exempt employee excessive absenteeism

\u00a9 2023 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. Thats just the reality of operating a company with people. Employee absenteeism can be caused by many things, such as health or childcare issues and job dissatisfaction. Usually, you cannot terminate an employee on grounds of absenteeism if you only expect that the employee will miss excessive amounts of work; instead, there must be an actual record of absenteeism. Build specialized knowledge and expand your influence by earning a SHRM Specialty Credential. Absenteeism can be a costly problem for any business, but the impact on small businesses can be especially severe. Once you have in place a policy clearly describing the type of discipline that can and will occur for absenteeism or tardiness, you are entirely within your rights to apply the policy, so long as it is applied equally and in a nondiscriminatory fashion. - Zain Hasan, Risk Strategies Company. When employers arent offering competitive paid time off programs, they see that not only are they losing potential employees to their competitors, but the employees that they do hire have significantly lower productivity and higher rates of unplanned absenteeism. Life happensand if you can cut your employees some slack when it does, it will show them that youre invested in them and their place within your company. After hearing from the employee, explain any policies or expectations your workplace has regarding absenteeism. And speaking of special treatment, its key that your company applies the rules fairly to everyoneno matter who it is. So, what can you do about it? According to the Academy to Innovate HR, 1.5% of aggregated absence is illness-related.3 That means that anything above that 1.5% threshold is usually because of non-illness-related reasons, such as personal issues or work conflicts. What is considered when categorizing excessive absences? Employers also frequently implement policies that limit unplanned absences. A written policy levels the playing field, so to speak. different types of absences, including tardiness, move forward with any disciplinary action, A review of your paid time off policy (including the number of days for sick time, vacation time, and any other leave or, The procedure for reporting an unscheduled absence (for example, the procedure for, The number of unexcused/unscheduled workdays that the company considers excessive absenteeism, The disciplinary action employees will face if their absenteeism is deemed excessive, What is considered job abandonment at your company. exempt executive employee. Its Monday morning, March 18th and you start to receive multiple calls from employees saying theyre sickcoughcough Sound familiar? Absenteeism on the job is a major problem for many businesses. People get sick. The system sends you real-time, automated notifications altering you that an employee will be outallowing you time to find coverage for the shift. Think back to which of your employees missed work, came in late, or called in sick over the last month. Privacy Policy ADA Compliance Terms of Use. An employee was absent from work due to multiple medical leaves of absence as well as a number of unauthorized reasons. Members may download one copy of our sample forms and templates for your personal use within your organization. Pursuant to company policy, further unauthorized absences would result in his discharge. HR Works, Inc., headquartered in Upsate New York, is a human resource management outsourcing and consulting firm serving clients throughout the United States. must have some genuine input into job status decisions, such as hiring, firing, promotions, or assignments. Often, these employees are your quiet quitters. Although it is generally understood that some tacticse.g., docking an employees payshould not be used to curb chronic absenteeism or tardiness, there are a few other options employers can try to tackle the problem. We can help! According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 76% of private employers provide paid time off/vacation days; the average number of days provided after one year of employment is 10. You must respond quickly, directly, and consistently to any problems with attendance. With your attendance policy clearly laid out in your employee handbook, use that to help back you up as you talk with your employee about their excessive absenteeism. But eventually, they may get to the point where they just stop showing up altogether. Let the employee know the purpose of the meeting. } Regardless of how reliable and dedicated your team is, there will sometimes be circumstances when they need to miss work. Possible causes of absenteeism include job dissatisfaction, ongoing personal issues and chronic medical problems . With respect to the FMLA claim, the appeals court addressed whether the denial of FMLA leave damaged the employee. For unpaid leave taken by the employee under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act. In addition, having a provision in the handbook regarding non-exempt employees' holiday pay (when applicable) if there's an unplanned paid time off . The policy must be made available to all employees so they have fair warning of the standards to which they will be held. An employee attendance policy is a document that provides your employees with specific policy guidelines regarding attendance. As a prior multiple-location business owner, Eric knows all about time collection, scheduling, and everything in-between. And if you really want to motivate your team, make things competitive and add in prize rewards to promote excellent attendance. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. A formal attendance policy can help ensure that attendance problems are dealt with fairly. Empathize and focus on the agreements. Employees don't have a statutory right to be accompanied at an investigation . With an app like Hourly, you can track when an employee clocks in, and whereand keep an organized record of it all on your phone, or desktop. And as always, when in doubt, managers should know that they need to consult Human Resources. Employers that provide ample PTO will see it reflected in increased employee engagement and reduced absences. Amy Matton, Content Writer, Ark Behavioral Health, Why Employees Quit (and 7 Steps to Retain Them), 6 Steps to Conflict Resolution in the Workplace, Understanding EEO Job Categories for the EEO-1 Report, 7 Tips for Retaining Employees During Addiction Treatment, Bringing Them Back: Key Considerations as Employers Bring Employees Back Into the Office, What Employees Want: Overlooked Insights in Employee Engagement, Global Fertility at Work Report from Carrot Fertility, Quiet Quitting: Definitions, Causes and Tips to Enhance Work Culture, Federal HR Compliance: A Guide for Any Business Size. To cross the line from normal absence into absenteeism, habitually unexcused or unaccounted absences extend beyond the acceptable amount of days away from the workplace, such as for vacation, personal time and illness. Dont make a practice out of forcing employees to sign acknowledgments of policies theyve never seen or cant access. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. However, caution should be exercised. Before, companies used employee time tracking so they can correctly calculate, read more Employee Time Tracking: The Definitive GuideContinue, Youre probably already using your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts for their free PR capabilities. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. 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. For example, you may dock pay forfull-dayabsences if an employee is absent for personal reasons other than sickness or disability, but you may not adjust pay for absences of less than a full day. Tips for writing and implementing an employee attendance policy. You should also consider whether you want to treat excessive tardiness as an issue of absenteeism. Work with the experts.Get in touch with us today. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. For example, employees can earn points for regular and/or consecutive attendance; these points can then be redeemed as necessary for leave or absences. These absences can lead to disciplinary actions, decreased productivity, and even job loss if they become a pattern. The right software or app can help you build your case and provide a wealth of evidence to the employee in question as well as their lawyers. Some are avoidable and others are not. If your employee is dealing with a chronic health condition, that also may make it difficult to come to work sometimes.. Employers are permitted to require exempt employees to clock in and out each day. If, after you talk to your employee, their absenteeism doesnt improve, its time to move forward with any disciplinary action outlined in your employee handbook. How can you prevent your employees from missing an excessive number of workdays? Expand your toolbox with the tools and techniques needed to fix your organizations unique needs. Use our free downloadable attendance policy as a starting point to get everyone back on track! In fact, evaluating your compliance strategy as []. This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Letting excessive absenteeism go on for months before you talk about it does a disservice to everyone involved. Can Pay Transparency Reduce Employee Turnover. It depends where in the world you are and the employee are. The policy should also contain clear disciplinary actions or penalties for employees who violate this policy. Workers are people too, and as HR professionals, it's essential to understand that employees have lives outside of the business. Over and over again. But even when they do, there can still be missed deadlines and work that gets left undone. Carve out a section of your employee handbook to outline your companys attendance policy. 2019 HR Works, Inc. All Rights Reserved. - Courtney Pace, Ph.D., FedEx Employees Credit Assoc. References 17-2250 (June 27, 2018). Hire people who don't like to be told what to do and have a history of being A-players. Excessive absences are a big deal. Service, Inc., 159 St. Matthews Avenue, Suite 5, Louisville, KY 40207, and can. - Laura Spawn, Virtual Vocations, Inc. Culture lives in the way things get done (e.g. If employees are made aware that the employer is consistent in addressing the issue, theyre less likely to test the waters. Leave Protections. Employees missing work typically leads to a drop in productivity, unless the rest of the team picks up the slack. But theres probably something else going on deeper than that. Employees may call in sick because theyre feeling ill or got injured. SHRM defines excessive absenteeism as two or more occurrences of unexcused absence in a 30-day period.2 Thats a valuable data point to use as a gauge for what counts as excessive absenteeism. An exempt employee is someone paid on an hourly basis, someone who makes at least $455 a week, or someone who performs duties that are considered exempt. According to a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked if they notice higher rates of absenteeism surrounding these occurrences, a whopping 72% of employers responded yes. So, what can employers do to try and curb these types of unplanned absences? (E.g. Subscription implies consent to our privacy policy. Upper management or entry-level employeesit makes no difference when it comes to enforcing the rules around excessive absenteeism. Such timekeeping methods and tracking systems can be effective in reminding employees that their timely presence at work is important. The reality is, clearly communicating with an employee about their excessive absenteeism (and addressing the issue head-on) can be tricky. You have successfully saved this page as a bookmark. About 10% of Americans have experienced drug addiction at some point in their lives. Repeated absences on the same day of the week or at the same time. As an employer or manager, you can ask an employee to explain absenteeism, and ask for documentation (such as a doctors note) if necessary. Members offer advice for HR pros looking to combat excessive employee absences. Neuroscience research has shown that employees respond better to rewards and recognition than threats and punishment.5, 6 Instead of fearing the bad, or disciplinary action outcome, many employees are more inspired by positive reinforcement. Its amazing how effective it is to address the issue before it becomes an issue. - Ochuko Dasimaka, Career Heights Consulting, Inc. A flexible work policy not only impacts things like employee well-being, retention and attracting talent positively, but it can also impact employee attendance positively. Team members making a habit out of excessive late arrivals, missing work, and early departures is a major problem across multiple industries. Frequent requests for absences just before or after holidays or other breaks. But team member absences become excessive when they fall above a normal level of absenteeism or become unreasonable. If you issued a final warning and the employee was absent again, it is time to terminate them. By doing so, HR and managers can ensure more effective communication and a more effective conflict resolution process. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. Where we have seen some issues arise is when there are overly restrictive no fault attendance policies that may discriminate against individuals with disabilities. That way, you can spell out the specifics of your policy, so every employee knows the details and is held to the same standard. Say goodbye to no shows that stack up to excessive absenteeism over time. Full-time exempt employees are typically expected to be at work during the university's standard business hours. - John Feldmann, Insperity, There is usually a deeper issue contributing to excess time off. It seems that this would be a given, but many employers struggle with not consistently tracking employee absences. However, because such leave would not have made the employee qualified for employment due to his excessive absenteeism that predated Oct. 23, the appeals court held that the employee was not entitled to such an accommodation. Absenteeism policy is a set of guidelines and procedures with the purpose of reducing the number of work days employees miss. However, if you have noticed your employees missing consecutive days of work for unacceptable reasons or extended periods, you might be dealing with absenteeism. Mental health is also an important factor. Once an employee's absence reaches your pre-defined trigger point, action may commence under your absence management procedure. The key is to pay exempt employees their weekly salary without any reduction for quality or quantity of work. If your company policy or employee handbook says that a warning is issued after three unexcused absences, then be prepared to follow through with those rules. For example, you might decide that excused absences require employees to schedule time off according to your paid time off (PTO) policy. These are divided into three categories, which are executive, professional and administrative. 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. Sometimes the dizzying array of obligations can make an employer reluctant to terminate a worker based on attendance issues. 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. Such technology is already a part of many workplaces and will continue to shape the labor market. In many organizations, employees are entitled to a certain number of excused absences, which may include paid time off (PTO) or sick leave. As a manager, your task is to implement a clear policy regarding time off, and to use your judgment and knowledge of this policy to make a decision concerning how to deal with any cases of excessive absenteeism. This can lead to a decrease in job satisfaction and an increase in turnover. - Lotus Buckner, NCH, 4. 2023 HR Works, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you implement such a system, make sure that it does not put employees on approved leave (such as maternity leave or bereavement) at a disadvantage. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 139,908 times. Thank you so much.". Your email address will not be published. else if(currentUrl.indexOf("/about-shrm/pages/shrm-mena.aspx") > -1) { Its like disciplining a child two weeks after they did something wrong. Therefore, the appeals court concluded that a transfer was not required. require an exempt employee who fails to report to work to take vacation or make leave bank deductions without jeopardizing the employee's exempt . - Angela Persaud, G/O Media, When people have a team mentality, they don't have excessive absences because they know how it will negatively impact the team. work might not be fun, but you're earning money to pay for Netflix. The definition of how many absences equals an excessive amount is up to you and your attendance policy. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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