Sunday, May 17, 2009

Attendance Issues

Just when it seemed that things were beginning to get smoother, the phone rang at 7:20 this morning, Sunday. Not usually a big deal on Sunday since I'm up early to get everyone ready for church, but we didn't have church service today because we met last night. So my once in a long while to really sleep in was ruined. Why? Because an employee failed to show up for work. One hourly employee missing is usually not that big of a deal. You deal with it. You make choices and compromises about tasks and customer service and breaks and lunches. But this was different because it was an openning employee. Meaning they were to enter the building with the manager first thing in the morning. For obvious reasons we don't enter a locked building alone. Staying alive is the most obvious and a dead witness can't tell the Police what they saw. So we don't go in alone.

Well, it was my openning manager calling me. Give him credit, it appears that I was the last person he called. He tried every other manager and every person scheduled today, but I was the only one to answer. I wish I could say I had a magic response that fixed everything, but I didn't. He wanted permission to go in alone, but I nixed that. Don't need a fatherless family weighing on my conscience. I recommended he call one of the other managers that lives nearby and ask them to wait in the store with him until the next hourly associate arrives. Inconvenient for all, but I was trying to actually accomplish something by making everyone else uncomfortable. Instead of me being the one to hold someone accountable, I wanted those managers to do it for me. I want them to step-up to the plate and hit the no-show with all their frustrations at having their day interrupted. The no-show stocker provides the fuel and I lit the match. Now I didn't call back and no one called me, so I guess that was the right call. I'll find out in the morning when I talk to the managers involved.

All this is to say that attendance issues are one of the biggest problems retail managers face each day. Tardy, absent, sick, no-call-no-show, leaving early, and late lunches drive me crazy. I think all the time about the unemployment levels and how everyone is always begging for more hours and I am amazed that this goes on. Not only is it a problem for me, it is a problem for other employees and customers. An openning cashier is stuck at the register until the closing cashier gets there. An early morning customer might have to wait in line longer if an openning cashier is late for work. This is a problem that permeates every retail store I've ever worked in.

This attendance issue seems to be tied to a certain age of employee. Better yet, it seems their maturity level is a great indicator of their attendance habits. And it is easily observed that maturity levels are falling in the current crop of young employees (under 25 years of age). I get a few here and there that actually have some vague semblance of work ethic and responsibility, but those have been few and far between over the last year or so. It seems that a sense of entightlement has swept over a generation and getting them to understand the facts of life is a never-ending task of mine. But my personal opinion is that their parents should have taught them how the world works and how to be a responsible adult, not their manager. So maybe the problem is with the parents of this generation. People that believe the lie of "It takes a village." It doesn't take a village. It takes a mom and a dad with the courage and intelligence to say, "NO!". Or to say, "Do it right now, the right way." I see the way my employees behave or fail to act like adults and I see all the things I know I must train my children to be better. I will do my part, because I will not leave raising my children to their boss.

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