Employees

[winkiedee]

I am having the worst trouble with my employees requesting alot of time off and calling in. I have 14 employees and most of the time I need every one of them. Sometimes when there isnt alot of kids i can send an employee or two home early by juggling kids around. But man lately its been awful. Anyone else with this sort of problem.

Denise

[Sugar Magnolia]

I don't have that problem with my center, but I only have 2 employees and one is my husband. I belong to our local Early Learning Coalition and they have a substitute program. It is pricey. I was a restaurant manager for years as well and I had a LOT of call offs. Those people got canned. But if someone requests off in advance,y ou really should grant it. What is your request-time-off policy? If they are not following policy, dont grant the request and no-shows get canned immediately.

[My3cents]

time to have a staff meeting-

Summer time is hard- no excuse just fact.

Go over staff policy again. Address all other issues at the same time.

[pootmcgoot]

Can them and hire people who respect your center and value the privilege of having a job. Around here if you call off you get canned. Jobs are so scarce here. It's totally disrespectful to just throw it in the trash.

[cheerfuldom]

I agree with the staff meeting to go over policy. Then recognize those with good attendance. maybe a small gift card or something if you can.

[littlemissmuffet]

I don't really have any advice, but I know that what you are going through right now is quite common in many different fields lately. It's becoming harder and harder to find employees with a good work ethic these days, especially with my generation and younger (I'm 28). It's really tragic, because in this economy where some people would give anything to be bringing in some income and making an honest living others are taking their jobs for granted!

Sending them home early = less pay and they may be losing respect and interest because of it. Be careful you aren't playing favorites with this.

I recently worked in a place where the boss was playing favoring one person. I don't think she even realized it but the rest of the staff sure did. While the employee did have to call out because of her own sick children several times, there were many times that she would call out for herself being sick and then slip up that she went to get her hair done or seemed well enough to go out to an evening that was planned in advance. It ended up being an average of once a week.

Her assistant was always there to pick up the slack and take over the class. Guess which one quit? Yep, the assistant.

Do watch which ones are taking advantage and as suggested before, a staff meeting is in order to address this.

[Abigail]

If you mostly need every single one of them, what happens when someone is approved for time off and two other people have the flu? I think instead of work work work for everyone and raising stress levels you should hire a few part time helpers especially for the summer to reward your current regular employees time off for their summer/family activities.

[sfp]

Do you have a lot of applicants?

Maybe it's cruel, but your current employees need to be reminded that they are completely replaceable and you have a stack of applicants ready and willing to take their jobs.

Also, I think reward programs are great (when you are able to afford them)....quarterly bonuses that are conditional on attendance.

Good luck. Summer is rough.

[Blackcat31]

My DD just got hired by a center and her employee contract specifically says she gets X amount of personal days off per year with NO EXCEPTIONS and ALL sick days require a doctor's note stating she was actually sick (with something requiring her to be excluded such as strep) but if she has a common cold or head ache, her contract actually says to basically suck it up and be an adult and work.

Her contract is just like a daycare sick exclusion policy where NO absences or time off is approved unless the illness is serious and any time off MUST be requested 2 weeks in advance.

It also says if she violates this rule 3 times in a 12 month period, she is immediately terminated.

I thought is was harsh at first, but the owner said she really feels it is vital that her staff be "in it for the long haul" so the kids and families in care didnt suffer from the usual high turn over centers have with their staff. The owner says she has a very rigorous interviewing procedure that helps her weed out the ones who aren't really wanting to work. kwim?

She wants employees who intend to stay and take their job seriously and in turn treats them very well. She pays well, does bonuses at the end of the year for staff who used the least amount of sick time or had the most comment cards with positive feedback from parents and she pays for them to go to trainings and courses that improve their ECE knowledge.

I don't know if that helps or not but thought I would throw it out there.

[Snapdragon]

Originally Posted by Center Employee

Sending them home early = less pay and they may be losing respect and interest because of it. Be careful you aren't playing favorites with this.

That was my thought too. From a business perspective, it doesn't make sense to keep people if the ratios are down, but it can also affect staff morale if you send them home early and they are not able to get enough hours. It's a hard balancing act.

A staff meeting seems like a good idea. Do you have regular meetings where information is shared? Do staff feel appreciated? On the other hand, could it be that the people you are hiring are not of the right calibre?

[dave4him]

I tried calling in sick too once, but they i realized im the only employee....

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by dave4him

I tried calling in sick too once, but they i realized im the only employee....

good one!!

[winkiedee]

wow you all this is great advice. i did have a meeting and told them the way i feel and i do have extras to help fill the void when calls happen. but i too think the kids need to have their same teacher as much as possible. its very confusing to the child to get different ones in there. i do appreciate my ladies and they know it. i do give out a bit of cash every now and then. i thank them. i give parties at my house and so they are included in a lot and i do know who is faithful to my business. jobs are hard to come by here also but the applications i have been getting lately is scraping the bottom of the barrell....bad. again thank you all

[Nickel]

At the center I worked out we had one girl in the infant room that called out constantly. We had six girls between the infant one and infant two room. and we all rotated shifts. So the first person would open at 7am and leave at 3 if we were in ratio. the second person worked 730-330 and the last person worked 10-6. and we all couldn't leave until we were in ratio. so if someone called off the early person would have to work longer, etc... but everyday we would switch who was early and who was late. if we were within ratio earlier than three the early person could choose to leave early. if she didn't want to she didn't have to.

there was also a floater at the center who covered things like lunches and absences. She was contracted to work so many hours a week over lunch and more if needed and it worked out well. Having the same person call off over and over again will cause other employees to call off just to get a break. kwim and so starts a vicious cycle.

I would put a policy in place that they have x amount of absenses free and the rest require doctors notes. depending on your state, you can't fire someone for medical problems if they have required documentation. I think firing someone for calling off once due to illness is a bit extreme. I mean there are days that I've had a migraine and could barely open my eyes. I wasn't going to the doctor when I knew it would end the next day and i honestly had no desire to even leave my bed none the less go to the doctor...

i hope that you find some responsible employees soon. working at a child care center is hard. I know I was working at least 50 hours a week more if someone called off. its always a gamble when you hire new employees. They put their best face fwd during an interview and then it all goes downhill after that

[jojosmommy]

I guess if I was sent home a lot on an irregular basis I wouldn't feel bad about calling out. I count on my income so if I am sent home because of low numbers etc I would get irritated- and then feel less likely to stick it out- for the sake of everyone else. Guess you can't have it both ways.

[DaisyMamma]

Originally Posted by Snapdragon

That was my thought too. From a business perspective, it doesn't make sense to keep people if the ratios are down, but it can also affect staff morale if you send them home early and they are not able to get enough hours. It's a hard balancing act.

A staff meeting seems like a good idea. Do you have regular meetings where information is shared? Do staff feel appreciated? On the other hand, could it be that the people you are hiring are not of the right calibre?

Most centers do send employees home when they are not needed. The other side of the coin is that most centers still get paid when kids are out. It is an extreme thought, but what if you let employees who are respectful of you, your center and your sick policies not only go home early, but still get paid for their full shift? And rotate the people who get to leave in a fair way. Even if you do this once per month your employees will love it. Or, let them stay but give them some chores to do. Toys always need cleaning, organizing, etc. They can clean cubbies, dust, do paperwork, whatever.

Staff meetings are a great way to review policies and let them know you will be cracking down on the calling in, but also will be offering XX as a reward for those who are not doing it. You might need to make an example out of your worst offender and your best employee.