ATTENDANCE IN THE MANUFACTURING WORK PLACE

August 10, 2011 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Carrier’s absenteeism rate has grown tremendously in the last three years; this report show’s changes in the attendance policy could elevate problems that could affect the bottom line profits. Over the last year September 2009-September 2010, the trend of absenteeism has risen to 11.2 percent with a standard deviation of 2.8 percent, this would increase amount of employees needed in the plant that is required for production by at least sixty five, from June 2010 –August 2010 average absenteeism rat jump from 11.2 percent to 13.2 percent with a standard deviation of 3.04 that would increase our head count to seventy extra people to ensure that for at least sixty eight percent of the time we have enough employees to run our product..
Absenteeism generate manufacturing problems such as throughput and missed opportunities. Absenteeism causes throuput to be interupted because of less talented employees having to step up. Quality suffers, createing unsatisfied customers. Also, Overtime is generated due to rework or additional production, this is a financial hit on the bottom line, and the extra manpower generate additional cost of salary and benefits
Attendance policies vary from one manufacturing facility to another. The effects are over whelming to each group for a variety of reasons. Whether union or non-union, these policies allow companies to curtail an attendance problem, which allows for a minimum back lash from shareholders, due to declining profits resulting from poor attendance.
Our recommendation to tighten the attendance policy and FMLA policy will enhance attendance, adding a raise in bonus for end of year perfect attendance will give incentive to employees to come to work

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY …………………………………………………………………I
INTRODUCTION: CAUSES FOR EXCESSIVE ABSENTEEISM ………….……..….II
BACKGROUND: EXCEESIVE ABSENTEEISM CREATES MANAGEMEENT
PROBLEMS …………………………………………………………………….………….III
DISCUSSION: ATTENDANCE POLICIES TO MINIMIZE CHRONIC
ABSENTEEISM AT WORK……………….………………….…………….……………..IV
MAJOR CAUSES OF POOR ATTENDANCE ………………………………….…........IV
CURRENT IMPACT ON WORKPLACE MORALE, PRODUCTIVITY………………...V
CONCEPT/THEORY CORRELATION………………………………….……………….VI
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS…………………………………………XI

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………… XVII

INTRODUCTION: CAUSES FOR EXCESSIVE ABSENTEEISM
This paper is written to evaluate the many causes of absenteeism at Carrier Corporation and the direct causes of failures that Carrier have in retaining employees. Specifically the study seeks to answers to these questions:
• What are the Major causes of poor attendance?
• What is the Current impact on workplace morale, productivity, and economic value?
• What impact does poor attendance have on a company’s bottom line profits for share holders?
• Is poor attendance attributed to the abuse of FMLA
• Attendance policy, can it really work?

BACKGROUND: EXCEESIVE ABSENTEEISM CREATES MANAGEMEENT PROBLEMS
Carrier’s biggest challenge in today’s workplace is dealing with employee absenteeism; this is a common workplace problem. Legitimate illness still accounts for the majority of absences, although they are many instances where employees simply do not report for work, without a viable excuse, although employers offer vacation, sick leave, paid time off, and other forms of time of whether paid or unpaid.
Common issues that arise with human resource departments are how to deal with absenteeism by both exempt and non-exempt employees. Federal and state employment laws give employers guidelines on four critical absenteeism issues, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (USERRA), and Title VII of the civil Rights Act of 1964 (VII) (HRHero.com, 2011).
In addition to the four issues above, the law protects employees in two other instances, jury duty and religious practices of beliefs (HRHero.com, 2011). Disciplining workers for absenteeism problems can lead to employee lawsuits if the there is no policy in place or when they are not followed consistently.
Absenteeism generate manufacturing problems such as throughput and missed opportunities. Absenteeism causes productivity to be interupted because of less talented employees having to step up. Quality suffers, createing unsatisfied customers. Also, Overtime is generated due to rework or additional production, this is a financial hit on the bottom line, and the extra manpower generate additional cost of salary and benefits. In the last year absenteiism has atributed to hiring excess operators to fill in for excessive absenteeism, In one year period average absenteeism per day was eleven percent with a deviation of two percent Figure one also shows during the summer months the number jump to over thirteen percent.
Figure 1 Note: Data compiled shows from September 2009 through September 2010 average absenteeism at 11.2 percent with an standard deviation (STD) of 2.8 percent. To ensure 68 percent of the time we have enough employees to achieve schedule attianment we would have to employee 65 more people. To ensure we achieve goal 95 more people would be hired.
DISCUSSION: ATTENDANCE POLICIES TO MINIMIZE CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM AT WORK
Attendance policies vary from one manufacturing facility to another. The effects are over whelming to each group for a variety of reasons. Whether union or non-union, these policies allow companies to curtail an attendance problem, which allows for a minimum back lash from shareholders, due to declining profits resulting from poor attendance. Lost wages, lost bonuses, lost wages and lost incentives are a night mare for companies. Report losses to share holders, can be a nightmare, as with the threat of losing your position in the company. Share holders responsibility is to support, and line their pockets with profits.
MAJOR CAUSES OF POOR ATTENDANCE
All employers recognize that there are times when employees have legitimate reasons to miss work, be tardy, or leave early. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to suspect an employee’s stated reason for an absence is a lie, especially when it is reoccurring. Take, for instance, a worker who is repeatedly “sick” the Monday after payday. With the emergence of direct deposit, those employees who are constantly late or absent on Monday after pay day, those who are chronically late, and those who feel they can come to work when they feel good and ready. Most employers think laws govern people with poor attendance, so they do not question employees as to their whereabouts.
While there are laws, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that impose limits on employers’ management practices. However, there are several “structural” considerations you can implement to help minimize employee abuse of your attendance policies and gain greater flexibility in combating chronic violations of those policies.
CURRENT IMPACT ON WORKPLACE MORALE, PRODUCTIVITY
Low workplace morale leads to low attendance, high employee turnover, lack of motivation and an issue of respect between employees and management. A total impact on employee’s morale is inevitable when there is no respect in the workplace. When decisions are made without input or even taking their needs into account, morale can be affected. Scheduling weekend work or overtime throughout the week without choice, for some it is welcomed for others it is truly a hardship. Whereas management on a time crunch to get on time delivery or make a customer happy, your workforce should be considered with extreme caution (fink, 2011).
Poor Leadership A lack of morale in the workplace means a leader or manager has not addressed the issue that caused it. It might be their management style or they just don’t get it. Leadership is imperative in manufacturing, each person comes to work with daily problems, each person is an individual, and has to be addressed as such.
No Clarity in Expectations Employees want to know what is expected of them. Although in manufacturing must supervisors indicate their main expectation is to never stop the line except in safety, and emergencies. Communicating expectations should be first priority; managers sometimes do not clarify what they want from employees. They may become distressed that they are not meeting expectations which they know will hurt them on their performance review. This problem is caused by managers who have not taken the time to give clear expectations of the position.
Other Employees This is where the saying “one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch” applies. When management fails to deal with an underperforming employee it can quickly spread negativity. In addition to underperforming employees, manufacturing seem to take the undertone of high school childish behavior. Rumors started general dislike because of looks, not being in the right click or group, even racial issue still exist. This can be a particularly bad problem with teams who are dependent on each other. Employees who feel they are not “fitting” in can miss work.
CONCEPT/THEORY CORRELATION
Carriers attendance policy is vague at best, the policy needs to be clear, consistent, documented and progressive discipline needs to be enforced (Stephen Dellinger ESQ., 2010), its concept is to have a no fault attendance policy, based on sixteen points, no matter the issue if an employee miss one day your absence will earn points access in the following order, three points for Monday, two points Tuesday thru Sunday. Once points are accumulated, points obtained to ten pints will be recouped at 30 days unless an infraction occurs within the thirty days, then your recoup time starts from the latest infraction. After ten points your recoup moves from 30 days to yearly from last infraction. FMLA, ADA, medical leave, and APS (approved physicians statement) can be taken without points added, as summarized in Figure 2.
FIGURE 2
Carrier’s attendance policy is written as:
1 point late arrival- Arrive late within the first 2 hours of the start of shift
1 point long lunch - Leave anytime outside lunch hour, or take more than 30 minutes for lunch during the normal lunch hour.
1 point leave early- * Supervisory approval required
0 point leave early - *Supervisory approval required, for employees with six (6) points or fewer on their attendance record
2 points one shift absence – Arrive at work more than 2 hours later than the start of the shift or miss entire shift.
3 points one shift Absence on Monday – Arrive at work more than 2 hours later than the start of a Monday shift or miss entire Monday shift.
• A leave early is defined as leaving after half of the scheduled shift has been completed (i.e. 5 hours of a 10 hour shift or 4 hours of an 8 hour shift). All supervisory decisions on leave early request are considered final.
• Vacation days will not be approved to excuse any absences as defined in this policy.
DISCIPLINE WILL BE ISSUED IN THE FOLLOWING PROGRESSION.
• Points will accumulate on a rolling calendar year basis. Contractual absence are excluded from the attendance policy (including jury duty, bereavement, FMLA, and approved leave of absence)
• Employees with less than 1 year of seniority will have a total of 10 points available to them until reaching one (1) year of seniority.
• All other employees will have a total of 16 points available.
Three day suspension on paper-
• Employees with less than one year seniority – 6 points
Termination
• Employees with less than 1 year Seniority
• Receive a third attendance suspension within a rolling calendar year (regardless of points)
• 10 points
• All other employees
• 16 points
• In addition, any employee who fails to report an absence every three (3) days will also be subject to termination.
Recoup
• An employee’s oldest absence on record will recoup on a rolling 30-day period of perfect attendance for employees with (10) or fewer points
• For all other employees, points are removed from an employee’s record on the one-year anniversary date of receiving point(s).
• (Note, if the first recorded occurrence is recouped when the calendar date rolls around the total points will not be affected but the record will be deleted from the employee point information)
APS
On a rolling calendar year basis, the company will accept an APS from a medical or dental physician; in the following manner an hourly associate and no attendance points will be assessed. (Only for non-FMLA qualified events) (Carrier, 2005)
• Employees with less than 1 year seniority – 1 APS
• All other employees – 2 APS
As shown in figure 1. Carrier’s policy is ambiguous at best, an associate can miss one day a month and still maintain a zero balance all year. With carriers current attendance policy associates tend to play the “system” and keep their points below six points, this will ensure them the chance to take two –three days extra every six months in a year and still able to recoup by December 1st to receive attendance bonus. Attendance bonus is given by the company if an employee’s point is at zero, this is considered perfect attendance.
In addition to abusing the attendance policy, there is speculation that many employees abuse the FMLA policy. FMLA is an employee entitlement, and sometimes employees believe that it entitles them to take off from work for almost any reason at almost any time. Some even might see it as a safety net in case their vacation request is denied. Employers and supervisors have long complained abuse of the FMLA, however because of the status of FMLA and it serious implications of lawsuit and wrongful allegations of harassment of employees who use FMLA.
The consequences of abuse go beyond the loss of productivity associated with a single absent worker. When one worker abuses the system it has trickledown effect on the rest of the work force, this also brings down morale as their peers wonder “why am I doing the right thing and he/she is getting away with murder”.
Writing an attendance policy in a union environment will create headaches for management and union official alike; commonality will need to be a factor if both sides are going to agree. Of course issue will arise, arguments and tempers will flare, the main thing is to get the union to agree that each employees need to be present daily.
Carrier 400 FMLA employees represent twenty six percent of the 1500 employees that is employed.
Conclusion and Recommendation
It may sound simple, but many employers, particularly those with smaller operations, don’t have written attendance standards. Often it’s because the company either has never had to address a suspected abuser or wants to be perceived as a supportive employer that offers employees flexibility (under the unspoken assumption that employees will use that flexibility responsibly). While that approach can foster positive employee relations, it is also ripe for abuse.
While written attendance standards aren’t legally required, they are useful in setting and reinforcing your expectations when addressing individual employees who have fallen short. The more objective and universal your standards are, the better. Some employers adopt point systems with varying tiers of discipline based on how many times the infraction occurs. Others establish one or more general principles ― e.g., “five or more occurrences in a six-month period will generally be considered excessive absenteeism and result in discipline.”
Some organizations opt to maintain flexibility at the expense of some clarity by simply prohibiting “excessive” absences. Whatever standard you choose, it should fit the needs of your organization (or a specific department) and be clearly disseminated to all affected employees. Your written attendance standards ― along with a demonstrable and consistent history of enforcement ― are the foundation for managing individual attendance issues.
A radical change is recommended in the point system and the way we handle FMLA, staying within the guidelines but yet make it difficult for those who abuse the system. Point system will be revised and sent to union, and management for approval as summarized in figure 3.
Figure 3
Carrier’s new attendance policy is written as:
2 point late arrival- Arrive late within the first 2 hours of the start of shift
2 point long lunch - Leave anytime outside lunch hour, or take more than 30 minutes for lunch during the normal lunch hour.
1 point leave early- * Supervisory approval required
0 point leave early - *Supervisory approval required, for employees with six (6) points or fewer on their attendance record
3 points one shift absence – Arrive at work more than 2 hours later than the start of the shift or miss entire shift.
4 points one shift Absence on Monday – Arrive at work more than 2 hours later than the start of a Monday shift or miss entire Monday shift.
• A leave early is defined as leaving after half of the scheduled shift has been completed (i.e. 5 hours of a 10 hour shift or 4 hours of an 8 hour shift). All supervisory decisions on leave early request are considered final.
• Vacation days will not be approved to excuse any absences as defined in this policy.
DISCIPLINE WILL BE ISSUED IN THE FOLLOWING PROGRESSION.
• Points will accumulate on a standard calendar year basis. Contractual absence are excluded from the attendance policy (including jury duty, bereavement, FMLA, and approved leave of absence)
• Employees with less than 1 year of seniority will have a total of 8 points available to them until reaching one (1) year of seniority.
• All other employees will have a total of 10 points available.
WRITTEN VERBAL WARNING
• All Employees with less than one year seniority – 4 points
• All other Employees-6 points
THREE DAY SUSPENSION ON PAPER-
• All Employees with less than one year seniority – 6 points
• All other Employees-10 points
Termination
• Employees with less than 1 year Seniority
• Receive a second attendance suspension within a rolling calendar year (regardless of points)
• 10 points
• All other employees
• 12 points
• In addition, any employee who fails to report an absence every three (3) days will also be subject to termination.
RECOUP
• An employee’s oldest absence on record will recoup on a rolling 180 day period of perfect attendance for employees with (10) or fewer points
• For all other employees, above 10 points, their points are removed from an employee’s record on the one-year anniversary date of receiving point(s).
• (Note, if the first recorded occurrence is recouped when the calendar date rolls around the total points will not be affected but the record will be deleted from the employee point information)

APS
On a rolling calendar year basis, the company will accept an APS from a medical or dental physician; in the following manner an hourly associate and no attendance points will be assessed. (Only for non-FMLA qualified events)
• Employees with less than 1 year seniority – 1 APS
• All other employees – 2 APS
VACATIONS
Vacation will only be rewarded to those employees who request within 24 hours of dates requested, and by seniority of classification that an employee is in.
PERFECT ATTENDANCE PROGRAM
This program will be exactly what it is called “Perfect” attendance employees that maintain a perfect record of attendance throughout the calendar year will be given a bonus of 500 dollars for having not recorded any absences. This is to include late, unexcused absences, unexcused early outs.
Minimizing FMLA Abuse Recommendations
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is an employee entitlement, and sometimes employees believe that it entitles them to take off from work for almost any reason at almost any time. Some even might see it as a safety net in case their vacation request is denied. There ways to minimize such abuse (Dolly Clabault, 2011).
Double check eligibility, when employees request FMLA leave make sure they are eligible, enforce regulations to provide at least 30 days in advance notice if practical. When employees fail to provide timely notice FMLA coverage may be delayed upon verification. Of course Carrier will act depending on facts and circumstances involved in the situation. If an employee cannot provide notice, that would be taken in to consideration on a case by case basis.
Call in procedures when an employee takes FMLA leave needs to be enforced, usual customary practice is to be used unless there are extenuating circumstances. If employees do not follow the company policies/procedures, FMLA coverage for the absence may be delayed or denied. Again, any unusual circumstances would need to be considered.
Eligible employees may take FMLA-protected leave only for qualifying reasons—including for a birth, an adoption or foster care; for an employee’s serious health condition; for the serious health condition of an employee’s family member (including serious injury/illness because of military duty); and for a qualifying exigency (specific non-medical-related military duty).
In addition, it helps to ensure that when employees are taking time off because of a serious health condition (theirs or that of a family member), the condition meets the regulatory definition. This can be a challenge, but a certification supporting the need for leave can help.
Employers are not required to request a certification but are allowed to do so, and doing so can put some of the FMLA burden on employees. It might help to highlight the area of a medical certification where it indicates that “terms such as ‘lifetime,’ ‘unknown,’ or ‘indeterminate’ may not be sufficient to determine FMLA coverage,” to help ensure that the health care provider sees it (Dolly Clabault, 2011).
Review certifications, when and for how long, and the employee can be held for the information, if an certification states two days per month, and the employee wants to take more time off than that, this may be reason enough to take action. Certification should include a minimum duration of the condition (Title-29 labor, 2008). If these conditions are not met then that individual will need to recertify. Request second opinion if a certification’s validity is doubtful.
If an employee is absent beyond what is indicated, it can be argued that the circumstances have changed significantly. Arguably this s helpful in showing an abuse pattern, such as being absent on Monday and Thursdays, in those situations a recertification request may include a rundown of the absence pattern and may ask the health care provider to indicate whether or not the pattern is consistent with the condition.
Finally train managers and supervisors their eyes and ears will help identify suspected abuse, managers and supervisors should know the law basics. Employees will use FMLA to get out of work, they trade of an employee not wanting to do a job and request to visit medical, and return with a FMLA slip needs to be investigated, surveillance can be used to suspect fraud. Although the FMLA is an employee entitlement, there are some tools employers can arm themselves with to help minimize abuse of the entitlements. Most of these tools require little effort but can pay off in the long run. Using any of them can send a message to employees that the FMLA isn’t there to be abused but is there for employees who really need to take time off (Dolly Clabault, 2011).
The reasons for employee absences are as numerous as the stars, and your response needs to be customized appropriately to each case. However, when you suspect an employee is abusing your attendance policy, having the above processes built into your policies and procedures will almost always provide you with greater ― and better ― response options

REFERENCES
HRHero.com. (2011). Employee absenteeism and attendance. Retrieved 2011, from HRHero.com: http://www.hrhero.com/topics/absenteeism.html
Fink, N. (2011). The high cost of low morale: How to address low morale in the workplace through servant leadership. The Leading edge , 1-8.
Stephen Dellinger ESQ., B. c. (2010). Follow four keys to legally manage employee absenteeism. The HRSpecialist.com , 1.
Dolly Clabault, J. K. (2011, February 14). Society for Human Resource Management. Retrieved August 25, 2011, from SHRM Leading people Leading organizations: http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/benefits/Articles/Pages/FMLA_Abuse.aspx
Carrier. (2005). UTC Indianapolis facility Associate hand book. In H. COOK, Associate Handbook (pp. 4-5). Indianapolis: Carrier.
Title-29 labor. (2008, November 17). Electronic Code of Federation 73 FR 68073. Retrieved August 31, 2011, from E-CFR 49: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=48d6ee3b99d3b3a97b1bf189e1757786&rgn=div5&view=text&node=29:3.1.1.3.53&idno=29