‘No fault’ sick day sidelines unexpected productivity drains

Little can leave you in the lurch like when a staffer — cough cough — calls out sick on a Monday or Friday. Sure a paid time off bank can help minimize that. Or you can try this instead.

There are plenty of companies that aren’t willing to lump sick and vacation time together. Most of them just resign themselves to the occasional “mental health days” that come when vacation days run short.

One controller of a western municipality we know wasn’t willing to sit back and accept that.

So they tried a somewhat radical solution: Offer employees one employer-sanctioned cheat.

No questions asked

They called it the “no-fault” sick day. How it worked: Once a year, employees can call out sick — no questions asked, no doctor’s note required.

Of course, a floating holiday would have served a similar purpose. But it robbed people of the thrill of “getting away with something.” (Even if the company said it was OK by them.)

Turns out just a little hooky can go a long way. This organization saw a drastic 50% drop in unscheduled absences on Mondays and Fridays after putting the cheat day in place.

That’s a huge boost to their finance department’s efficiency.