How do you build a schedule assuming people will show up… when you know they won’t? This is the daily headache for plant managers. You’ve got orders lined up, machines ready, supervisors scheduled, and then the day-of callouts start rolling in. Suddenly the plan you made yesterday is useless today.
The truth is, most companies are still planning based on rosters on paper instead of attendance in reality. That’s why operations leaders across industries (manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, food service) keep getting blindsided.
The Unreliable Labor Problem
The numbers don’t lie:
- Absence rates are consistently high in exactly the industries that rely on shift work: healthcare support (4.3%), food prep/serving (3.8%), and production/transportation roles (3.4%).
- Monthly quits in food service run at 4.1%, which compounds to nearly 40% turnover annually.
- Even with temp labor, the median no-show rate is ~5%, rising to 20% in commercial/light industrial staffing.
Notes
¹ BLS (CPS) – Absence rates by occupation (Table 47, 2024): https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat47.htm
² BLS (JOLTS) – Table 4, quits rate for Accommodation & Food Services: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t04.htm
³ Spotlight Data summary of SIA survey (no-show rates): https://www.spotlightdata.co/median-5-of-temps-are-no-shows-but-rate-varies-by-segment-sia-report-59778/
Do the math: On a 10-person production line, if every worker has just a 5% chance of not showing, the odds of being fully staffed that day are only about 60%. At a 10% no-show rate, that drops to 35%.
That’s why line managers and schedulers feel like they’re gambling every day.
Why This Breaks Production
Operations is a gated system: if one role isn’t filled, the whole process slows or stalls.
- In food manufacturing, federal audits show absenteeism is a key driver of slower line speeds.
- In hospitals, OR blocks close and beds sit empty not because demand isn’t there—but because the staff isn’t.
- In warehouses, 40–50% of operators report lost revenue directly tied to staffing shortfalls.
On paper, you’ve got enough people. In reality, you don’t.
Why Traditional Staffing Fails
Here’s the problem with relying on resumes, interviews, or even multiple temp agencies: none of those tools help you forecast reality. They only give you a list of names.
And as WAE founder Lindsay McCutchen says:
“Hiring is broken for entry-level roles. It’s not about how many resumes you collect; it’s about how many people actually show up, stay, and perform”.
A Smarter Way to Staff
At WAE, we’ve spent nearly two decades solving this exact problem. We knew traditional staffing wasn’t enough. That’s why we built a platform that turns unreliable labor into predictable labor with four core advantages:
- On-demand staffing: Fill roles in hours, not days. One platform handles on-demand staffing, temp-to-perm, and direct hire staffing services.
- Reliability scoring: Every worker has a live reliability score based on attendance, cancellations, and completion rates—so you’re not guessing.
- Operational visibility: Real-time data on who’s working, who showed, and who’s next in line, something no traditional temp agency can provide.
- Rapid fill rates: We’ve filled 94 shifts in under four hours for a major event. That’s not luck; that’s system-level reliability.
Real Results
When LiDestri Foods (a major NY manufacturer) moved from traditional staffing to WAE, they achieved:
- 95%+ fill rates (vs. industry averages closer to 60%)
- 30% reduction in overtime costs
- A pipeline of 30+ direct hires from WAE’s worker pool
That’s what happens when you plan for reliable attendance instead of just a headcount.
The Bottom Line
You can’t keep betting production on unreliable labor. Schedules built on guesswork aren’t schedules; they’re gambles.
It’s time to shift from staffing chaos to staffing clarity.
WAE helps manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and food service companies across Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse, NY, and in 48 states nationwide, staff and manage hourly workforces with confidence.
If you’re tired of guessing who will show up, let’s talk. Because you can’t plan production without reliable people, and WAE was built to deliver exactly that.
