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“My employee didn’t show up for the job!”
It’s every manager’s modern-day horror story: “ghosting”. This catchy phrase has been used to describe the abrupt ending of romantic relationships without any explanation, but is more and more recently being used in reference to employees pulling a "no-show."
Businesses managing shift-based employees understand the difficulties in finding and scheduling the right employees to work. After finally creating, re-creating and sharing the perfect schedule, one of the biggest headaches managers deal with is employees who just don't show up.
How can you minimize these staffing snags?
Our HR and staffing experts have compiled a list of useful tips based on their interactions with the shift-based businesses they work with:
Tip #1: Communicate Clearly
It’s important to make sure you clearly describe and publicize the details of the job, the shift hours and any additional requirements.
More often than not, “I didn’t know” is used as an excuse used to blow off a commitment to a job.
You can avoid this by avoiding vague descriptions, lack of flexibility in work schedules and undefined expectations. These have all been cited to be amongst the top reasons for staff ghosting. Be upfront and transparent and let your staff know their schedule as soon as possible.
Tip #2: Stay in Contact
When employees - whether potential or already scheduled - have not been contacted for a while before the upcoming job, Ubeya's experts saw an increase in staff no-shows. Without reminders or a regular flow of communication, this can increase the chance of staff forgetting their shift commitment or blowing off the job.
It's the day before the job? It's time to clock into the shift? Send your employees a reminder, or an automated push notification through an app like Ubeya. Now you know your team is aligned after they've confirmed their arrival.
Our advice — save yourself from a staffing crisis and make sure you keep your employees updated at all times!
Tip #3: Standby Solution
Any good plan has a Plan B in the makings. A surefire way to avoid being short-staffed is to arrange a backup plan and open standby shifts.
For particularly important or “flaky” positions, you can set an employee (or several employees) as standby to cover the shift, if for whatever reason the original staff member is unable to arrive.
This type of pre-planning ensures full coverage of staffing needs and definitely reduces the pressure if there is a no-show.
Tip #4: Follow Your Intuition
It may sound cliche, but it’s true: if something or someone doesn’t feel right, go with your gut instinct.
You have dealt with enough people and enough situations to know the ins and outs of the business — and who knows better than you.
That feeling of doubt or mistrust that you have about someone canceling at the last second? You’re probably right.
Tip #5: 5-Star Staff
Finally (and obviously), make sure you are hiring first-rate and reliable staff!
Where you hire your staff from plays a huge role in their attendance and overall performance.
You’ll want to be sure to hire staff from a trustworthy source or agency. You can use Ubeya to review and rate staff performance before and after the job and stay at the top of your game!
Manage your business by managing your people the right way.
