How to Speak With Employees About Poor Attendance - Contract Recruiter Set alarms on your phone to remind you to start getting ready for events and alarms to remind you to leave in order to reach your destination on time. As a business owner, you get to decide how many absences are too many. Applying Performance and Conduct Standards to Employees with Your submission has been received! That way, you can spell out the specifics of your policy, so every employee knows the details and is held to the same standard. You must respond quickly, directly, and consistently to any problems with attendance. However, if you are dealing with an employee who has excessive absences, you must also be sensitive and determine if there is a compelling reason for the missed time. In many organizations, employees are entitled to a certain number of excused absences, which may include paid time off (PTO) or sick leave. Under federal rules, you may make deductions from exempt employees' salaries for unpaid disciplinary suspensions of one or more full days imposed in good faith for serious misconduct, such as sexual harassment, workplace violence, drug or alcohol use, or for violations of state or federal laws. The nuances of docking pay for absenteeism are significant, so to avoid penalties, the best course of action is to seek advice before docking pay. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. The optimists included not only individuals but also companies eager to get staff back into offices after more than a year of working remotely. Expectations for Exempt Employees - Storehouse How To Deal With Excessive Employee Absenteeism: 12 Proven Methods - Forbes Before you go and make accusations, be sure you have documentation to prove that the absent employee really did not report for work. In addition, HR Works will be hosting an HR Bootcamp on May 1st and 2nd which covers many of the topics discussed in this article. 3. hiring people, managing performance, rewarding people, etc.). if(currentUrl.indexOf("/about-shrm/pages/shrm-china.aspx") > -1) { With increased attention paid to absences, youll want to ensure that you dont inadvertently create any compliance issues with how absenteeism is addressed. People have doctor appointments. Absenteeism refers to an employee's regular absence from their job. Can You Terminate an Employee for Excessive Absenteeism? Team members making a habit out of excessive late arrivals, missing work, and early departures is a major problem across multiple industries. Updated Daily. As a prior multiple-location business owner, Eric knows all about time collection, scheduling, and everything in-between. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 139,908 times. Employee Absenteeism and the ADA - FindLaw The key is to pay exempt employees their weekly salary without any reduction for quality or quantity of work. This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. All the employee needs to do is use their phone to text that theyll be out. 2023 HR Works, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Last Updated: November 15, 2021 That is, unless someone is thoroughly abusing their workplace or companys vacation policy or sick leave. Absenteeism is what happens when an employee begins to chronically miss work. Your session has expired. For example, a policy might permit employees to have no more than five unplanned absences during a 12-month period, after which they will be subject to progressive discipline or termination. Or maybe your employees car broke downand, as a result, they were tardy a few days in a row while they figured out the best way to get to work using the public transportation system. Dont wait to address attendance issues. If we want to boost attendance, we need to inspire them with a clear organizational purpose. The ruling in the court case of Williams v. AT&T Mobility Services LLC shows us the importance of demonstrating when an employee is unable to perform the essential job function of regular attendance and punctuality. Scott M. Wich is an attorney with Clifton Budd & DeMaria LLP in New York City. Increases in absenteeism and tardiness can be especially frustrating when they involve exempt salaried employees because many practices often used to curb those issues may not be permitted. Sometimes the dizzying array of obligations can make an employer reluctant to terminate a worker based on attendance issues. In early October 2014, the employee was warned that he had been absent without leave for a total of 110 hours. Absenteeism is expensive to employers, bosses and co-workers and can cost repeat offenders their job. Call a meeting with your employee and let them know how they were in violation of your attendance policy, what disciplinary actions are being taken, and what progressive discipline theyll face if they dont comply with your attendance policy moving forward. Excused absences are those that are considered legitimate and acceptable reasons for an employee to miss work. Upper management or entry-level employeesit makes no difference when it comes to enforcing the rules around excessive absenteeism. - Laura Spawn, Virtual Vocations, Inc. Culture lives in the way things get done (e.g. require an exempt employee who fails to report to work to take vacation or make leave bank deductions without jeopardizing the employee's exempt . What has changed? } If youre interested in how such an app might help your team members improve their accountability, click here to learn more about Buddy Punch. When he returned to work on Oct. 28, he requested that his absences since Oct. 23 be treated as FMLA-protected. Explain how their absenteeism is negatively impacting your business and their co-workers. [1] Sometimes, employees have compelling reasons for being absent. 1. However, there was no evidence that the employee had requested such a transfer. Learn how to write a warning letter that is both to the point and constructive. Examples of unexcused absences include skipping work without notice, taking an unplanned personal day, missing work without approval, or failing to provide adequate documentation for an absence. Expand your toolbox with the tools and techniques needed to fix your organizations unique needs. Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. While some use limited paid sick-leave or offer incentives for perfect attendance, these can also adversely influence ill employees to come to work, endangering others. Before talking with the employee, check with your HR representative. Excessive absenteeism can have severe consequences on your companys well-being and operational stability. If so, youve probably asked yourself why, too. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. What is considered when categorizing excessive absences? With a flexible work schedule, if an employee is running late or has an appointment in the morning, the employee can arrive feeling confident that their arrival time will bear no adverse impact to their work day. Why talking to your hourly employees and getting to the root cause of excessive absenteeism is more effective than automatic disciplinary actions. This encourages your employees to keep you in the loop when something comes up, and they wont be able to work. The short answer is yes, you can. 1. With TeamSense, a simple text message records call-offsand alerts managers of the absencein real-time. This can lead to a decrease in job satisfaction and an increase in turnover. Create a generous work-from-home policy -- oftentimes, employers take sick days for reasons other than being sick. They typically involve circumstances beyond an employee's control, such as illness, or family emergencies. Absenteeism can be a costly problem for any business, but the impact on small businesses can be especially severe. A formal attendance policy can help ensure that attendance problems are dealt with fairly. The employee brought a lawsuit challenging his termination. $("span.current-site").html("SHRM China "); % of people told us that this article helped them. The underlying cause matters. When your employees dont show up for their shift, your company can suffer severe consequences, including a drop in employee morale, financial damages, and operational inefficiency. Employees with disabilities are not exempt from these policies as a general rule. Among other things, the law requires payment for " overtime" work at one-and-a-half times an employee's hourly rate. Once youve discovered the pattern of excessive employee absenteeism, its time to sit down and have a one-on-one conversation with the team member. A simple-to-use attendance management system is perfect for this and works far better than an Excel spreadsheet to prove your point. Theres no clunky app to worry about pushing out to your employees and talking them into downloading. Before you move forward with disciplinary action, you should talk to the absent employee about their absenteeism. Often, a simple conversation is all it takes to bring the issue to your employees attention and get their attendance back on track. Work/life balance. It is also important to note that an employer cannot proceed with employee termination without undergoing other steps. Simply chastising employees who miss work regularly might have been an approach that worked in the past, but the 21st century requires a more creative and understanding approach when dealing with this issue. annual leave, sick leave or personal leave) could be a form of accommodation under the ADA. And if you really want to motivate your team, make things competitive and add in prize rewards to promote excellent attendance. The. *By clicking the button you agree to TeamSense's, *By filling out the form you agree to TeamSense's, Connect with your entire hourly workforce, Get feedback from every member of your team, How to Conduct an Exit Interview (with 50 Sample Questions). He alleged that his employer had violated the FMLA, by denying his leave request, and the ADA, by failing to provide him with a reasonable accommodation. How do Absences Impact an Exempt Employee's Salary? {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/7\/7d\/Deal-with-Excessive-Absenteeism-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Deal-with-Excessive-Absenteeism-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/7\/7d\/Deal-with-Excessive-Absenteeism-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid1291190-v4-728px-Deal-with-Excessive-Absenteeism-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"