How to Manage Low Employee Attendance in a Hybrid Workplace

Choosing a hybrid work model is reliant on your business having an office to work from when they don’t want to work remotely.

While we’re passionate about having the flexibility and autonomy to work wherever you work best, it’s also important to recognize when an office is the most suitable place to collaborate.

If you’re a business that is hoping to build a positive work culture that revolves around collaboration and in-person socials, attendance is going to be an important part of that.

And despite being heavily against proximity bias we do know it’s nice to come in and see the people you work with.

In fact, a Microsoft survey found that 70% of employees said that collaboration is less impactful when attempting it remotely.

So, what can you do when your office attendance isn’t where you want it to be? Especially if you’re a business that prides itself on giving your employees the choice of where to work.

Here are some tips to help navigate it.

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Understanding the Causes of Low Attendance

To address low attendance, you need to first understand some of the many reasons your employees may not be coming into the office.

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• Every role and every employee works differently
  While a sales rep may need or want to be in the office more often, your graphic designers or content writers are much less likely to need to come into the office to work at their peak.
  
  In fact, some roles and individuals work better alone, so take this into consideration.
  
  
• Something could be going on in their personal life
  Before jumping to conclusions, consider whether there’s a bigger issue outside of your control.
  
  If an employee’s attendance suddenly drops, there’s a high chance something is happening at home which has impacted their ability to come in as often.
  
  

• Your workspace may need improving
  Do you think your office is conducive to working hard? Hopefully, you’ve created a comfortable, safe workspace with a variety of desks and spaces to work from to encourage attendance.
  
  If you’re wondering what your employees’ ideal workspace looks like, it could be worth sending out a return-to-office survey.
  
  
• Employee motivation could be lacking
  It isn’t pleasant to consider that your employee attendance has dropped due to motivation, but it is possible on both an individual and team-wide or office-wide level.
  
  Consider whether you’ve built a workplace where your employees feel valued and appreciated at work; this is the key to a great culture and high attendance.

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How to Manage Low Employee Attendance in the Office

#1 Create Clear Policies on Attendance

We love flexibility, but it’s still important to create clear policies on attendance and absence and fully define what your hybrid work model looks like.

Maybe employees can choose when to come in, but you’d prefer they choose the same days each week. Or potentially you’d like to set how many days they come in, but they get to choose which days that is.

The most important thing is to be clear on your policies. That way, if you have to have a conversation about attendance you can help ensure it’s not a miscommunication. 

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#2 Encourage Open Communication

Speaking of miscommunication, your staff should feel supported enough to discuss the causes of absence.

Whether they’ve been struggling with workloads or dealing with a family issue, it’s important to create an environment and culture where they can tell their managers what’s happening.

If it hasn’t been brought up and you choose to open up this type of conversation, the person conducting the meeting should be approachable and understanding. 

By prioritizing open communication and flexibility, your leadership team will help create a positive work environment that listens to its employees.

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#3 Invest in Employee Well-being

It is essential to invest in employee well-being to ensure that attendance is consistent and productive. 

What this looks like will differ from workplace to workplace:

One way could be by providing access to healthcare resources. This can include offering health insurance, providing on-site medical services, or connecting employees with medical professionals. 

Additionally, promoting mental health awareness and support is crucial in creating a healthy work environment. Employers can offer resources such as mental health counseling or employee assistance programs to support their employees' mental health needs. 

Or you could include wellness programs within your employee benefits, such as gym memberships or mental health days.

Mental health correlates with low office attendance and productivity; so it’s in everyone’s best interest to support it as much as possible.

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#4 Use Technology to Understand Attendance Trends

One of the best ways to understand how and why your employees aren’t coming into the office, is to use an attendance data platform. 

A tool like Officely collects and analyzes data on when your employees have booked into the office, and displays it in a private dashboard for admins to view. 

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You can see the following:

• The most popular office days
• Office attendance trends over a custom period of time
• The average amount of days in the office
• Individual attendance data

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Eliminate the guesswork to your employee attendance and find out what most impacts employees coming into the office; from days of the week to socials and events.

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#5 Address Attendance Issues Early

The best way to manage any attendance challenge is to address it early. 

This involves offering support for employees who are struggling with attendance, as well as setting clear expectations and consequences for attendance issues as part of point one, policies. 

It's important to communicate any expectations clearly, and consistently to all employees, but also to address attendance issues promptly and consistently when they arise. 

One of the additional benefits of using an attendance tool is that you’ll be ahead of employees whose attendance is dropping due to personal reasons or even burnout. This gives you time to formulate a plan and address the issue. 

By taking a proactive approach to managing attendance, you can help ensure that your hybrid office runs smoothly and that you’re doing what you can to encourage your employees to come in.

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Take the Guesswork Out of Employee Attendance

If you’re wondering why your employees aren’t coming into the office, the best thing to do is gather data to analyze and help understand when and why your employees do come in.

Not only will you learn what impacts office-wide attendance, but you can also look at micro-level data and pick up on any drastic changes to attendance from individuals before you’d notice if you’re also a hybrid employee and not continually in the office.

Start with a two-week free trial of Officely and learn more about managing attendance in your hybrid workplace.

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