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'Well Days' Help Boost Attendance February 2004 By: Lisa Starr, Director of Marketing Communications, Consolidated Mailing Corporation It is no mystery that even the most honest person takes a 'sick day' every now and again for no good reason. A crewmember's absence or tardiness affects productivity and the company's bottom line. So here is a novel idea. Why not get rid of sick days all together? That is exactly what we did. Instead, we have Well Days. This is a program that was developed about 20 years ago, and for us it does the trick for us in ensuring good attendance. The way to accumulate Well Days is simple. Come to work. The Well Days program rewards hourly employees for good attendance with paid time off to supplement vacation time. To earn a day off, an employee must miss no more than four hours of work in a given quarter. When that happens, one 'Well Day' is granted for that employee to use in any way. If an employee earns all four well days in a year, then an additional day is rewarded as well as a $50 savings bond. Well Days never expire and can be used for any reason. Admittedly, the first Well Day is hard to get. Only missing four hours of work in three months takes perseverance. But once an employee receives that first day, it gets easier to accumulate more. That is because Well Days can be taken on an hourly basis. Here is an example. Lets say 'Jane' works hard and gets her first Well Day. Now, she has up to 12 hours in the next quarter she can be off work and still qualify for another Well Day. That's not so hard. In fact, Jane has good attendance all year and receives all of her Well Days. All of a sudden Jane has an extra week of paid time off and a $50 savings bond. To supplement the Well Days program, we have also developed an Attendance Bonus Pay program. This incentive program rewards an employee that misses no more than 25 minutes of work per week with an extra $20 in cash. An employee receiving all the possible $20s in a given quarter will also receive a $50 bonus. A $25 bonus is rewarded for employees missing only one week in a given quarter. The Attendance Bonus Pay program evolved from a production incentive program that gave bonuses based on production quotas. While this system seemed fair on the surface, it actually backfired. "There were very few people trying to make it work," said Buz Prosser, CEO of Consolidated Mailing. "And we were penalizing our very best employees." Prosser said this program did not work because the best employees get harder, more complex jobs to run. These jobs take longer to complete than a more basic job. "Try as we would to set realistic quotas, we just could not hit the tough ones close enough," Prosser said. "It was either a giveaway or it was not attainable." Management knew if everyone were here on time, we would improve production. And so evolved the two present programs. They can be very beneficial if taken seriously. Lets look at our model employee, Jane, again. Her $20 extra every week equals a $.50 per hour raise. With the $50 bonuses tacked on, she earns an extra $1,240 yearly in addition to her regular wage. Jane was also awarded all of her Well Days. In one year, Jane enjoys an extra week of paid time off, $1,240 in bonuses and a $50 savings bond. Wonderful incentive. But does it work? "Most employees get the weekly bonus," said Prosser. "Which tells me it must be working." Prosser said one reason the programs work is because the act of handing someone cash is very graphic. "It would be much easier to add it to their paycheck, but I don't think anyone would notice," Prosser said. "We give it in cash, taxed on the next pay check, and everyone gets together on Friday evening to get it. If you're not one of the people getting cash, you know you blew it this week." These programs, like most incentive programs, are not flawless. They were designed for employees who rely on extra incentive and are more a benefit to them than model employees that would show up to work on time regardless. "If you're 10 minutes late, it works against the company," said an operator for Consolidated Mailing. "If you know you've got 25 minutes, why not use it. You'll still get $20." This type of thinking is out there, but its what drives management crazy. "Why not use it? Because you just lost 25 minutes of pay," Prosser said. Obviously, the work simply will not get done if there is no one here to do it - hence the incentive programs. If a team starts a job 10 minutes late because they were waiting on their machine operator, it costs the company money. Ten minutes is still within the reward threshold, so the employee still benefits at the cost of the company. Prosser said the biggest drawback to the Attendance Bonus Pay and the Well Days programs are employee attitudes. "The frustrating thing is that people don't count it when you ask what they make," Prosser said. "Well, I count it. The bank counts it and the IRS taxes it." Prosser said the people who ask for raises the most are the people who miss the most time. He said just showing up to work on time and receiving their extra $20 gives them a $.50 per hour raise. The key to the Attendance Bonus Pay program is working on Friday. In order to receive your bonus pay, you must be at work Friday to pick it up. Friday also marks the beginning of the pay period. If an employee misses Friday, they do not receive their bonus pay for that week and they have already disqualified themselves for the next bonus. That also disqualifies that employee for the quarterly bonus. Friday attendance is crucial for bonuses. This turned one of the most missed days into one of the highest attendance days. Mondays and Fridays were our two worst attendance days. Now our employees get paid on Monday and receive their bonus cash on Friday, so they are two of our best attendance days. This gives our employees extra cash for the weekend with the knowledge that their paycheck will be coming on Monday. Overall the Well Days program coined with Attendance Bonus Pay does work. These programs have increased employee attendance and productivity and have been an overall asset to the company. The cost it takes to ensure good attendance far outweighs the costs of lost production time and a general HR headache. |
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