A culture shift
After the dining team of Penn State University in Univerity Park, Pa., delayed penalties for a late call-off, the last-minute cancellations and no-shows dropped. In the past, workers would receive a warning after the very first time they dropped out of a shift less than an hour before the scheduled start time. Now managers coach the students and assign points that carry no penalty until the accumulated number hits a threshold. “Managers sit down with workers and say, ‘Thanks for calling, but we ask for an hour,’” says Jim Meinecke, residential dining coordinator for the university. “They try to get down to the bottom of the problem instead of immediately giving a warning. It’s really a shift in culture more than anything else.”
Each late call-off dings employees three points, and after accumulating 10 points, they're let go.