What is Absenteeism Policy?
Absenteeism Policy can be described as a policy that contains all the decisions concerning the employees’ attendance. Decisions regarding sick leaves, paid leave offs, vacation days, etc. comprise of absenteeism policy. Absenteeism policy covers the procedures that the employees need to follow while taking the days off of work. A healthy and flexible absenteeism policy encourages employees to miss out on fewer days at work and to reduce the number of leaves.
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Key takeaways from the Absenteeism Policy:
- Absenteeism Policy is a document setting the procedures, decisions, and guidelines, aiming at reducing absenteeism at work.
- Absenteeism Policy promotes healthy work-life balance and makes employees feel less burdened by work.
- Absenteeism Policy aims at reducing absenteeism which can arise due to a bad working environment, boredom, lack of motivation, etc.
How to use PTO (paid time off) to reduce Absenteeism?
Paid time off (PTO) refers to the concept of fully compensating the employees while they are on leave. Many companies provide compensation to employees when they are on leave to promote work-life balance and to make employees feel less burdened by work. Paid time off refers to the situation where employees are on leave but their salary/wages are not deducted. For instance, any company provides 2 days off of work in one month to all employees, which the employees can use for various reasons, like vacations, sickness, parental reasons, etc. In this way, employees use their paid leaves to cover their problems, and thus, absenteeism is reduced. Paid time off ensures the least financial losses of the employees.
What is to be included in an Absenteeism Policy?
As Absenteeism Policy is a document concerning the procedures, decisions, and guidelines regarding employees’ attendance and leaves. There are some of the inclusions that every absenteeism policy generally has:
1. Purpose of the Policy: The absenteeism policy covers the purpose of defining rules and regulations regarding the employee’s attendance. The policy states the solutions to various workplace problems like, how to deal with the situation in case of excessive absenteeism by any particular employee.
2. Definitions: Any absenteeism policy needs to have some kind of important definitions regarding absence and absenteeism. Expected excuses, unexpected excuses, no-shows, tardiness, leaving early, etc. can be some type of definitions.
3. Concerning Laws: Laws regarding leaves are stated, differently in different sectors and even in countries. Like in the United States, jury duty and disability leave are protected reasons for absence. The company needs to follow such rules and mention them in its absenteeism policy.
4. Absence Procedure: The absenteeism policy needs to have a procedure that the employees need to follow to get their leaves approved.
5. Documents: The absenteeism policy must define the documents that may be needed for specific types of leaves. For instance, a medical certificate, or doctor’s appointment in case of long sick leave.
How can an effective Absenteeism Policy be implemented?
1. Communication: Any policy can be properly implemented by effective communication with organisational people. The same goes for the absenteeism policy. The concerned person must communicate the absenteeism policy with all members of the organisation.
2. Language: Absenteeism policy must be defined in simple and understandable language so that everyone can easily understand the terms and conditions.
3. Involvement of Managers: Any big organisation can face difficulties while implementing an absenteeism policy due to a large number of employees. In such cases, managers must get included and they must be educated to coordinate with the respective teams.
4. Involvement and Feedback: The concerned person must obtain feedback on the absenteeism policy. The absenteeism policy is made for the betterment of employees, it should not be imposed on employees. HRs must promote employee engagement in absenteeism policy.