The time and attendance policy is a collection of rules and laws for your workforce about the working hours of and timings to report to work. This type of policy is important to run the business successfully.
So, let us check out how to create a time and attendance policy, and what it should address.
Your time and attendance policy should address your office hours. The official working hours is the duration of time in each working day of the week when you wan
t your employees to come on time, be present at work, or be available to start work on time if the employee is working remotely.
This is significant if:
Also, if the office hours or timings are flexible, it is important to communicate it to your employees. Communicate if:
If you need your employees to remain available via email, text or phone, outside of their working hours, then you must communicate it openly to them. It is especially important for employees who are required to stay available outside thor working hours.
This section is about employees who report late to work despite the specified office hours, without any concrete reason for this behaviour. The policy should clarify:
This section is about employees who regularly stay absent from work for no particular reason. Or, even while at the office, they take long breaks, which often exceeds the time limit. They are often not at their seat and sometimes leave the work premise during official hours without permission. They fail to log in and log out repeatedly during the office hours without good reason. You are usually unaware of their whereabouts or what work they do during their working hours.
Excessive absenteeism or unprofessional behaviour from an employee is among some very common problems for companies, one that makes the rest of the workforce unproductive. It kills the morale of the other employees and fosters negativity and resentment among the others who work diligently and sincerely. A strict code of conduct will help restore faith and confidence among the other team members.
Your absenteeism policy should include:
You must explain to the employees about the number of paid leaves which they are entitled to get in one year. The paid leaves many include:
A few companies club sick leaves with the vacation leaves to offer greater flexibility to their employees.
Also, explain about:
Remember that the overtime work done by the employees may increase the expected annual rate of accrual. So, communicate your rules about the overtime in the policy.
Moreover, check the laws of the states where you have your operations to ensure that it is compliant with the rules of law.
The document should include the policy about communication with the management. Your employees should know the proper method of communication to notify their reporting manager if they will be absent or late for work. You must precisely mention your preferred communication channel, whether it is email, phone and/or text message.
As discussed, in the previous subtopic, you should precisely mention the formal process to request for paid and/or vacation leaves. You must also mention the manner in which the employees have to request for leaves. Every request should be properly documented including the genuine reason for taking the leaves. Explain the process of leaving documentation, i.e., whether you want the request to be sent via email, or a verbal meeting.
This section should clearly and precisely explain the disciplinary steps that the company would take when the employee violates the time and attendance policy. The main objective of highlighting this section is that your employees should never be shocked or surprised by the punitive action taken against them by the company.
A typical disciplinary process should include the following warnings in this exact order:
You may opt to list the number of times the offence is committed before advancing to the next level. You may also opt not to do so. Sometimes, employees become too savvy to work around the rules and make a mockery of your disciplinary process.
Therefore, create the rules and the necessary disciplinary actions but do keep an element of surprise for the employees by catching them off guard.
Before you initiate the disciplinary action try to find out the reason for such behaviour. For instance, if the employee is coming late to work on more than 3 instances, speak with them and try to find their reason for such behaviour. This will help you identify the cause, and if it is in your purview and is genuine, you could try to introduce a solution rather than give the employee a warning.
You can take it on an individual case basis. Maintain clear and open dialogues with your employee, to let her or him know about their unprofessional behaviour. This is when you should attempt to find the reasons before deciding whether the problems can be solved or the employee should be put under disciplinary action.
It is also critical to document every disciplinary action.
A company’s time and attendance policy is a very important policy, which should be documented properly.
You should provide this policy to each of your employees in a written document — either electronically or through print. Plus, this policy should be covered in the employee handbook.
When you hand this policy to your employees, instruct them to read it, sign on it and return with the acknowledgement that they have read it thoroughly and understand it. The best time to undertake this activity is when onboarding new hires.
Demonstrating the time and attendance policy and its acceptance by your employees, by way of signing it, can and will protect you in case of a legal battle.
A policy holds importance only if it is properly implemented within the organization. Therefore, set the right expectations from the beginning itself. Clearly communicate that all policies, including this one, apply to every employee regardless of their hierarchy. This will send a clear message that every employee despite their seniority is covered under the policy. It builds seriousness about the time and attendance policy.
Poor attendance unnecessarily creates a negative work atmosphere. It puts pressure on other employees to make up for the late attendance of their team members. The attendance policy avoids such an eventuality.
This way, you can effectively create, and implement the time and attendance policy. Every company should possess an elaborate time and attendance policy to create a positive atmosphere at work and to enhance the overall productivity of the organization.
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