code, to train against harassment of all types, and put back positive rewards.

I know these are polar opposites and there is a wide mix in between. You could also try outsourcing a portion of the work and comparing the stats in a board for all to see.

Outsourcing will help you see lots of aspects of your team that you might not see because you’re too close to them.

Contributed by: Stephen Shooster

To understand the different types of toxicity and get some actionable steps and guidance on what to do long term to heal a toxic environment, read our article: How to Identify and Manage Toxic Employees

38. Focus on Staff Well-Being After Identifying Absence Causes

UK employers spend around £750m a year on conventional wellbeing interventions to try and help tackle absence.

This is before you include any costs of training, job design or operational re-structure. The business case behind much of this expenditure and the return on investment is highly debatable.

Don’t waste time and money on absence initiatives until you have assessed and measured employee wellbeing properly. Only then will you be able to manage absence within your control successfully.

Contributed by: John Picken

For steps on improving the wellbeing in the contact centre, read our article: A Guide to Improving Mental Health In the Contact Centre

39. Address and Combat Sources of Office Stress

Stress is often a strong source of absenteeism in any workplace, so finding out what parts of the job put most strain upon agents is important and will help you find out what you can target to improve attendance.

The best way to do this is by asking agents in your weekly/monthly/annual survey: “What do you find to be the greatest source of stress in your current role?”

Often, in contact centres, stress will emerge from unchallenging and repetitive work, not having control over job related decision-making and the lack of opportunities for job progression.

To reduce the effect of these sources of stress you could implement motivational games, run a “you said, we did” styled programme and notify agents via email of job opportunities within the company, for which they may be suitable.

Contributed by: Charlie Mitchell 

Sometimes simple things can have a huge impact on your employees, in this video, Dr. Phoebe Asquith at Sabio explains how to spring clean your wellbeing and why getting outside is so beneficial:

40. Avoid Hiring the Wrong Agents

Hiring the wrong call centre agent is the root cause of many call centre performance issues – including absenteeism. It’s a significant drain on your budget and bottom line, on customer satisfaction ratings and sales results.

Call centre agent pre-employment screening software can screen out job candidates who will burn out fast because they aren’t suited for the work – and identifies the people with the personality/job-fit, soft skills, motivation, and work ethic to be top call centre agents.

Contributed by: David Filwood

For more on this topic, read our article: How to Write a Successful Recruitment Strategy and How to Recruit the Right Call Centre Agent.

Special Leave and Work-Life Balance

Consider offering options like childcare support or duvet days to improve work-life balance. These benefits help employees feel valued and reduce the chance of unexpected absences.

41. Offer Childcare Vouchers for Working Parents

As the average age of contact centre employees remains quite young, childcare is likely to be a major cause of absenteeism.

This is because, if an agent’s child falls ill, or their usual childcare arrangements fall through, parents may have to take a sick day to care for them.

So, to reduce this issue, contact centres can offer childcare vouchers, perhaps as part of an incentive, or include child support in their Employee Assistance Programmes.

Contributed by: Charlie Mitchell 

42. Offer Duvet Days for Occasional Rest

The so-called duvet day is an innovative way to reduce sickness absence. Duvet Days are defined as a day’s leave from work which can be taken at short notice without explanation.

They are a great perk of any job – especially for a younger workforce who may be prone to a mid-week drink! They can also help offset an oncoming cough or cold with a day’s rest.

These days aren’t taken in addition to contractual holiday, but instead are deducted from the annual quota. The only difference is the amount of notice the employee has to give.

Contact centres that employ high numbers of young people or parents may find that duvet days improve morale, as staff no longer have to worry about dishonestly phoning in sick to deal with a childcare crisis or a hangover. Duvet days also benefit employees with specific healthcare needs.

A Department of Work and Pensions study published in 2008 recommended that duvet days could help people with mental health issues to stay in employment.

Other employers have adapted the best parts of the idea into flexible working or attendance-incentive schemes.

In doing that, contact centres achieve a balance between resource planning and staff satisfaction. Staff can also achieve that all important work-life balance – and choose exactly when they want to stay under the duvet all day.

Contributed by: Megan Jones

If you want to know more about the impact of duvet days, read our article: How Duvet Days can Reduce Staff Absence

Communication and Employee Development

Encourage open communication and provide opportunities for skill development. Clear communication and growth opportunities can boost engagement and improve attendance.

43. Conduct Return to Work Interviews

Conducting return-to-work interviews can be particularly helpful in ascertaining the reasons behind an absence and assessing whether they are genuine.

It is also important for the company to continually look for ways to keep staff engaged. Overall if strong procedures are in place and are adhered to, they can help reduce absence across the business.

Contributed by: Geoff Sims

44. Share Absenteeism Statistics with Employees

To help reduce many problems in one particular call centre we posted all agent stats that had exceeded threshold levels next to the exit door of the call centre and in any break room areas.

This way, the agents can review each others’ stats and see where they rank. Be careful as to which stats you use, pick solid indicators – Hold times, Talk time, Days off, Days missed due to illness, etc. as the agents will start judging themselves and start some improvement. As for all adherence problems, the management team must stand together.

Contributed by: James Hall

45. Rethink and Update Old Absence Management Ideas

As leaders we need to get rid of our old ideas of what worked for us and look at what will drive or motivate the current generation of agents to come to work

Absenteeism, along with agent churn, is an ongoing theme in every call centre. I think that as leaders we need to get rid of our old ideas of what worked for us and look at what will drive or motivate the current generation of agents to come to work.

Today’s generation of agents are fiercely loyal so leverage that. Get that personal commitment to you as an individual, not their manager.

When you’re 24 and living at home money isn’t always a big incentive, but time off is. Social relationships are very important to this generation, so lack of flexibility in schedules will often causes absence; so add some flexibility.

Contributed by: Michael Lloyd 

46. Help Agents Develop Transferable Skills

Due to the high rates of attrition in many contact centres, an agents can be in the job for only one or two years and soon realise that the group of people he/she trained with have all moved on.

This can be a troubling feeling for an agent, especially if they feel that they have not made any progression in their role.

Helping agents to see how their role can relate to their future aspirations, and providing them with opportunities to widen their skillset, can motivate agents further and also reduce attrition.

Doing so becomes even more important when the young age of those in the profession is considered. This is because if the contact centre team feel as though you have equipped them to succeed, you will boost morale as opposed to resentment, which will likely lead to absence.

Contributed by: Charlie Mitchell 

PhotoBox’s contact centre in London offers BTECH courses in certain fields to agents, to help build their skillset. Find out the benefits of doing so by reading our article: 18 Things You Can Learn from the PhotoBox Contact Centre

If you want to read more about absence management in contact centres, read these articles next:

• Get Sickness Under Control – 21 Management Tips
• Need to Reduce Absence in Your Contact Centre? Here’s How!
• Tackle the 3 A’s – Absence, Agent Burnout, and Attrition

Author: Charlie Mitchell
Reviewed by: Megan Jones