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Posted by Ask a Manager

https://www.askamanager.org/2025/06/our-customer-facing-staff-keep-calling-out-or-leaving-work-because-theyre-too-stressed.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=31642

A reader writes:

I work in HR for a community bank with over 500 employees and 50+ locations. Our supervisors are asking for help in navigating the more regular requests from customer-facing staff (think tellers) for mental health days. Or employees arrive for work but ask to go home because they are stressed/have anxiety/simply cannot do it.

In the cases that we are concerned about, it is happening semi-regularly – two to three times per month. If it happened once per year, our answer in HR would be easy – everyone has times when they are overwhelmed by life, and we need to allow an employee a day off without repercussions.

For employees who are eligible and have the ability to provide a medical certification, we go through the FMLA process and provide time off as is appropriate under the certification. We struggle, though, with the semi-regular requests from employees when supervisors feel that an employee is not really trying … and where FMLA does not seem to apply.

We have limited mental health resources, but we do have an EAP with a 24-hour hotline number and our medical insurance covers mental health needs. We provide reminders about these resources regularly, and especially when we are working with an employee who reaches out to HR or their supervisor. As a HR practitioner, I empathize with the employees who are struggling. Yes – sometimes, an employee doesn’t appear to be trying, but let’s listen to our employees and consider that they are truly in a situation that is overwhelming to them at the moment. I also understand how hard it is to staff a branch location when an employee does not report for work and there are customers who need assistance.

We will be offering some training around this issue for our supervisors. This will give us an opportunity to remind them that if the frequency is an issue, FMLA might apply. If FMLA does not apply, we do remind our supervisors that everyone needs grace sometimes. Our supervisors, though are trying to take care of our customers, and they are caught in the middle at times.

Can you help us with some scripting for our conversations with the supervisors? And also for their conversations with employees who are missing work? I have worked in HR for many years, but I am struggling with finding the right balance for these conversations.

First, I think you need to get clear on how many of these last-minute absences you can accommodate when FMLA or the ADA isn’t in play.

A handful of times a year shouldn’t be a big deal. But “I can just can’t handle work today” happening two to three times per month is a lot, and past the point most customer-facing, shift-based jobs could accommodate without a legal protection in play.

The conversation to coach supervisors to have with employees who fall in that category is: “We do rely on you to be here reliably, outside of the paid time off we offer. While I fully understand that sometimes something can hit without warning, it’s happened so frequently lately that I want to make sure we’re on the same page about what we need in terms of reliable attendance, so that you can figure out if this is a job that works for you.”

That completely removes the “supervisors feel that an employee is not really trying” part of this. They shouldn’t assume they can assess that with accuracy — but more importantly, they don’t need to. They just need to focus on a clear, transparent conversation of “this is what we need, let’s figure out if this can be a match for our respective needs or not.”

But also, is there something going on that’s behind all these requests? Are employees being overworked or treated poorly (either by customers or managers)? Multiple people “simply not being able to face work” two to three times a month is unusually high, and I’d want to find out what’s behind that.

The post our customer-facing staff keep calling out or leaving work because they’re too stressed appeared first on Ask a Manager.

https://www.askamanager.org/2025/06/our-customer-facing-staff-keep-calling-out-or-leaving-work-because-theyre-too-stressed.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=31642