Some of the best qualities any manager or leader of a company or organization should have are patience, compassion and being respectful.
Those qualities were not on display by a restaurant manager who has made the news for a note sent to employees about time off. You can read the message in its entirety as reported by KCTV 5 out of Kansas, but the gist is that the manager of an Olive Garden was tired of employees calling off and the reasons given. The manager has been fired.
Now, I haven’t gone through any formal management training, but I’m pretty sure I don’t need anyone telling me it’s a bad idea to tell employees that if they’re calling off sick or if their dog died, they need to prove it. Also, especially considering we’re still coming out of a pandemic, saying that you’ve gone to work sick — at a restaurant — is not the brag you think it is.
Hotel general managers can certainly commiserate with restaurant managers, trying to run a service-based business with less-than-optimal staffing as demand grows. You can only do so much more with so much less.
I’m sure it’s tempting to lose your cool and try to put in place stricter requirements on employee attendance, but that’s letting emotions run your operations. Aside from potentially getting yourself fired, that’s not going to motivate employees. The employees who are experiencing actual problems, such as being sick, having a death in the family or some other emergency, are going to feel like they’re being unfairly punished. The employees who are apparently making up excuses not to show up or to show up late are probably not going to change and will either quit or wait to get fired.
Either way, employee morale will drop, and work conditions won’t improve.
I don’t have the answers for getting more people to apply for and stay in hospitality jobs and not call off because they’re sick or their car broke down or whatever reason. If I did, I’m sure I’d be a well-paid consultant. If consistent calling off is a problem throughout the staff or with specific employees, they should be addressed to find out the actual causes, creating the opportunity to work out potential solutions.
Few things can demoralize a workforce like being treated like less than a grown adult and being forced to meet insulting requirements just to take some time off, particularly if its for reasons outside of your control. Many businesses continue to struggle with staffing shortages as potential employees seek out better pay and work conditions, and taking a hardline approach with employees that also demeans them is only going to worsen those problems.
You can reach me at bwroten@hotelnewsnow.com and @HNN_Bryan.
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