Question 1:

In the hospital when a nurse calls in it makes it difficult for everyone. And if a replacement cannot be found to work for the nurse that calls in the work load is divided among the nurses who did come to work. There are co-workers that never call in and some come to work sick. We have nurses that call in every weekend and it makes the work load unsafe. When a nurse is overloaded and tired they tend make more mistakes and they will not have a good attitude. When someone is late everyday it will cause the leaving shift to have to work overtime. Overtime is frowned upon and it is not in the budget. Many believe that a person that calls in or is absent all the time may have a lot of personal problems. Wolters, 2006 CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey, states "Employers report they use an average of six absence control programs, unchanged from 2005. Disciplinary Action remains the single-most used absence control program, with virtually all (97 percent) surveyed organizations reporting its use. The other leading absence control programs in use are Yearly Review (82 percent), Verification of Illness (79 percent), Paid Leave Banks (70 percent) and Personal Recognition (68 percent)." (p.1)

I would like to say I would use an incentive program that gave rewards and disciplinary actions for employees that come to work on time and are not later. On a website HR for Dummies they give this advice "Used effectively, incentives help build employee motivation and engagement. Employers need to use more incentives to help build employee morale and to ensure that employees feel appreciated for their contributions."

Question 2:

In my current position, absenteeism is a pain and doubles the work load or at some levels completely stops everything. If I or my boss are not in the office, the other has to pick up the slack and do their respective tasks and the tasks of the other. A day here or a day there is not that big of deal but sometimes one of has to leave for several weeks at a time for training and during those times it can be very frustrating. Luckily, we are both motivated employees and enjoy our jobs, so we are not taking off all of the time for unnecessary reasons. We have also cross trained each other so that in the event we have to cover down on the other we can. Cross training is training employees to do different tasks or jobs than their own, which facilitates flexibility and job rotation. (Dessler, 2013, p. 262) I just wish the levels above me would do this. It is very frustrating to call the office above my level and ask to get something done and be told that the one person that handles that is out of the office for a week and no one else can do their job, or all the other people in that office are too lazy to do that job while that individual is out.

Question 3:

As a manager of sales training for AFLAC, I would design my initial training session based on information new employees need to function, and information that help employees feel emotionally attached to the firm. The components used in the training program are making employees feel welcomed and part of the team, giving employees the basic information to function efficiently, making sure employees understand organizational strategies, culture, vision etc, and helping socialize new employees into the firm's way of doing things. I would also use technology to support orientation. For example, putting some of the orientation on the web to make it more clear and accessible. I would create a company survey to judge how successful my training program was. Direct feedback is one of the key measures in establishing success and comparing results over time

Question 3:

How would you go about designing an initial orientation and training session for them?

I would design the initial orientation and the training based on the initial interview of the employees. I will make sure that they understand the company goals, culture, and organizational strategies. "The training needs to be meaningful, make the skills learned transfer easily, the learning must be reinforced, and there you must ensure of the transfer of learning to the job" Dressler, G, 2013, p. 252)

What components should be in this training program?

The component that I would put in place for the training program at AFLAC is to make sure that all employees understand the company policy. I will make sure that every employee goes through the new employee orientation and understand the procedures and policy. I will ensure that every employee have accessed to the portal and all the training that is available to make them at AFLAC.

What criteria would you use to judge how successful your training program is a year later?

I would put in training program that evaluate the program during the initial orientation. I will send a survey to all new employee after a year to see if their anything that needs to change within the company. I will look at all the sales over the past years and see what needs to be improved or changed.