With this objective in mind, Oxean worked with La Salteña on a series of communication actions intended to bring about a cultural change in the relationship between work teams, encouraging more dialogue and less distance.
• The Challenge
Our Client was experiencing increasing absenteeism over the last few years. The absenteeism rate went from 6% to 9.3% in only three years. There were communication gaps between workers and supervisors, and it became necessary to change the way of relating to them and show that it is not a matter of indifference whether workers are present or absent.
• What did we do?
We worked as a team with our client to set into motion a plan where everyone would contribute their best. The strategy was based on involving workers’ families, building more dialogue between work teams, training for leadership and recognizing small actions.
The first step included 3 awareness actions:
- Communication with absenteeism indicators in the cafeteria
- Absentee calendar
- Recognition of workers who had not been absent for more than 2 days in the previous year. It involved inviting workers and their families to spend a day at the plant.
These were surprise actions intended to raise awareness about absenteeism.
The next step was working on leadership matters through communication training and ‘coaching for leaders’ workshops. It focused on changing how management related to their work teams, promoting bonding with them and encouraging positive dialogue.
Other actions included:
An attendance recognition program offering monthly, six-monthly and annual prizes to workers who were never or almost never absent from work.
A communication campaign called ‘We count on you.’
• Results
Our challenge was to bring the absenteeism rate back down to 7% ─the average rate for industrial plants across the country. This target was not only met, but also exceeded within the first month of the campaign. Today the absenteeism rate is no more than 6.7%.
