JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri Department of Transportation's ability to deliver more highway construction projects without adding full-time employees has earned the department the  2009 Optimas Award for Service from Workforce Management magazine.

The award recognizes MoDOT's aggressive efforts to reduce employee sick leave use and increase staff attendance. MoDOT employees' sick leave use in 2009 was 130,000 hours less than in 2005. This is an average of 20 hours per employee -- the equivalent of gaining the productivity of 60 employees without increasing staff.

MoDOT's Leave Management Program focuses on decreasing sick leave in order to increase productivity. It has helped MoDOT meet increased construction needs without adding additional full-time employees. The program helps to reduce unscheduled absences that can disrupt a supervisors' ability to deliver results.

The program educates both employees and supervisors on the proper use of sick leave. Supervisors receive information about how to manage employees with sick leave patterns that indicate misuse, teaching them how to set expectations for attendance and hold employees accountable. In addition, the program provides strategies for discouraging unscheduled use of annual leave.

"This program has been successful because of human resources staff working with supervisors and employees across the state," said Micki Knudsen, MoDOT's human resources director. "It's just another example of how we strive to provide value to our customers."

Optimas Awards are presented to companies across the globe in recognition of workforce management initiatives that directly improve business results.

All Optimas Award winners are featured in the December issue of Workforce Management magazine and online at http://www.workforce.com/.

###