Arthur Reed, of the Blue Grocery Stores Inc., is faced with some very frustrating and challenging decisions. Personnel shortages are high in the summer months due to vacations and sick days. Turnover for temporary workers is very high because of low pay, no guaranteed hours, required union dues and the expense of steel toed boots. What is Arthur to do to make this summer less frustrating and more productive? Arthur needs to address attendance policies and incentives, vacation requests and guidelines, and temporary wages and expenses.
What alternatives does Arthur have to avoid past summer frustrations? Arthur has several alternatives. His first alternative is to look at the attendance policies that are in place. Is the policy to flexible? Do they offer any incentives for better attendance? Second he needs to look at the way vacations are scheduled. How much lead-time is needed to schedule a vacation? Are two days required to schedule a vacation or do you need 60 days? Third are the concerns with the temporary employee wages, union dues and protective equipment for their feet. Could he reduce the rate by raising the wage for temporary employees, dropping the union dues, and providing steel toe protection that can be worn on the outside of the shoe? .
The attendance policy is the first place to start for a solution to this problem. In this case, works absentee rate is higher during the summer months. Unscheduled absences are the hardest to compensate for. So I would offer employees an incentive for perfect attendance. Each employee would be offered a specific number of sick days per year. Most organizations offer at least ten sick days a year. Each employee would have the option of an additional days pay or an extra day of vacation for perfect attendance.
Stricter enforcement for violation of attendance policy would be implemented. To combat the issue of employees taking an unscheduled day off, because it is a nice day and they do not feel like going to work, disciplinary measures would be put in place.
