How to Handle Employee Attendance Problems

It is really frustrating for a manager or business owner to have an employee who can’t seem to come to work when he's scheduled. You’re busy, and the last thing you want to do is to baby-sit an employee or scold him for not coming to work or being late.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Time records
• Warning forms

1. Ask an employee why she was late or absent as soon as possible after the occurrence. Don’t wait until lots of absences pile up. They need to know you’re concerned and have noticed the problem.

2. Ask the employee what she will do to come to work on time or as scheduled. Agree on a plan or steps the employee will take to improve her attendance record.

3. Make a list of all of lateness and absences if the poor attendance keeps up that includes the date, what happened and the reason if you know it. Review this list with the employee. Tell him very clearly that you expect him to come to work when he is scheduled and what will happen if he does not.

4. Write a written warning or memo that summarizes the conversation in Step 3. Give the employee a copy of the memo and have her sign it as an acknowledgment that she received it.

5. Decide on and apply consistent discipline for continued problems. If an employee is late 5 times in a month and gets a written warning, you will not give him another written warning the next time he is late. Identify a standard that will trigger discipline such as late or absent once a week or every Monday. Your standard can have different variables. Communicate your standard so all employees understand the rules.

6. Keep monitoring attendance. Tell the employee when she improves, and when she slips, remind her of the potential consequences for continued attendance problems.

7. If the problem does not improve and you have given the employee warnings, don’t be afraid to fire him for attendance problems. If you have already documented with warnings and told the employee he could be fired, you need to take action to make discipline effective.

Tips & Warnings

• Treat lateness and absences together as attendance problems. In both cases, the employee is not there and someone has to cover for her or your business suffers.
• Treat all employees the same when it comes to attendance. When a really good employee suddenly starts coming in late, don’t ignore it just because she is so valuable. She may try to get away with things because she thinks you favor her. Other employees are watching, and this sets a bad example.
• When a new employee has problems with attendance, take action quickly. If a new person is late and absent, it does not get better. In fact, your standard should be stricter, since a good new employee will be on her best behavior.
• Don’t discipline an employee for taking advantage of his rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). If you are covered under the act and he follows proper procedures, he is protected.
• Don’t keep employees around with poor attendance records because it’s hard to hire new ones. You are setting a standard and example for other employees. Doing this makes lateness and absences acceptable.

Resources

• U.S. Department of Labor