I’m a Human Resources consultant now but I was in retail leadership for more than 15 years. The number of posts I see here that make me absolutely cringe from an HR standpoint is just staggering.
If you’re a leader if people—in any industry besides first responders who are responsible for saving actual lives—and a person notifies you that they are unable to make it in for their shift, the only correct response is: ”I hope everything is ok. Please let me know how I can support you.” That’s it.
Any response that makes your employee think less of you as their leader isn’t going to magically make them change their mind and come to work. They still won’t be there and now they won’t be giving you their best work going forward because they have lost respect for you as their leader.
If you get some sort of catharsis from spewing guilt at people then you’re either in their wrong profession or you’re taking your job (and yourself) too seriously.
Now this doesn’t mean you need to allow people to walk all over you or break all the rules. Whatever the rules are, follow them. Your company has a process for documenting unexcused absences and you have a responsibility to make sure your employees know that policy and understand where they fall on that spectrum. But those conversations with your employees don’t happen over a text message when they’re calling out. Those conversations happen in the office, when they’re on the clock, and in a way that is completely void of emotion.
When your employees call out sick (or for any reason), they are not personally attacking you. They are not thinking to themselves how can I best fuck over my boss. They’re people. They have priorities. Work is one of them. But it’s not the top one. Remember this, and treat them how you would want to be treated if something incredibly important came up in your life.
You aren’t saving lives.
Keep things in perspective.
And always be kind.
Rant over.