Stop Counting Butts in Seats — It's Time to Measure Real Work, Not Attendance

How much attention should you pay to your employee attendance? Managers should explore alternative approaches that allow them to oversee their teams while empowering them.

Businesses increasingly adopt remote or hybrid work models to address contemporary health, safety and lifestyle priorities. Fewer and fewer managers link their employees' performance exclusively to their physical attendance and desk presence.

They have a point — there's convincing proof that granting employees flexibility can boost productivity compared to rigid 9-to-5 schedules. But what does this mean for managers? Can they simply let their teams run wild without any oversight? If attendance is an outdated measure of productivity, should managers completely disregard it?