What’s your plan to track attendance during sports season?
It’s football season. We are in the throes of MLB post season. NHL and NBA begin their 2019-2020 seasons in October. We know at times the Big Game puts a spell on your workforce.
Borrow a page from the architect of InfiniTime, Fred Schmitthammer, and his ‘employee engagement playbook’ on how to engage your staff when their team is playing in the Big Game.
- Create and communicate an attendance policy. For those of you that don’t already have an attendance policy, create one. This allows your workforce to see, in writing, employer expectations. Let them know the specifics of requesting time off. When you don’t communicate and highlight the rules of the policy, it’s like it does not exist. Be proactive and review the policy with them.
- Allow for flexibility. Think about offering a late start/finish time to your employees. Some people want to sleep in after a long night of tailgating. If you select the flexibility page from Fred’s playbook, make sure that you have a plan in place to track flexible hours.
- Offer unpaid leave. Managing scheduled absences is less difficult than dealing with no shows. You know that some members of your team will watch the game, no matter how late it goes. Research shows spikes in employee no shows after a Big Game or other important happenings. Offer your workforce the option to schedule an unpaid leave day. Make sure that you determine the number of days you are willing to offer so this approach isn’t abused by staff.
- Become a fan too. Instead of curbing your workforce’s enthusiasm about the Big Game, encourage it. You will likely see an increase in morale weeks after the game has ended.
- Managing attendance should be part of your business plan. The Big Game isn’t the only event that will affect your company’s time and attendance. Your company will benefit from a formal, well thought out attendance policy that is tracked and enforced year-round.