KIPLINGER RECOMMENDS

Home > Human Resources, Growing Your Business

COMMENT

BUZZ UP

DIGG

CHECK OUT:

EXECUTIVE POLL

Bernard Madoff, convicted of running an $65 billion Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 150 years in jail. What’s your take on his punishment?

Compare Price Quotes 100+ Services

OUR PREMIUM CONTENT

The Kiplinger Tax Letter
The Kiplinger Agriculture Letter
The Kiplinger California Letter
Kiplinger's Biofuels Market Alert
Kiplinger's Retirement Report

SUBSCRIBER HELP

CURRENT LETTER

By Knight Kiplinger

The Kiplinger Washington Editors

July 2, 2009

By year-end or so, Congress will give the nod to a major rewriting of the nation's financial regulatory system. This week’s Kiplinger Letter explores whether the package will do more harm than good and what lawmakers are likely to include.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: The Economy, Business Costs, Taxes, Supreme Court, Energy, Workplace Regulations, Climate Change, Health Care Legislation and Foreign Policy

PREVIOUS ISSUES

CORRECTIONS

TRY THE LETTER:
Subscribe | See Sample

YOUR FEEDBACK

SUBSCRIBERLOG: Got a topic you'd like to discuss? Or a problem or question? Please join our exclusive forum for Letter subscribers only.

ASK US: A Kiplinger Letter editor will promptly answer subscriber questions.

OPEN FORUM: Share your insights and analysis with other visitors.

I just attended a franchise seminar. The speaker represents a few hundred franchises that (he says) are hand picked. He has the prospect (aka victim?) answer some questions about themselves then he makes recomendations - based on your personality, capital situation, etc.. If you pick a franchise, then he does some due dilligence for you. If you both decide it's a good idea, he helps you get started. He says he offers this service free of charge, which means he gets a commission if he's able to sell you a franchise. Has anyone done this? Successfully? Unsuccessfully?

-- fender

How to Reduce Absenteeism

Cutting down on sudden unexpected absences is less about workplace discipline than about helping employees cope with off-the-job pressures.

Worth Reading: The Quick Take from Kiplinger

October 2007

CCH

CCH is a leading provider of human resources and employment law information and services and part of Wolters Kluwer Law & Business. Wolters Kluwer is a global information services and publishing company that provides products and services for professionals in the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services and legal and regulatory sectors.

Employees calling in sick when they're not probably dates back to the first time humans exchanged labor for pay. But according to a survey done for CCH, a human resources and employment law information firm, only a third of U.S. workers claiming to be out sick actually are sick. Before grumbling about how modern-day workers are simply self-entitled slackers, think about what might be occupying absent employees' time, says CCH's Pamela Wolf, an employment law attorney.

They may be single parents, in a dual-earner family or caregivers for aging parents. "They are willing to go the 'extra mile' for the company, but they are also taking back the time when they need it to care for themselves and their families," Wolf says. Understanding the various demands of life outside work can help employers devise programs that can both help workers cope with those demands and reduce absenteeism. For example, a firm that offers workers time to go to teacher conferences or school events will probably lose them for just an hour or so, since they don't have to feign illness.

Using results from its 2007 Unscheduled Absence Survey, CCH pinpoints some of the most effective absence-control programs. What was No. 1? Paid leave banks, also known as paid time off. Rather than dividing time off into different categories -- vacation, personal time, sick days and so on -- paid leave banks give employees one chunk of time to use as needed. Other effective plans include buying back unused time and offering bonuses for good attendance.

The most common anti-absenteeism program, however, is disciplinary action. While it is certainly effective, Wolf warns that discipline alone can be counterproductive: "It can also drive the wrong behavior if it encourages employees to call in sick with a made-up excuse or to come to work sick -- a costly problem known as 'presenteeism.'"

READER COMMENTS