Culture

Doctor’s notes are little culture killing pills that cost business a lot more than they are worth.    Most employees are conditioned to offer you a doctor’s note if they miss a day of work.  When we first join the workforce it is usually for a company that employs a lot of entry level workers. Entry level employees are less reliable, change jobs more often, and call in sick a lot.  Therefore, companies that rely on that level of talent begin to develop complex systems that force employees to be more reliable or have their employment terminated.    This is where the notion of getting a doctor’s note comes from.  If you call in sick, you need a doctor’s note so that the company knows you were actually ill.  But what if you weren’t ill?  What if you just wanted the time off?  Almost all of us have those days where we wake up and just don’t want to go to work.  We almost always go (because we’ve learned avoidance doesn’t fix the problem), but there are those days when we just call in sick.    “That’s exactly what that policy is supposed to catch!  It should catch lazy people that don’t want to come to work because they can’t motivate themselves to get to the office or shop.”  Catch them doing what, exactly?  Not being at work?  The employer already knows they aren’t there.    The truth is, it doesn’t matter if they are sick or not.  The employer has a problem because the productivity that the employee was supposed to provide was eliminated by their absence.  Does it really matter why they weren’t there?  The impact on the business is the same either way.    If an employee misses so much time that their position has become unprofitable (or even marginally less productive, or they are out of time off), just terminate the employee.  “But,” many HR people out there would point out, “what if they really are sick?  Are we going to fire them for being ill?”  The answer to that question is “probably not yet.”    People are fired, legally, for being too ill to perform a job all the time.  It’s a long and tedious process, but it can be done.  So why don’t you go through the process, assuming its warranted?  “Doctor’s notes only accomplish two things, 1. They allow managers to avoid difficult conversations with people who call out too much, and 2. They tell your employees how little you trust them.” Whatever the reason, unless you’re discussing utilization of FMLA or accommodations under the ADAAA, doctor’s notes are little more than receipts.  Anybody who has worked much with employees knows that many doctors will sign anything the employee asks them to short of something large enough for a government agency to care about.  Three days being sick with the common cold is easy to put on a note.  But to get this, the employee has to pay.  With the average bill for a visit to your primary care physician being about $120, the cost of the note that says anything you want it to, is $120.    So, why don’t you just tell your employees that if they want to take an unscheduled day off, they just have to pay the company $120?  “Because,” you answer, “some people would gladly pay the fee just to get a couple of days off they couldn’t get any other way.”  Yes.  That is my point.  The only difference is that somebody besides the company is getting paid.    Doctor’s notes only accomplish two things, 1. They allow managers to avoid difficult conversations with people who call out too much, and 2. They tell your employees how little you trust them.  Both reasons are poison to a successful culture.    Successful cultures require managers who are engaged with the employees they lead.  That means when an employee misses a few days claiming to be ill, the manager reaches out to them and shows concern for their health, offers to help, and cares about their financial well-being.  Additionally, they should contact HR and notify them of the situation because, if the illness is significant enough for them to miss more than a couple of days, it might be covered by FMLA or the ADA.    It’s a lot easier for a manager to not go the extra mile for an employee, not care how much time they miss, or have a difficult conversation with a team member missing too much time.  Instead, they resort to distrust and accusation.  And that’s where doctor’s notes come in.    You don’t think that employees can’t tell when you don’t trust them?  If you don’t trust them, do you think they’ll trust you?    What is the answer?  Treat your employees like adults, hold them accountable for the outcomes they produce, and be honest with them when you’re worried about their performance.  That includes missing too many days.    (The above, obviously doesn’t apply federally mandated processes related to FMLA requests and the “interactive process” required by the ADAAA. These processes require medical confirmation of employee claims and usually large amounts of time off.)