What to do when your reporters always take leave?

Employees these days are less motivated at work, mainly because their survival and basic needs are already met by their parents and grandparents. They mainly see job as a means to improve their standards further, and hence, are not entirely dependent on their work. Also, with increasing trends in remote work and high flexibility in the work places, we see an increasing trend of taking leaves.

However, as a manager, we must learn to handle these situations more carefully so that the trend isn't picked-up quickly by other co-workers affecting the entire productivity. Let's first try to dive deep into the issue before we look into the solutions. Questions given below can help you root-cause the situation and understand the current impact, with which, you can select the right solution from the list given below.

Organization and Role

1. What is the company leave policy? How much does the employee defer from the same?

2. Is it a general issue in the organisation or is it a new issue that is caused by my reporter?

3. How does his/her absence affect the productivity of the team or project they are working on?

4. What opinion does your other reporters have about such behavior? Do they despise it or are motivated by it?

5. What is the lose to the organization if I had to let them go, in the worst case scenario?

Employee

1. How long have they been doing so? It is their common work ethic or something they are developing now?

2. Do they have any emergency or personal problem? Have they shared it with you already?

3. Is the reporter looking for a company change? Is there anything that I can do to change their opinion?

4. Do they manage to complete the work assigned to them on time? Are they balancing their work equally?

5. Is the employee expecting a salary hire or promotion?

6. Is it a extension of their maternity / paternity leave? Is someone entirely dependent on their presence?

Self-Assessment

1. Am I being too liberal? Or am I micro-managing them too much?

2. Am I rewarding them properly for their contribution?

3. Are they facing any problem in the team / current project that I am not aware of?

4. Am I regular at work? If not, am I indirectly provoking my employees to take advantage of the leave policy?

5. Am I updating their calendar with their leaves, or is it going unnoticed?

Solutions

Update leave on the calendar so you don't lose track of the exact number and days

Many organizations these days with more flexible options do not expect their employees to update their casual leaves. But, if you observe the flexibility is being violated, make sure you ask your employees to update the portal every time they take leave. Additionally, keep track of each employee's leave report.

Keep HR informed of the unconditional leave patterns

Though you may think you can handle it, HR would be the right person to be kept in the loop. The employee may not be comfortable talking to you but may open up with an HR. Also, they would have seen many such incidences and may suggest a better idea too!

Create a visible leave calendar for team

Apart from blocking everyone's calendar for planned leave, also have a document (perhaps in quip) with whole team access. Make sure people update their planned leaves and vacations for the next three months. This will help you foresee the resource crunch or delay of projects. Also, others in the team can plan their vacation accordingly.

Keep everyone else in the team informed

In order to let everyone in the team know that you are monitoring people taking leave often, just as people showing up at the office every day, you need to inform everyone the reason why they have availed leave and how long will it take them to return. You can do this in the daily meetings or scrum so that dependencies can prioritize their works accordingly.

Offer a long paid / unpaid break if a deserving employee

Some situations in life demand our presence and would be meaningless to have a great job that steals all their precious moments. They may need to spend time with their critically ill parents / during the first few months of their children. If you think they add a lot of value to your business, they do deserve a break! They would only be more loyal when they come back. Even if it is an unpaid break, they will at least be confident that they can join back and need not worry about finding a job. Sometimes, they may even choose to quit the job permanently if you don't help them in their time of need. Beware making any decision!

Conduct Regular 1-on-1s

Your employees may have concerns regarding the workplace and may be hesitant to open up to you. Give them the trust that you will keep it private (and keep it private), and help them share the problems.

1. If it is regarding their salary or promotion, as in most of the cases, be transparent and tell them where they stand, and what they need to do to get their desired hike and promotion, or a role change. Dive deeper with them about the projects they are working on, the targets they have achieved and how their work actually impacts the business, than just instructing them to get a document ready. Only if they knew what mattered, it wouldn't have been a problem to them in the first place. By doing this, you can show that you are really observing their work and care for them. Also, let them know this cannot continue if their current behavior persists.

2. If it is a family problem, ask them how long will their family need full support. If the reason is genuine, see how their current responsibilities, the effort required, the dependencies, and the timelines go together. If you can foresee problems, delegate their responsibilities to others, de-prioritize unnecessary works from the team and give them the time they ask for (provided they are a valuable resource). Keep others in the team informed of the emergency and request them to balance the priorities. This will help you earn trust with your full team, and of course, this will increase the loyalty of the employee once they are back to work. If you think they don't deserve a long paid leave and they are not required immediately, see if you can help them with unpaid leave, and can be back when they're ready.

3. If the employee finds their work repetitive or boring, talk to the employee what ongoing projects they would like to work on and see if you can fit them in without other priorities and employees getting affected. Or tell them of the upcoming projects and assure that you would loop them in in a few weeks or the following quarter. They will find the necessary confidence to put up with their regular routine alone until then. If their routine is a priority, see if a replacement for the task would be feasible, or if automation can be done. But convincing the employee every time to adjust with the routine is always a red flag in the long run.

4. If the employee feels they are overloaded at the workplace and see leave as the guardian angel, work with them to understand why they feel they are overloaded and try to understand the situation. Get all the necessary information, let them know you will see what can be done, and immediately schedule a follow-up meeting within 2 days. See if they are really overloaded, and see the productivity of the rest of the team members. Ensure you neither let the bar down to earn trust, nor you analyze the situation with a bias for your favorite employees. On the follow up meeting, explain the priorities everyone else is working on and let them know your views and solutions for the same.

5. If they are looking for a job change and are trying to get more time for the same, let them know they cannot compromise their current priorities in order to work on job change and upskilling. If this has been going for very long, see if you can help them with an internal job change (if they only have a problem with the organization, and not with the whole company). Else, tell them they should probably consider quitting a job if they are really passionate about new opportunities. If they are in financial need, they need to be regular at delivering priorities even if they choose to work from home.

Escalate if necessary

You are not expected to solve all problems yourself. That's exactly why you have a detailed reporting structure. There is nothing wrong with escalating the issue before it spreads or becomes uncontrollable. Ask help from your manager or senior manager and see what can be done. Try to get a 1-on-1 meeting between the reporter and your manager.

Loop into different engaging projects

Sometimes the employees may not know why they are disinterested in the first place, try to allocate them to different projects and see how they react, especially if they have very little work experience. They may find new people or new projects more interesting than their current priorities. Some may find higher responsibilities more fascinating and may show an increased passion for work.

Conduct Team Building Activities once every week

If the workplace is cold, or if people in the team are not getting along too well, it will increase the ego in the team which will cause less interaction and help within the team. In order to avoid the same, block an hour every week for team building activities and make your reporters responsible to conduct activities in turns. Hand over responsibility to the most younger ones in the team until it becomes a practice. It is the "feeling of importance" that keeps every employee happier at workplace. Make sure to offer the same from time to time. Appreciate and recognize everyone's efforts without any bias.