When we have a vacant seat on our Accountability Chart or a team member goes on extended leave, who should own their weekly scorecard metrics, and how do we prevent these numbers from falling through the cracks?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

In the EOS® framework, every single metric on your scorecard must have one, and only one, owner. When a seat becomes vacant or an employee goes on extended leave, ownership of their weekly metrics must immediately cascade up the Accountability Chart.

The person managing that seat is temporarily responsible for those numbers. They must either track the metrics themselves or delegate the physical data entry to another team member. However, the manager remains fully accountable for whether the target is hit.

Do not allow vacant seat metrics to simply sit idle on your scorecard. If a metric goes unowned, it will be ignored, and you will quickly lose visibility into a critical part of your operations.

During the transition, the manager should review the metrics to determine if they are still the right leading indicators. If the seat is vacant because you are restructuring, this is the perfect opportunity to audit the numbers and ensure they match the future requirements of the role.

Keep the vacant seat metrics on your leadership scorecard and review them during your weekly Level 10 Meeting™. This constant visibility maintains pressure on the hiring process and ensures the leadership team remains aware of the operational gaps created by the vacancy.