What is an attendance policy? 

While many small practices have a family environment, it’s an HR best practice to have an official policy to handle unscheduled, as well as scheduled, time off on short notice. Having an absence management policy in place helps to avoid conflict by establishing clear communication expectations for both employer and employee. 

Every practice should have their documented absence management policy for both scheduled and unscheduled absences in their employee handbook. 

Elements of an Absence Management Policy

Handling unscheduled absences in a clear, consistent way helps to maintain a harmonious working environment so that everyone is treated equally. Details may vary, but common elements include:

1. Pay -- Will employees be required to use unused paid time off before unpaid time for these absences?

2. Maternity and paternity leave details

3. For sick days, how many days until a doctor’s note is needed for evidence of incapacity? 

4. In the case of a longer-term illness, what is the policy for altered duties or part-time work/flexible hours in consultation with a doctor, keeping the employee’s health as the top priority?

5. Notification procedures

   • Specify when an employee must notify the office - and who they should notify. For instance, within one hour of the start of their normal work day. 

   • What is the reason for the time off and when do they think they can come back to work.

   • The office manager or the employee’s manager will check with other team members  to ensure necessary work is covered.

   • How long after an employee doesn’t show up for work before the office will attempt to contact them or assume that it’s voluntary job abandonment.

6. Returning to work after an absence

7. Create consequences. These don’t have to be punitive and can involve coaching to help frequent offenders. However, repeated violations that cause disruptions in service and increase stress on other staff should have consequences. You need to decide on the escalation steps you’ll go through for violations of policy, from disciplinary action to termination.   

8. How is paid time off accrued and how can it be used?

9. Keep track of all absences. HR for Health can do this for you.

The policy should also provide for a previously excused absence as well. In this case, an employee requests leave in advance (for example, you could choose 48 hour advanced notice, or 72, it’s up to you to choose the timeframe that works best for your practice) from his or her immediate manager. The policy needs to cover instances when the employee doesn’t have enough paid time off to cover the absence. In such a case, will you allow unpaid time off?

Tracking Absenteeism

You need to be able to track employee days off. On the positive side, days off ensure everyone is getting much-needed vacation time to avoid burn-out and to relax. On the negative side, taking time off builds a case for termination for employees who are repeatedly, late, take unexpected days off, and/or routinely leave early.

A key component of the HR for Health platform is a simple, easy-to-use time and attendance tracking functionality that keeps track of all days off, requests, etc., in each employee’s folder so that it’s easy to identify patterns and act accordingly. Employees can also keep track of their remaining time off too. 

Excessive Absenteeism

Your practice needs to define excessive absenteeism so appropriate corrective actions, up to and including employee dismissal, can be done legally. 

A common policy is defining excessive absenteeism as three or more unexcused absences (as outlined in your absence management policy) within a 90 day period or two unexcused absences in a calendar month.

Each unexcused absence must be addressed. Here is a three-step example (the time frame can be longer or shorter depending on how you choose to address this issue) to address excessive absenteeism: 

• First offence -- a warning that another unexcused absence will lead to disciplinary action as well as written counseling.
• Second offence -- another counseling session and a warning that a third offense will lead to termination.
• Third offense -- termination of employment.

Job Abandonment

Another form of absenteeism is job abandonment. Any employee who fails to report to work for a period of time without contacting his or her practice leader can be considered to have abandoned the job and voluntarily terminated their employment. It’s common for this to be two or three days and the time period must be specified in your employee handbook. For more, read How to Identify Job Abandonment & 3 Actions You Can Take.

Reducing Absenteeism

One of the best ways to minimize unexcused absences is to have well-understood policies for vacation and sick time, absences, and a clear absenteeism policy. When employees know they have the security of paid time off (PTO) via sick leave and/or vacation days, they are both more inclined to show loyalty to you and your practice’s rules and also to take greater care in scheduling their days off. 

Of course, the best way to reduce absenteeism is to hire great employees and then treat them well. Proven methods that reduce absenteeism include:

• Wellness programs that help employees remain healthy
• A generous vacation policy
• Paid sick leave
• Reduced stress levels in the practice
• Offer a flexible schedule and/or telecommuting for employees returning to work after time off from an illness or temporary disability help for employees returning to work after an illness or time off for temporary disability through telecommuting or a flexible schedule

Being Absent Versus Tardiness

Being tardy -- taking longer breaks or being late to work -- is important to track for hourly employees. You need a way to keep track of their time in and out to accurately pay them. While salaried employees are generally different, frequent tardiness is not acceptable either. 

You need to determine penalties for ongoing tardiness, from verbal to written warnings to escalating to more forceful repercussions. 

Review Your Absentee Policy

Laws change. Be sure to review your policy every two years to ensure that you are up-to-date with laws and regulations that affect your practice. 

Are you tired of keeping a manual spreadsheet (or worse, email or nothing at all) to track employees’ time? We’re here to help, schedule time to talk with us today.