Employee attendance problems can wreck your small business dreams. Whatever your goals, they begin with getting and keeping happy customers. When employees routinely call out or are no-shows, your dreams quickly become nightmares. This risk makes it essential to have a strategy to improve attendance-related issues.
As a bonus, don't miss this interview with Chronotek owner Brandon Fox, who shares 40 years of insights to help small business owners thrive in the service industry.
How You Can Improve Employee Attendance Problems
Consider these five field-tested approaches to solving employee attendance problems, drawn from what actually works for service businesses:
- Praise good work and build a culture employees don't want to leave.
- Hire strategically so you bring on people who are already motivated to show up.
- Track and reward good attendance instead of only punishing the bad.
- Start an employee referral program to attract more reliable workers.
- Trust, but verify, with GPS time tracking and no-show alerts.
#1: Try carrots instead of sticks
It's about company culture. Help your employees want to come to work. Create an environment in which your employees feel valued. Words of praise are critical in workplace environments and in solving employee attendance problems. According to a Harvard Business Review study, the best-performing teams received almost six positive comments for every one negative.
In service-based businesses, inspections routinely highlight things employees could've done better. With this in mind, make it a priority to tell your employees the good things, too. Our remote employee time and attendance tracking system has great messaging tools for easy delivery of words of praise.
#2: Hire strategically
One of our customers owns a cleaning business and only needs part-time cleaners for the night and early morning work. For this reason, he only hires workers who already have full-time jobs and need to pick up side work. These employees are trying to catch up on bills, pay for college tuition, save for a house, etc. - they are motivated to show up and are rarely attendance problems. He conducts thorough interviews to discover these motivations. His workers are more mature, stable, and reliable. As a result, in an industry with 200-400% turnover, this wise old sage doesn't have employee attendance and time theft problems.
#3: Track and Reward good behavior
We've mentioned praising your employees, but let's put more meat on the bone. Do you have employees who are always on time, never call out, do high-quality work, and never complain? Even better, are they always at the job site when clocking in?
And do you want to keep these employees?
By all means, find real ways to show your appreciation. Pay them as much as you can, and then some - spread out over time. For instance, a $100 Outback gift card is tax-deductible for you (and you often get a bonus for buying them).
This occasional treat is cheaper than a raise that you pay weekly. Tangible rewards are also less expensive than the costs of replacing hourly workers. Finally, design ways that encourage employees to hold each other accountable. For example, the whole team receives a benefit each month without a customer complaint. Of course, you'll need a way to track employee attendance and absences.
Handwritten time cards don't give you this insight.
#4: Start a referral program
If you hire wisely, you have a crew of good employees. As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together." Reward your flock through an employee referral program for bringing you good candidates. Your good employees should have plenty of friends who want to work for a great company with a positive work environment. A referral program also gives your employees a sense of ownership in the company. Your team won't suggest folks who will add to your attendance problems.
#5: Trust, but verify Employee Attendance
You can do everything right and still have employees who don't show up. Your dreams can't be left to chance. We are your safety net. With our automated time clock and scheduling system, we'll send you no-show alerts in time to get your jobs covered. Our no-show report also helps you track who receives the carrots and who gets the sticks.
Do you want to ensure that your employees are always at the job site when clocking in?
How Much Do Employee Attendance Problems Actually Cost You?
It's easy to underestimate the price of a no-show until you add up the numbers. As Chronotek's research on employee attendance lays out, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national absentee rate at 3.1%, and a CDC-backed report estimates absenteeism costs U.S. employers roughly $225 billion a year - about $1,685 per employee in lost productivity. That figure applies to every name on your payroll, not just your habitual no-shows, so a crew of twenty can represent tens of thousands of dollars in hidden losses every year. Multiply your own headcount by that number, and the case for a real attendance strategy, not just good intentions, becomes obvious.
How Can GPS Time Tracking Help Solve Attendance Problems?
Once you know attendance is a problem, the fastest fix is visibility. GPS time tracking confirms employees are actually on the job site when they clock in, and if someone leaves while still on the clock, it automatically notifies their supervisor. Paired with scheduling, you'll get a no-show alert while there's still time to call a backup employee and cover the job, instead of finding out from an angry customer. Combine that with easy team messaging, and you have a system built to catch attendance problems before they cost you a contract.
Be The Best Option For Workers
Employee attendance problems will never go away 100%. It's a fact of life. But you can create a culture where people want to work - above all their other options. You can design a workplace focused on making your employees feel like VIPs through words and rewards - one in which employee attendance problems are the exception, not the rule. It's the best plan to keep your dreams of world domination alive.
Let us help you build an extraordinary workplace with our GPS time and attendance tracking software. We'll give you a 30-day free trial to get started.
About Chronotek
The most dependable employee timesheet and scheduling software available. For over 20 years, Chronotek has set the standard in time tracking by providing businesses with every tool needed to manage a remote workforce, reduce time card waste, and simplify the payroll process. No matter if employees are working from the field, at the office or from home… Chronotek has the solution!
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the most effective way to solve employee attendance problems?
There's no single fix. The most effective approach combines a few tactics at once: build a culture where employees want to show up, hire people who are already motivated to be reliable, and reward the crew members who never miss a shift. Praise and small rewards address the root causes of most attendance problems, while GPS verification and no-show alerts act as your safety net for the days prevention isn't enough.
How much does employee absenteeism cost a service business?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national absentee rate runs about 3.1%, and CDC-backed research estimates absenteeism costs U.S. employers roughly $225 billion a year - about $1,685 per employee in lost productivity. That figure applies to everyone on your payroll, not just chronic no-shows, so even a small crew represents real money at stake every year.
Can GPS time tracking really reduce no-shows?
Yes. A GPS time clock confirms employees are actually at the job site when they clock in, and it automatically notifies a supervisor if someone leaves while still on the clock. Paired with scheduling, it flags a no-show right away instead of after a customer complains, giving you time to send a replacement worker before the job goes uncovered.
What's a good way to reward employees for consistent attendance?
Tangible, occasional rewards tend to work better than a permanent raise. A $100 gift card, for example, is tax-deductible and cheaper over time than a weekly pay bump, while still telling employees you notice their reliability. Team-wide rewards, like a bonus everyone earns after a month with no customer complaints, also encourage employees to hold each other accountable for showing up.
Does an employee referral program help with attendance problems?
It can. Reliable employees tend to know other reliable people, so rewarding your team for referring good candidates helps you hire workers who are less likely to become attendance problems in the first place. A referral program also gives employees a sense of ownership in the company, reinforcing the culture that makes people want to show up.
How do I get started with an attendance tracking system?
Sign up for a Chronotek Pro trial and you'll have 30 free days to test GPS clock-ins, scheduling, and no-show alerts before committing to a plan. See pricing to find the right fit for your crew size.