Case study – Sickness and Rewards

A small clothing business employing 45 employees is having problems with sickness absence. Staff are phoning in sick for all kinds of reasons, and collective absenteeism was in the order of 7%.

Being concerned, the firm decided to reward positive behaviour rather than punitive approaches, punishing bad or negative behaviour. Consequently, a note went round to all staff informing them that anyone who hadn’t taken any self-certified sickness absence was entitled to an extra week’s holiday the following year. Needless to say, the plan misfired.

Genuine hard-working employees who’d had a day or two off as the result of real illnesses and injuries now found themselves slighted – tarred with the same brush as malingerers. Having had a day or two off with genuine ailments, good staff now used holiday entitlement rather than sickness days, so as not to miss out on the additional weeks holiday that everyone else was getting.

The firm’s management team met to review the policy. Acknowledging the weakness of the plan, another note informed staff that they would still get their extra weeks holiday provided that all absences were covered by a doctor’s certificate. In no time at all the firm became swamped with doctor’s certificates. Those with genuine illnesses and injuries complained about having to visit the doctor and often paying for a certificate to prove that their condition was real. For the malingerers, payment for a doctor’s certificate simply validated a false position.

You are the line manager and these changes has created anger and frustration among your staff members. You now have two issues to address; the bad feeling and unrest amongst the staff and the sickness problem has still not been solved.

TASK 1 QUESTION

As line manager you are greatly concerned and report the staff’s frustration to senior management. They have asked you to compile a formal report (1500-2000 words) that clarifies the situation with some suggestions as to how you might address the problem. Undertake some research on motivation theories. Note that there is no right or wrong answer.

Marking Scheme Task 1 (25% of overall mark)

Depth, criticality and general quality of content: 60%

Engagement with the literature, theory, referencing: 30%

Report format, presentation of document: 10%

This task is to be completed as an INDIVIDUAL effort

一家雇用45名员工的小型服装企业正面临病假问题。员工因各种原因打电话请病假，集体缺勤率约为7%。

考虑到这一点，公司决定奖励积极的行为而不是惩罚性的方法，惩罚不良或消极的行为。因此，向所有工作人员分发了一张便条，通知他们，任何未经自我证明的病假，第二年有权多休一周假。不用说，这个计划失败了。

真正的勤奋工作的员工，因为真正的疾病和伤害而休息了一两天，现在却发现自己被轻视了，和装病的人一样。好的员工因为真正的疾病休息了一两天，现在用假期而不是病假，这样就不会错过其他人额外的几周假期。

该公司的管理团队开会审查这项政策。另一份说明承认了这项计划的弱点，并告知工作人员，如果所有缺勤都有医生证明，他们仍然可以多休几周假。很快这家公司就堆满了医生的证书。那些有真正的疾病和伤害的人抱怨必须去看医生，并且经常花钱买一张证明他们的情况是真实的。对于伪装者来说，支付医生证书只是验证了一个错误的立场。

你是直线经理，这些变化让你的员工感到愤怒和沮丧。你们现在有两个问题要解决：员工的不安情绪和不安，还有疾病问题还没有解决。

Niu Hui (2010) Improved the sick leave management system. China’s labor