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Attendance Support Project Update
Presentation to COSBO October 2008
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Status Update

• Project Objectives
• Our Approach
• Overview of Key Tools Developed
• Key Findings
• Attendance Support Implementation Plan

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Project Objectives

• Review and assess existing attendance management
  systems and policies and their impact on
  absenteeism in key performing Ontario school
  boards
• Research, analyze and develop recommendations and
  options as they pertain to Attendance Management
  Best Practices for the District School Boards of
  Ontario
• Ensure that solutions would help boards
• Increase management capacity
• Reduce unnecessary costs related to absenteeism
• Support student achievement through the
  development of a healthy work culture and
  consistent staff attendance

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Project Approach

• Results used to refine
• Attendance Support Framework
• Attendance Support Maturity Model

• Investigation of leading practices structured
  through
• Survey Review
• Interview Guides / Questionnaires
• Board External Org Interviews

• Results / minutes are captured in
• Excel Interview Template

• Results used to develop
• Final Report

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Overview of Tools Developed - Interview Guides

• Provides a framework for discussion of Attendance
  Support
• Questions aligned with leading practices in both
  official languages
• Can be re-used by boards in self-assessment
• Included in the appendix of the report

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Overview of Tools Developed Attendance Support
Framework

• The Framework is a basic conceptual structure
  used to describe a complex issue
• Structure used consistently throughout the report
  and becomes a common language
• 3 phases in the Attendance Support life-cycle
  Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating
• 5 leading practice categories in each phase of
  the framework

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Attendance Support Framework Cont.

• Each category across each phase contains 10 15
  leading practices
• Boards can quickly get a sense of what good
  looks like

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From Framework to Maturity Model

• Content and structure from the Attendance Support
  Framework used to develop a tool for measuring
  leading practice adoption
• Maturity levels are characterized by the number
  of leading practices adopted vs the number of
  typical challenges still existing

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Attendance Support Maturity Model

• 4 Maturity Levels
• Implementing leading practices still being
  identified or initiated
• Building partially adopted, foundation being
  built still evaluating
• Refining implemented to a significant extent,
  have been evaluated and are just being refined
  (usually annually)
• Mature leading practices have been adopted to
  the full extent, have been refined over a period
  of years

Maturity Model can be used for Self Evaluation
Where are we? How far do we need to go?
Planning and prioritizing What should we do
next? Common language and vision How do we
define improvement? Are we on the same page?
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Planning Phase - Key Issues

• Policy Guidelines
• Unsure of what contents should be
• Dont want to risk interference with collective
  agreements
• Roles Responsibilities
• Limited buy-in from Exec Committee HR-driven
• Limited capacity in HR to design / plan
• Limited involvement or interest from Principals /
  Supervisors
• Culture Environment
• Culture of employees right to use maximum number
  of sick days
• Union refusal to participate in planning
• Assumption that program seeks to violate human
  rights
• Wellness Benefits
• Unsure of what programs would improve attendance
• Limited visibility between program managers
• Data Analysis Reporting
• System and codes not flexible
• Current reporting not useful or timely
• Data not reliable

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Planning Phase Leading Practices

• Policy Guidelines
• Clearly defined thresholds for intervention,
  processes, flow charts, guiding principles
• Requires collaboration and endorsement by
  stakeholders
• Initiatives are included in multi-year Board
  improvement plan
• Roles Responsibilities
• Accountability for Management is clearly defined
  in policy
• Attendance Committee includes all stakeholders
  (union reps, Principals, etc)
• Principals and supervisors required to play a
  significant role
• Culture Environment
• Management training focused on timeliness and
  consistency of policy enforcement to ensure
  employee compliance and eventual erosion of
  entitlement culture
• Third-party intervention / analysis of employee
  needs (no HR or Mgmt involvement)
• Communication Plans designed for positive and
  consistent message
• Intervention process and training assumes that
  employee requires support for illness/disability
  first and foremost (less focus on communicating
  or initiating punitive) steps
• Wellness Benefits
• Perform analysis/ benchmarking of organizational
  wellness, then set targets
• Design benefits and wellness programs according
  to analysis and employee feedback
• Data Analysis Reporting
• Perform system review retrain
• Align absence codes with collective agreement
  language

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Monitoring Phase Key Issues

• Policy Guidelines
• Policy and procedure monitored / applied only on
  an ad-hoc basis
• Roles Responsibilities
• Limited Principal/Supervisor involvement and
  accountability in monitoring
• Limited contact between employees and management
  during absence
• Limited capacity within HR to monitor,
  coordinate, coach, act as sentinel, etc
• Culture Environment
• Inconsistent management styles / approach /
  communication
• Wellness Benefits
• Difficulty identifying trends related to
  attendance
• Management perceptions of attendance support or
  RTW programs are not always positive
• Data Analysis Reporting
• Data not timely or consistent (misuse of other
  coding category, inconsistent coding for supply
  teachers for PD sessions).
• Creating and interpreting reports requires
  advanced technical skills
• Limited Site-based self-service reporting
  available
• Reports not being incorporated into management
  processes
• No benchmarks to measure improvements

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Monitoring Phase - Leading Practices

• Policy Guidelines
• Policy and procedure material distributed to all
  employees.
• Policy applied on a consistent basis through
  monitoring and support of management as well as
  employees
• Refresher training for employees and management
  is ongoing
• Roles Responsibilities
• Ensuring Principal/Supervisor involvement and
  accountability through training and personal
  coaching/planning
• Employees must report absence to
  Principals./Supervisors (Sentinel) in addition to
  using SmartFind Express (supply auto-dispatch
  system)
• Dedicated resource in HR to coordinate Attendance
  Support initiatives and act as coach
• Culture Environment
• Management is supported by standard templates,
  real-time coaching and peer support
• Actions of management are monitored for
  consistency through training
• Proactive employee intervention when trends have
  been identified
• Satisfaction and Commitment Surveys conducted
• Wellness Benefits
• Utilization of programs is measured against
  attendance trends
• Education and statistics provided to all
  management to improve any negative perceptions of
  attendance support or RTW programs
• Data Analysis Reporting
• System automatically flags employees with paterns
  of absenteeism
• Employees Data entry is site-based and monitored
  by HR for accuracy (corrected immediately)

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Key Findings Evaluation Phase Issues

• Policy Guidelines
• Limited ability to evaluate effectiveness of
  policy, program or compliance with policy
• Roles Responsibilities
• Difficulty evaluating individual management or
  departmental performance in supporting Attendance
• Limited capacity or accountability for performing
  and reporting on evaluation.
• Culture Environment
• Culture and environment varies and is difficult
  to evaluate changes or improvements.
• Wellness Benefits
• Limited experience in drawing correlation between
  wellness / benefits use and attendance
• No baseline for wellness
• No wellness program
• Data Analysis Reporting
• Attendance Data not segmented, detailed or
  accurate enough to analyze
• Limited access to financial data necessary for
  conducting cost benefit analysis
• No benchmarks

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Key Findings Evaluation Phase Leading
Practices

• Policy Guidelines
• Evaluate management and employee feedback through
  committee
• Measure the number and type of program-related
  grievances,
• Roles Responsibilities
• Evaluate absence data entry accuracy / compliance
  by facility circulate report to all Principals
  / Facility Managers
• Evaluate caseload and performance of HR
• Survey quality of support provided to managers by
  HR
• In the planning phase dedicate a resource to
  coordinate the evaluation process
• Culture Environment
• Evaluation of satisfaction and commitment surveys
  
• Wellness Benefits
• Evaluate usage and satisfaction of programs as
  well as providers
• Evaluate LTD and RTW for signs of change
• Data Analysis Reporting
• Evaluate attendance by group not on annual result
  but month by month comparison with previous year.
• Annual cost avoidance used to validate funding
  for program / resource
• Ensure attendance tracking system configuration
  and other system (financial) data requirements
  are identified in the plan and someone is
  accountable for reporting

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Attendance Support Implementation Plan

• Dont expect returns on investment or changes in
  culture in the first year
• Be patient, be consistent and continue to
  communicate, communicate communicate and
• Ensure the plan is formal , has been approved by
  the Board and has been incorporated into the
  multi-year improvement plan

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Questions