How strict are you about this type of call-off?

[ISMike]

It’s pretty obvious that they are not sick if they put their shift on the board.

Not necessarily. What if they have a doctor's appointment or something they need to go to scheduled then that was the only available appointment without waiting 6 months?

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Not necessarily. What if they have a doctor's appointment or something they need to go to scheduled then that was the only available appointment without waiting 6 months?

I’m talking about absentee patterns from certain team members. I highly doubt these weekend shifts are because of doctor appointments.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

You know it’s a shit show in the store when you have at least 10 team members out of 90 scheduled that day call out on a Saturday. When I get to go and classify these absences and I start recognizing the same names over and over it is a problem. That’s 9 percent of your work force that day and about 80 hours of work not getting done. I don’t have an issue with the occasional call out, but habitual call outs are a problem. If a leader does not address the issue then it just continues.

 

[greatteam]

You know it’s a shit show in the store when you have at least 10 team members out of 90 scheduled that day call out on a Saturday. When I get to go and classify these absences and I start recognizing the same names over and over it is a problem. That’s 9 percent of your work force that day and about 80 hours of work not getting done. I don’t have an issue with the occasional call out, but habitual call outs are a problem. If a leader does not address the issue then it just continues.

I mean, arguably if you see the same exact names showing up consistently calling out on the same exact days, then why continue to schedule them on those days? Take them off the schedule and put someone who wants to work on that day. I understand that usually the TM's who do that are teenagers or college students, but ask yourself: can you really fault them? They're young, this isn't a destination for them, this is often just something that they do occasionally for a few extra bucks to go have fun with their friends. We have on-demand TM's now, why not ask someone who calls out 3/4 Saturdays if they'd rather switch to on-demand, where they can tell us when they are available to work and we can work them in? When you have adult employees begging for hours and willing to work whenever, why do you continue to schedule the TM's you know have a pattern of calling out on those particular days?

Also, look at it from their end as well: they DO have classes to attend to during the week and are working the weekend. They might not be working a JOB all the time, but they're still busy and have a number of stressors. How do you feel when you haven't had a day off from all responsibilities for more than a week? Yeah, that's basically adulthood, but these kids are still growing. Can't really expect them to behave the same as we would, especially when this isn't something they're looking at as a long time career. Just convert them to on-demand and give those consistent hours to someone who wants them and will consistently show for them.

 

[DBZ]

You know it’s a shit show in the store when you have at least 10 team members out of 90 scheduled that day call out on a Saturday. When I get to go and classify these absences and I start recognizing the same names over and over it is a problem. That’s 9 percent of your work force that day and about 80 hours of work not getting done. I don’t have an issue with the occasional call out, but habitual call outs are a problem. If a leader does not address the issue then it just continues.

And 7 of them are for the front end....

I mean, arguably if you see the same exact names showing up consistently calling out on the same exact days, then why continue to schedule them on those days? Take them off the schedule and put someone who wants to work on that day. I understand that usually the TM's who do that are teenagers or college students, but ask yourself: can you really fault them? They're young, this isn't a destination for them, this is often just something that they do occasionally for a few extra bucks to go have fun with their friends. We have on-demand TM's now, why not ask someone who calls out 3/4 Saturdays if they'd rather switch to on-demand, where they can tell us when they are available to work and we can work them in? When you have adult employees begging for hours and willing to work whenever, why do you continue to schedule the TM's you know have a pattern of calling out on those particular days?

Also, look at it from their end as well: they DO have classes to attend to during the week and are working the weekend. They might not be working a JOB all the time, but they're still busy and have a number of stressors. How do you feel when you haven't had a day off from all responsibilities for more than a week? Yeah, that's basically adulthood, but these kids are still growing. Can't really expect them to behave the same as we would, especially when this isn't something they're looking at as a long time career. Just convert them to on-demand and give those consistent hours to someone who wants them and will consistently show for them.

The high school and college kids at my store are super reliable. They come in when they are scheduled. The only times we have trouble with their shifts is when target screws up or the kid didn't put in their availability change in time. They are never penalized for that. The age group that is actually unreliable are the 20-25, but not in college

 

[HardlinesGuy]

Even in my career in law enforcement, it’s the same deal.

“Your time off request was denied.”
“Look like you’re gonna be understaffed then.”

 

[Frontlanegirl]

I mean, arguably if you see the same exact names showing up consistently calling out on the same exact days, then why continue to schedule them on those days? Take them off the schedule and put someone who wants to work on that day. I understand that usually the TM's who do that are teenagers or college students, but ask yourself: can you really fault them? They're young, this isn't a destination for them, this is often just something that they do occasionally for a few extra bucks to go have fun with their friends. We have on-demand TM's now, why not ask someone who calls out 3/4 Saturdays if they'd rather switch to on-demand, where they can tell us when they are available to work and we can work them in? When you have adult employees begging for hours and willing to work whenever, why do you continue to schedule the TM's you know have a pattern of calling out on those particular days?

Also, look at it from their end as well: they DO have classes to attend to during the week and are working the weekend. They might not be working a JOB all the time, but they're still busy and have a number of stressors. How do you feel when you haven't had a day off from all responsibilities for more than a week? Yeah, that's basically adulthood, but these kids are still growing. Can't really expect them to behave the same as we would, especially when this isn't something they're looking at as a long time career. Just convert them to on-demand and give those consistent hours to someone who wants them and will consistently show for them.

You are assuming that it is only the teenagers that are the ones calling off...it’s not. I was giving one example of one day. I know plenty of full time college students who are also working full time that consistently show up for their shifts. I don’t do the scheduling and it’s all about accountability.

 

[BurgerBob]

Yup, there's give an take. Like I've worked 12 hour shifts just to help out. Vs some days I just can't come in earlier or stay later. Or sometimes I just need the day off be that illness or stress or what have you.

 

[BobSmith]

We have on-demand TM's now, why not ask someone who calls out 3/4 Saturdays if they'd rather switch to on-demand, where they can tell us when they are available to work and we can work them in?

Unfortunately, not all store have this. I only work weekends and this past year has been unbelievably stressful with the amount of extra work I have to do at my full time job and I asked my ETL if I could switch to on-demand and he said we don’t have that at out store. I then asked if I could switch to every other weekend and that was also a no. He told me just to put in time off requests and they would try to accommodate me that way. It worked OK for a while but lately they have been not looking at the request so they end up just getting auto denied. I still go in if I’m scheduled but it’s getting to be a point where I may have to call out just for my own mental health at some point. I hate calling out and in the 3 years I’ve worked at Target I only have once, due to side effects from my 2nd Covid shot, but I’m at the point where working 7 days a week is killing me. If it didn’t terrify me to not have a second job, I would just quit.

 

[Zxy123456]

I mean, arguably if you see the same exact names showing up consistently calling out on the same exact days, then why continue to schedule them on those days? Take them off the schedule and put someone who wants to work on that day. I understand that usually the TM's who do that are teenagers or college students, but ask yourself: can you really fault them? They're young, this isn't a destination for them, this is often just something that they do occasionally for a few extra bucks to go have fun with their friends. We have on-demand TM's now, why not ask someone who calls out 3/4 Saturdays if they'd rather switch to on-demand, where they can tell us when they are available to work and we can work them in? When you have adult employees begging for hours and willing to work whenever, why do you continue to schedule the TM's you know have a pattern of calling out on those particular days?

Also, look at it from their end as well: they DO have classes to attend to during the week and are working the weekend. They might not be working a JOB all the time, but they're still busy and have a number of stressors. How do you feel when you haven't had a day off from all responsibilities for more than a week? Yeah, that's basically adulthood, but these kids are still growing. Can't really expect them to behave the same as we would, especially when this isn't something they're looking at as a long time career. Just convert them to on-demand and give those consistent hours to someone who wants them and will consistently show for them.

So your saying we should reward team members who call out on weekends with weekends off. Me who never calls out is punished with having to work every weekend for those that constantly call off. Maybe if these folks showed up on weekends I could get an occasional one off. I’m not asking for every weekend off but, once in a while would be nice!!

 

[wonkatonka]

So your saying we should reward team members who call out on weekends with weekends off. Me who never calls out is punished with having to work every weekend for those that constantly call off. Maybe if these folks showed up on weekends I could get an occasional one off. I’m not asking for every weekend off but, once in a while would be nice!!

I think what they are saying is that instead of scheduling that person who calls out every Saturday on Tuesday instead, they just don't schedule them at all and give those eight hours to someone else, and if that call out person starts to see their zero hours each week, they might reconsider their ways.

I had people that would be scheduled five days a week, and see they call out once a week, then we would only schedule them four, and we'd tell them, "You don't seem to be able to handle five days a week without issue, let's see if you can handle four". It wouldn't be on the days they would call out on, a Saturday or Sunday, we'd take a day they'd normally show up for, so if they still wanted to call off every Saturday, now they're down to three.

 

[Zxy123456]

I think what they are saying is that instead of scheduling that person who calls out every Saturday on Tuesday instead, they just don't schedule them at all and give those eight hours to someone else, and if that call out person starts to see their zero hours each week, they might reconsider their ways.

I had people that would be scheduled five days a week, and see they call out once a week, then we would only schedule them four, and we'd tell them, "You don't seem to be able to handle five days a week without issue, let's see if you can handle four". It wouldn't be on the days they would call out on, a Saturday or Sunday, we'd take a day they'd normally show up for, so if they still wanted to call off every Saturday, now they're down to three.

I understand what your saying and I get it but, the other person was stating specifically not to schedule people on the days they always call out. If they always call out Saturday and you stop scheduling them Saturday then I get stuck working every Saturday which isn’t fair. I don’t know maybe we both interpreted it wrong.

 

[greatteam]

I understand what your saying and I get it but, the other person was stating specifically not to schedule people on the days they always call out. If they always call out Saturday and you stop scheduling them Saturday then I get stuck working every Saturday which isn’t fair. I don’t know maybe we both interpreted it wrong.

There are plenty of people who have weekend only availability who show up for all of their shifts. Wonkatonka put my thoughts in a better way, and I wouldn’t make someone else work every single Saturday to make up for that person. I would either extend someone’s shift from a 4 to an 8 hour, or I’d look at availabilities and desired hours and find people from other work centers who would want to pick up hours on those days. Most of my TM’s are on a rotation so they don’t end up working EVERY weekend day, but I do have a few TM’s who are only available Sundays or Saturdays and end up being left off the schedule because the system didn’t pull them. They’re usually the ones with other jobs who only want to do a day a week to get out of the house or long time TM’s who just want to keep the discount.

 

[IWishIKnew]

Man, I wish my store scheduled me on a weekend rotation, then I might not be so burnt out (I asked at one point, and my former ETL agreed, but I'm still scheduled every weekend, unless I take it off). We've lost a lot of TMs lately (mostly due to getting jobs in their actual field of interest or day jobs that had closed due to COVID opening back up) so it's exceedingly unlikely I'll be able to get any weekend days off without requesting them. I'm open all evenings, so I could close any night, but I'm reliable so it's always both weekends and a weeknight. Hell, if I can get them to stop scheduling me more hours than my max I'll consider that a victory.

Or I'll quit. I can totally understand if they need someone who can commit to more hours a week, but that person is not me.

 

[wonkatonka]

It really comes down to your leads, and how terrible they can be. I was someone who was a team member, then team lead, then executive, doing the schedule since the first week I was promoted to team leader. I knew as a team member, I didn't want to work every Saturday night, so I didn't want to do that to anyone else. I had employees who had Target as a second job, so they could work 5-close during the week, and anytime during the weekend, so I'd try and give them morning or mids for their weekends if I had to schedule them. Same if they worked a Friday night, not to make them there at 8am on Saturday, or do another closing shift again. We also had time and a half every Sunday, so everyone wanted to work Sundays every week, so it was just a balance of telling people they wouldn't get the Sunday shifts if they weren't willing to work Saturdays. Some people doing schedules are power tripping, and don't think about it, just put a body in a shift and say they're done, and wonder why no one wants to work the shifts they are given.

 

[Florida Dawg]

It really comes down to your leads, and how terrible they can be. I was someone who was a team member, then team lead, then executive, doing the schedule since the first week I was promoted to team leader. I knew as a team member, I didn't want to work every Saturday night, so I didn't want to do that to anyone else. I had employees who had Target as a second job, so they could work 5-close during the week, and anytime during the weekend, so I'd try and give them morning or mids for their weekends if I had to schedule them. Same if they worked a Friday night, not to make them there at 8am on Saturday, or do another closing shift again. We also had time and a half every Sunday, so everyone wanted to work Sundays every week, so it was just a balance of telling people they wouldn't get the Sunday shifts if they weren't willing to work Saturdays. Some people doing schedules are power tripping, and don't think about it, just put a body in a shift and say they're done, and wonder why no one wants to work the shifts they are given.

Man the way they schedule me and Cart Attendants sometimes plus cashiers and guest service people. 🤦‍♂️

 

[Priceslasher]

Wow, I suggest you all read over Target's focus on mental health this month. You're all forgetting you're not leading robots, you're leading human beings. In this situation if they posted the shift and couldn't find coverage, then what else do you expect them to do? People have things that come up between the date and the time the schedule is posted and time off requests can be put in. If they made every effort to find coverage, then what? Am I to expect them to change their circumstances? If they need the date off, then they need it off. They are giving me notice "I will not be here this date", it's my responsibility to account for that and plan accordingly. If they can't find coverage, am I doing my part to ensure my area is properly staffed? We know they most likely will not show up for the shift and we know it days ahead of time. Why are we not taking it upon ourselves to ensure our staffing is adequate? So we can reprimand our adult employees like children because they had to take their mother to a doctor's appointment, or they had an appointment of their own, or they had a surprise exam that their professor didn't properly notify them of, or some other unexpected event they need to plan their lives around. Why am I going to write them up for being an adult and trying to cover the shift? Does every employee know how to contact every single other employee to make sure they asked every possible person? Can they look at the schedule and see TM's coming back from leave or that had to give up a shift and wanted hours but hasn't been scheduled in 4 days to be asked? No. If a shift is on the board for more than 2 days and hasn't been covered, then it's my job to reach out to contacts the TM may not necessarily have to ensure my area is staffed and my team is not resentful because they are human beings with lives, and lives are unpredictable and sometimes things come up but they're job disciplines them for it?

What happens when that TM is treated that way? They don't bother looking for coverage next time they need to give away a shift and slowly resent the place. Treat them like people and they'll be more likely to want to come into work on a day off and cover those shifts. I want my employees to feel positively towards their job and management, rather than harboring resentment because we expected them to not be human.

TM's need leader approval before giving a shift away anyway, so why are you going to hold the employee entirely accountable for the situation when you need to OK it anyway? Find someone you'd be satisfied with covering the shift and ask them if they'll cover and sign off on it. Bam, you just fixed a potential staffing shortage and kept your TM's happy instead of forcing your team to be understaffed just to guilt someone into feeling bad that life happened. Just because you may think it's not enough of a reason for the TM to switch their shift doesn't mean that it isn't significant to them. Joey had to give away his Saturday shift because his family decided to go on a vacation in a time period that isn't accomodating to Target. He can't find coverage and ends up being absent from his family event because he only knew of a handful of TM's who could cover him. A family member later passes away unexpectedly and Joey is reminded that his last interaction with them could have been much more recent were it not for us demanding he cover his shift without any help. Do you think he's going to be a bright and happy and enthusiastic cashier and leave guests with a positive experience?

Treat your TM's like people, and you'll find the attendance problems will work themselves out.

Hands down! One million percent agree here. But you’re also pointing out facts, focuses on an actual store ALL being on board and same page! The swap board gets signed by whoever when ever and executives that just delete shifts or don’t acknowledge requests! Problem starts at the top! A team leader CANT do it all especially when you’re coverage for your own workcenter!