Employee abusing sick leave

A startup with regular office hours and an employee handbook doesn't sound like much of a startup at all.

Anyway, he might just need a kick in the pants, but he may have a real medical disability that he finds embarrassing to talk about. If you fire him in a clumsy, you might face a lawsuit.

Also, do you expect him to be on-call at nights and weekends during emergencies?

I assume if the worker is not wanting to be there, than maybe he's frustrated with the work, not feeling challanged and is generally unhappy, you, as a company manager should make sure that:

a. you're hiring motivated people, especially when the company is small and every employee is crucial to your work-flow

b. the work that you're tossing down at the employee matches his skills and challanges him enough to keep him intrested, a concept in psychology which is called flow

once you took care of that on your end, you should have a sitting down with the employee and make a real & open conversation to understand his real issues, if he's lazy - definitely let him go, but it could be a variety of other reasons which you can't really tell unless you'll have an honest talk with him, at the end of the day, managers want to get the job done, and the employees want to feel that they're contributing intrinsic value to the company.

There is a reason for this behaviour, I would want to find the cause rather than bandaid the symptom. Do the works hours not fit his lifestyle, is he bored at work and looking for ways to skip it, etc.

At least if you know what is really going on you can make an informed decision whether to fix the problem or warn/fire him. At this stage it sounds like you would be making this decision blindly. He is a person with real stuff going on his life, it's not a machine that is playing up.

Fire him. Deal with your issues. Sue him for any damage you may sustain.

Seriously.

This is theft - it is not "playing games", it is outright stealing. Look for a replacement, then hand him his immediate termination without notice and throw him out of the premises if you can proove it.

There is a line to cross. Steal from me and I do take action, regardless of the price.

If he is not abusing, though, thn make sure you handle him according to his importance. Getting sick on fridays, tough, smells like "long weekend sickness" which is not "unhealthy lifestyle" but "theft".

I was once told that the way to change the way someone behave with you is to change the way you behave with them.

In my opinion it's important to help him assess the situation, is he having a bad break? Or is he too conscious of his own importance and abusing it?

• If he is having a bad break you might want to offer him to take unpaid leaves (a couple of weeks or months), that will give him a chance to put himself back together, show that you care to him and over employees and test how ready your company is to deal without him. Also, there are chances that he come back fresher and more motivated.

• If he is just abusing the situation due to an inflated ego, be firm. This cannot continue. I would still propose that he take a few days off to think about it. But be ready to end things in a courteous but definitive manner.

If your employee meets the deadline and delivers work then you should just leave it. I think you are making a big deal about nothing. Maybe you should allow him to work remotely and see if the work is delivered on time. Keeping track of time in and time out does not work nowadays. Again the work and delivery is important. If others point this out- shut their voice by giving the same liberty. That will motivate others to deliver more.

My only advice would be to adjust your perspective on where and when "work" should be accomplished. Does this employee still deliver on deadlines/deliverables even in spite of his "sick" days? If so, then perhaps you are making a big deal about nothing.

The work is the important part. If you find that you need this employee in-office for meetings, questions or things of that nature then have that time blocked out for him to be in-office. Otherwise, let him manage his tasks, workload and time as he desires.

Increase his salary and give him a better position. OR Hire a talented newbie and get him accustomed to the work, which your employee is for work.

OR give your employee a good exposure by placing his name on visiting cards or anything like that, which make him thinking about giving more to your work, rather taking the other route.

First don't make any position dependent on a particular person. That is always going to backfire on you. Use him to train someone else from inside the department to do his job. This way there is redundancy in your organization. Also keep all job and current tasks documented so that it would take less work to transfer the work to the other person

I am sure your organization has disciplinary policies. If he is abusing company regulation stick to the policies and discipline him. Otherwise tardiness and absenteeism can spiral out if control. Once such a culture starts breeding it is very very difficult to get rid off.

Seriously, why do you have to separate sick leaves? Just give them a fix total number of leaves per year. Does it really affect to you if he did not come into the office because he is sick or he just wants to take a day off?

We don't even track leaves in our company. They'll will just fire an email if they can't come. I usually oblige 95-99% of the time. Most of the time, they do it well ahead of schedule, allowing me to make some adjustments.

This arrangement works very well and it boosts morale. Having to have them lie to you about being sick produces lots of subconscious enmity.

Have you thought about getting out of the 'punching a time clock' mentality? If this person is important, there must be specific tasks this person should be accomplishing. If he wants to get wrecked every Thurdsay night and call off on Friday, suggest making up for it on Sunday. If they're already getting things done, get over it and drop this policy.

Talk to him.

Determine whether he cares about what you are saying or not.

If he has issues, try and help him. If he's just in a phase of his life where he's hedonistic / unhealthy and is not really a good fit for your organisation, follow the rules and let him go. You cannot let his 'importance' dictate your company policy. It would be worse to do that than lose the productivity that you say he brings. At the same time, and if your rules allow, actively seek a replacement.

Remember you are the boss!

I think you should warm him verbally and threat him to be fired if he did not leave his sick-attitude. In the mean time, keep looking for new professionals and if your employee does not correct his attitude; spent no more time and just fire him straightaway. Otherwise, he will keep seriously affect you, your business and other employees will also receive an un-wanted encouragement to act like him.

You need to bring up your concerns very frankly with your employee. Make it clear that the abuse of sick-days will not be tolerated, and outline your recourse.

I know the position you are in, I've been there myself. But if the abuse of sick-days is impacting your business significantly, you need to send a clear message to other employees that absenteeism will not be allowed at your company. I would suggest ramping up your recruiting efforts, and terminating the employee if he/she does not correct their behavior.

Also, is the employee under a vesting schedule for their equity share? You might be able to hold this vested equity as a carrot and/or stick to correct the behavior.