Poverty, Attendance, Hidden Rules, and the Truth About Retention

Each year around Thanksgiving, most of us reflect on abundance. This year I found myself reflecting on poverty instead – how it shapes people’s lives, how it shapes their work, and how employers can realistically help.

My interest isn’t academic. It’s tied directly to a core challenge we address with clients every day: how to retain employees who come from tough, disadvantaged backgrounds, especially in a labor market where the workforce is shrinking and turnover hits harder than ever.

A Personal Starting Point

I grew up in a run-down neighborhood on the north side of Pittsburgh. We weren’t poor; we were lower middle class with parents who made sure we had what we needed. Like most kids, we assumed our world was normal.

But it wasn’t poverty.

In Bridges Out of Poverty, authors Payne, DeVol, and Smith define poverty as “the extent to which an individual does without resources.” And they list nine resource categories that go far beyond money: emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, relationships/role models, knowledge of hidden rules, and coping strategies.

These are the resources that determine whether someone can show up to work consistently – not because they lack commitment, but because they lack stability.

The Reality Many Employers Miss

In my early management years, I clung to a naïve equation:
work = money = a way out of poverty
Therefore, I assumed employees battling poverty would protect their jobs at all costs.

But stories like this corrected that thinking:

“Like many individuals who live in poverty, Sally doesn’t know the middle-class rules about not missing work or being late. She has brought her poverty-culture rules to work…The supervisor, operating from a middle-class orientation, is baffled by Sally’s chaotic lifestyle, unreliable childcare, and lack of consistent transportation.”

Sally wasn’t lazy. She was operating with scarce emotional and practical resources. And in today’s labor market – one defined by low population growth, low immigration, and persistent shortages in frontline roles – Sally is not rare. She is increasingly the backbone of the U.S. workforce.

Workforce Realities Have Shifted – Turnover Has Not

In Targeting Turnover, I make the point that the top reason employees stay or quit is the same today as it was 30 years ago: trust in their immediate supervisor. That hasn’t changed.

But the context around attendance has.

Employers today take bigger chances on imperfect candidates because they must. Retention has become an economic imperative, and one absence-prone employee can cost far more than their paycheck.

So the question becomes:
How can we hire and retain candidates who may not have the resources or “hidden rules” of middle-class work culture?

Here are proven strategies.

Before Hire: Set Clear Expectations and Screen for Realities

Clarity saves everyone disappointment. Here’s what works:

• Make your attendance policy painfully clear. Don’t bury it. Say it out loud. Put it in writing.
• Tell a true story about an ex-employee who didn’t make it because of attendance – no names, full context.
• Explain your call-out procedure and make clear that communication is required.
• Ask directly about transportation and childcare, then probe for reliability.
• Ask for a confidence rating (1–10) on meeting your attendance expectations for the first 90 days.
• Invite the candidate to opt out if they can’t commit.

These steps don’t eliminate risk – but they help candidates make an honest assessment before you hire them.

After Hire: Coach to the Real Issues

Once on board, you can ask more specific questions – always with supportive tone, not interrogation:

• What’s your back-up childcare plan?
• What’s your back-up transportation plan?
• What happens on mornings when things go wrong?
• What do you wish you had in place that would make it easier to get here consistently?

Talk through options. Solutions that seem obvious to you may not be visible to someone navigating daily instability.

This coaching builds trust – and trust builds retention.

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Further Reading: From Resignation to Detachment: The Workforce Crisis Has Evolved

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Accountability Matters: Change “Attendance” to “Attendance/Bad Hire”

One of the central themes in Targeting Turnover is that retention improves when managers own accountability.

If a new hire washes out in the first 90 days because of attendance and we mark the exit reason simply as “attendance,” we learn nothing. The category provides no solutions and no responsibility for hiring decisions.

Changing the exit reason to “attendance/bad hire” signals this:

• We controlled the selection process.
• We took the risk.
• We need to improve how we assess attendance reliability.

Sometimes HR screens more carefully; sometimes hiring managers do. What matters is shifting from “the employee failed us” to “we chose the wrong candidate based on the information we had.”

Accountability raises decision quality. Decision quality raises retention.

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Further Reading: Stop Chasing “Fuzzy” Engagement Scores – Start Driving Accountability

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The Bigger Message

As the U.S. workforce continues to shrink and competition intensifies, organizations cannot afford to ignore the realities of poverty – or to hope attendance challenges solve themselves.

We can’t fix every challenge in a new hire’s life.
But we can control:

• How clearly we set expectations
• How we screen for reliability
• How we coach early
• How we hold ourselves accountable for hiring decisions

And those levers move retention.

Want to Cut Turnover in Your Frontline Roles?

If you’re struggling with attendance, early exits, or frontline retention, let’s talk.

Email me at dfinnegan@c-suiteanalytics.com to schedule a free strategy session. I’ll listen, probe deeply, and work with you to identify the exact levers that will reduce turnover and strengthen your workforce.

Connect engagement, retention, and accountability in your organization.
Read Targeting Turnover: Making Managers Accountable to Win the Workforce Crisis.
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