Hiring Managers Reveal This Year’s Most Bizarre Reasons Employees Gave for Missing Work

Are employees getting away with playing hooky from the office? According to CareerBuilder.com’s annual survey on absenteeism, 32 percent of workers said they called in sick when they felt well at least once in the last year. One-in-ten admitted to doing so three times or more. And while some employers said they typically don’t question excuses given, others were more skeptical. Twenty-seven percent of hiring managers reported they have fired a worker for calling in sick without a legitimate reason. The survey, “Out of the Office,” was completed in September 2006 and included 1,650 workers and 1,150 hiring managers nationwide.

The most popular motivator for missing work was the need to relax, according to nearly half (48 percent) of workers. Twenty-four percent of workers pointed to the desire to catch up on sleep while 20 percent cited personal errands. Other top reasons included doctor’s appointments (17 percent), plans with family and friends (16 percent) and housework (16 percent).

One-in-four workers said they consider their sick days to be equivalent to vacation days and treat them as such.

Comparing genders, women were more likely to take a sick day when they weren’t feeling under the weather. Thirty-seven percent of women called in sick with bogus explanations compared to 26 percent of men. On the employer side, men were more likely to terminate an employee for an unexcused sick day. Thirty-five percent of men have fired an employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse compared to 15 percent of women.

"Although an improvement from last year, the amount of unexcused absences from the office is significant and can be indicative of employee dissatisfaction," said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com. "Forty-five percent of hiring managers have caught an employee calling in sick with a fake excuse. This begs two questions: Do you have the right employees working for your organization and do you have the right employee management practices in place for your staff?"

Workers who are chronic offenders may be running out of ideas. Forty-one percent of hiring managers said they have received unusual or suspicious sick day alibis. Sixty-two percent did not believe them. When asked to share the most unusual excuses employees gave for missing work, hiring managers offered the following examples:

1) Employee was poisoned by his mother-in-law.
2) A buffalo escaped from the game reserve and kept charging the employee every time she tried to go to her car from her house.
3) Employee was feeling all the symptoms of his expecting wife.
4) Employee called from his cell phone, said he was accidentally locked in a restroom stall and no one was around to let him out.
5) Employee broke his leg snowboarding off his roof while drunk.
6) Employee’s wife said he couldn’t come into work because he had a lot of chores to do around the house.
7) One of the walls in the employee’s home fell off the night before.
8) Employee’s mother was in jail.
9) A skunk got into the employee’s house and sprayed all of his uniforms.
10) Employee had bad hiccups.
11) Employee blew his nose so hard, his back went out.
12) Employee’s horses got loose and were running down the highway.
13) Employee was hit by a bus while walking.
14) Employee’s dog swallowed her bus pass.
15) Employee was sad.

This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive® on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 1,650 workers and 1,150 hiring managers, ages 18 and over, within the United States between August 31 and September 5, 2006. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, household income and number of employees were weighted where necessary to the ‘Employee’ segment in order to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. The ‘Employer’ segment was weighted by number of employees to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. Both segments were weighted using propriety algorithms in order to align the online population to be more representative demographically and behaviorally of the total population of online and offline workers.

Save the Date! Workforce Summit set for January 31st

The future of Southwest Missouri’s economic prosperity is in its workforce. The region’s annual conference on improvement of the workforce for local businesses and communities is planned for January 31, 2007 in Joplin. Titled, “The Workforce Summit of Southwest Missouri,” the half-day conference will debut new research and workforce improvement solutions for business executives and community leaders. The theme for this year’s event centers around “Workforce Innovation as a Competitive Asset." More details will be released in early December here on the blog and at the WIB's website.

WIB Adopts Best Practices for Performance Impact

One of the key themes identified in the WIB Benchmarking Project is nature of high-performing WIBs to focus at a higher strategic level. One of many tools to help manage this organizaitonal priority at model Workforce Boards is the use of Consent Agenda to optimize the meeting process.

Accountability is one of the key strategic values of the Southwest Missouri WIB. As such, fudiciary and program responsibility will always remain on the WIB’s radar screen. The use of the Consent Agenda tool helps the WIB meet this responsibility efficiently while keeping the focus on strategic importance related to economic and workforce development for the region.

At its October 25th meeting, the WIB formally adopted a rule of order to utilize the Consent Agenda process at future meetings. In short, Consent Agenda consolidates routine, operational issues into one brief action at each Board meeting. The Executive Committee populates the consent agenda each month and all items are sent well in advance for members to review ahead of the meeting. If all is in order, the items advance as one approval. However, if members feel an item needs further discussion, items may be pulled individually and placed on the regular agenda while allowing other items to pass normally.

In addition to consent agenda, other measures were approved at the October WIB meeting to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The WIB re-organized its committee structure, eliminating basically all standing committees with the exception of the Executive Committee and the Youth Council. The Executive Committee will oversee the consent agenda as well as routine operational matters of personnel and finance as needed. The Youth Council was combined with the Youth Outreach Workforce Partnership of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce earlier this year as a joint effort to advance strategic issues of the emerging youth workforce.

The new structure emphasizes “workgroups” to carry-out strategic initiatives on an as-needed, project-driven basis. Unlike standing committees alone, the workgroups have a set start and end date with specific tasks and specific performance mandates accountable to the Board. As a result, full Board meetings will now be held every other month as opposed to monthly with meetings that focus on strategy, performance, and other big-picture issues.

Board members and staff alike are excited about the new structure and the realm of opportunities that lay ahead for the organization to make even greater impacts on economic development and prosperity for Southwest Missouri. Visit our website for more information on the WIB’s organizational chartering efforts

One-Stop Business Services Staff Trained for Occupational Analysis Projects

Business Services Staff from the Missouri Career Center joined together with WIB staff on November 21st to participate in a half-day training session to prepare for the rollout of the WorkKeys® Estimator occupational analysis tool as a valuable new service to business customers throughout Southwest Missouri. Steve Anderson from ACT®, the parent organization for WorkKeys® delivered the training and help local staff strategize on how to maximize the effectiveness of WorkKeys as part of the WIB’s Career Readiness Credential initiative.

Southwest Missouri’s approach with the WorkKeys® Estimator will help facilitate business customers in their recruiting, training, and development plans. Occupational profiles are analyzed and compared with local jobs to help businesses estimate the skill levels needed for top performance. Varying levels of occupational profiling are available. For jobs that need more complex analysis incorporated with high-stakes hiring decisions, the Alliance for Business Consulting and Development can take referrals from the Career Center.

For more on WorkKeys Estimator, contact Tracy Lemmons or Jasen Jones at the Joplin Career Center, (417) 629-3000.

Workforce Conference Presentation Handouts Now Downloadable Online

Presentation handouts for several of the sessions at the recent Missouri Governors Conference on Workforce Development are now available for download.

Wednesday, October 11th:

• Disability Program Navigator
• Lifelong Learning Accounts (LiLAs)
• Training Consortium - How to Make it Work
• Moving Beyond Just Business Services...Becoming a Business Champion
  

Thursday, October 12th:

• Transitioning to a Demand-Driven Workforce System
• Is America Falling Behind in Math and Science? And What Should WIBs do About It?
• Practical Tools for Workforce Professionals: The Latest in Missouri Labor Market Information
• Missouri Dept. of Corrections - A Philosophical Change in Business
• Operation Jumpstart: Entrepreneurial Opportunities for Non-Traditional Customers
• Missouri's CRC System, Why It Will Work!
• A Dialogue on Reaching and Serving People with Limited English Proficiency
• Healthcare Innovations: Expanding Nursing School Enrollment Through a Hospital-Employed Clinical Faculty Model
• Getting the Big Picture: Combining WorkKeys Foundational and Personal Skills Assessments to Find the Right Employees
• Matching Client Assessment to Career Options
• Achieving Partnerships and Performance with the Adult Common Measures
• Developing the Pipeline for Health Professions
• Rethinking Upgrading & Retention in Healthcare: The Universal Healthcare Worker
  

Friday, October 13th:

• Benchmarking WIBs: What Makes a Great Board? (This is the panel that featured SW MO WIB Exec Jasen Jones, and WIB Member Gary Little)
• State Administrators Forum

In addition to archives of conference handouts, the conference website operated by DWD has a photo gallery, a bank of press releases, and a participant survey.

Save the Date: MSSU Economic Summit Planned for April 2007

As reported in the newsletter from the Regional Economic Development Center at Missouri Southern State University (MSSU), their first-ever Regional Economic Summit is set for the last Friday in April. The event kicks off at 9:00 a.m. on the MSSU campus with world-renowned futurist Erik Peterson of the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington, DC. Mr. Pterson is the director of the widely admired Seven Revolutions futures project that examines the world economy and how to prepare for it.

The summit will feature break-out sessions on economic development nuts and bolts with legislators and professionals, sessions on the arts as development tools, the future of water quality and availability, international business in our region, and strategies to preserve our environment while accomodating development. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and Missouri Governor Matt Blunt are invited guests to address the Summit.

Brochures announcing the summit are being prepared for distribution in early 2007. Dr. Tom Simpson heads up the Regional Economic Development Center at MSSU. He may contacted by phone at 417-625-3016 or by email to simpson-t@mssu.edu.

National Survey Shows Gaps in Employable Skills Among American Workers

A new study conducted by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and The Society for Human Resource Management further validates a local WIB strategic priority in boosting the skills and employability of job seekers and incumbent workers.

Are They Really Ready to Work is an in-depth study of the corporate perspective on the readiness of new entrants into the U.S. workforce by level of educational attainment. The study includes results from both an in-depth survey conducted during April and May 2006 and interviews with a sampling of a dozen HR and other senior executives.

Among the most important skills cited by the more than 400 employers that participated in the research include: Professionalism/Work Ethic, Oral and Written Communications, Teamwork/Collaboration, and Critical Thinking/Problem Solving. A workforce readiness report card is included which provides a summary of the basic knowledge and applied skills that are either "deficient" or "excellent" in those areas that employer respondents rate as "very important".

Research like this is helpful to the Workforce Investment Board by affirming local strategy efforts in improving the soft and basic skills of Southwest Missouri's workforce. Local initiatives, such as the Opportunity Outlook report, and the Work Readiness Credential demonstrate the WIB's direction in answering the market demands of businesses in our region.

The "Facts About Modern Manufacturing" Profiled in New Report

The WIB has long held the position that manufacturing in Southwest Missouri is a dynamic, growth-oriented sector. For the most part, the opportunities in local manufacturing have promising wages in high-quality work environments. Like any business sector though, manufacturing has its strengths and weaknesses. A new report from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) highlights the role that manufacturing serves in the U.S. economy and the challenges that go with such an evolving sector.

“The Facts book sets the record straight about manufacturing’s central role in the U.S. economy,” said NAM President John Engler in an announcement of the new report, The Facts About Modern Manufacturing. “It is an essential resource for anyone interested in the future of manufacturing in America – from policymakers and the media to educators and political candidates who need to know how manufacturing supports their state’s economy and how they can support manufacturing.

“Some mistakenly believe manufacturing in the United States is in decline because of the continuing evolution of global sourcing and competition. In fact, U.S. manufacturing is vibrant, robust and contributes greatly to the dynamic American economy,” added Dennis Cuneo, Senior Vice President at Toyota Motor North America, a sponsor of the report project.

The Facts book highlights six manufacturing pillars that support today’s U.S. economy:

• Manufacturing made the highest contribution (15 percent) of all sectors to real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth between 2001 and today.
• Manufacturing is the engine of American technology development and innovation, responsible for more than 70 percent of private sector R&D
• Manufacturing’s high productivity rate – which determines real wage and benefit compensation – increased by more than 50 percent over the past decade and was far higher than for services.
• Manufactured goods make up more than 60 percent of U.S. exports, helping to pay for U.S. imports. While agricultural exports amount to about $50 billion a year, manufacturers export that much each month.
• Manufacturing wages and benefits are approximately 25 percent higher than in non-manufacturing jobs.
• Manufacturing has a greater multiplier effect on the rest of the economy than does any other sector; each manufacturing dollar generates an additional $1.37 in economic activity.

The report is available online for download at NAM's website.