Flex time is well received at steel mills. To get and keep needed workers, some employers are going to compressed work weeks, such as four 10-hour days. Part-time schedules and reduced hours to accommodate working parents also are viewed as valuable incentives by workers. Replacing traditional sick days with time-off banks by adding three to five days to annual leave also is successful. A side benefit to this plan is that it encourages a drop in absenteeism, although it's no replacement for good management.
Absenteeism always is lowest where employees want to work.
The most important issue facing workers in the steel industry today probably is security. Workers have been driven to become represented by the United Steelworkers in order to eliminate the old cycle of hiring and laying off. But some of the more successful minimills voluntarily run their mills without layoffs because they recognize that it's to their advantage to retain their workers. Minimills also are empowering their employees by handing off responsibility to them. Workers usually stay or leave because of the way they're treated.