-50%
Solution
Absenteeism
One people practice issue a company may face is high rates of absenteeism. Employees calling in sick when they are not actually ill can negatively impact productivity and costs.
New sick leave policy
To address absenteeism, the company introduced a new sick leave policy. The policy changed from unlimited paid sick days to 10 allocated paid sick days per year. Any additional sick leave required would be unpaid. The goal of this policy was to discourage abuse of sick leave while still providing support for employees who are genuinely ill.
Inclusive design process
The policy was designed to be inclusive in two ways. First, an employee task force with representatives from different departments and levels was formed to provide input into the policy design. This ensured diverse perspectives were considered. Second, an online survey was distributed company-wide to gather anonymous feedback on the initial policy draft. This allowed all employees to have a voice, even those who may not feel comfortable voicing opinions directly (Frampton et al. 2017).
Checking for inclusiveness
The company used two methods to check that the new policy was inclusive of all employee needs. Department managers held focus groups with their teams to discuss any issues and identify any groups that may be disproportionately impacted. Additionally, union representatives were asked to provide feedback on how the policy was working for their membership. This dual-pronged approach captured both broader employee input as well as perspectives from formal employee advocacy groups.
Gathering feedback
Once the policy was implemented, the company circulated another anonymous online survey after 6 months to gather feedback about employees’ experiences with the new system. This allowed them to evaluate if the policy was working as intended or if any groups faced any unintended difficulties. It also provided an opportunity for additional comments. Some open conversations were also had between managers and direct reports to obtain qualitative feedback in a less formal way. Gathering both quantitative and qualitative feedback in different formats allowed the company to get a well-rounded understanding of how the new policy was received throughout the employee base (SAMHSA, 2022).
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