Frequent absenteeism is an issue that results in missed days of work, reduces productivity, costs businesses money, and can cause frustration for managers and coworkers. One way to help combat excessive absenteeism in the workplace is to create and enforce an employee absenteeism policy.
What Is an Absenteeism Policy?
An absenteeism policy clearly defines what your company views as absenteeism, and explains what the consequences will be for absent employees. Creating and implementing an absenteeism policy (and calculating your employee absenteeism rate) provides HR leaders with an opportunity to set expectations with employees and people managers.
An absenteeism policy should explain what is expected of employees in terms of attendance, and what the procedures to follow if they know they will be late or unable to work that day. This should include who to contact and how, and if they need to complete any steps in your attendance system that indicates that they were either absent or tardy on a specific day. It should also spell out what the consequences are for absenteeism, such as any disciplinary action and possible termination from their role with the company.
To be clear, excused and legal absences—including holidays, PTO, and parental leave—or missed days due to illnesses and injury, do not count as absenteeism.
How to Implement an Absenteeism Policy in the Workplace
The first step is to draft your company’s absentee policy. Get started with SHRM’s attendance policy template, then refine it for your company and culture.
Next, communicate the policy to employees. We recommend pairing your policy training with a benefits reminder, so employees are aware of the tools and benefits you offer to support them at work and at home. As a best practice:
- Include the policy in all new hire and manager training
- Share the policy regularly, in an annual all-hands meeting
- Include the policy in your employee handbook and HRIS system (like Workday)
Have a Candid Conversation with Employees Regarding Excessive Absenteeism
If an employee is exhibiting a pattern of absenteeism, managers should be ready to have empathetic, yet productive, conversations. Start by asking the employee how they’re doing and what is causing the absences, and remind them of existing benefits that you have that can support them. The purpose of these conversations is to:
- Acknowledge the problem, with data points and examples for the employee.
- Identify the root cause of the absences.
- Discuss potential solutions and create a mitigation plan, which may include identifying resources to support the employee.
- Outline the absenteeism policy, and remind them of repercussions of unexcused absences moving forward.
A successful conversation is transparent, thoughtful, and empowers the employee to partner with the company on a solution. It will improve the likelihood that they will want to do their best to adhere to company absenteeism policies in the future and leverage the resources your company offers for support.
What to Include in a Sample Warning Letter for Absenteeism
If an employee continues to exhibit a pattern of absenteeism, it’s time to provide them with a written warning. This should:
- Clearly state the circumstances of absence, including dates and times, and how these absences are a violation of your absenteeism policy
- Make mention of any verbal warnings previously received by the employee, including dates
- Outline consequences for continued absenteeism, such as disciplinary actions up to and including termination
Try to keep it as brief as possible, and maintain a neutral tone. This letter is meant to state facts and outline potential consequences for future violations. It should not be an attempt to shame the employee.
Employee Absenteeism Sample Warning Letter
Here is an example of what to include in an employee letter for excessive absenteeism in the workplace:
Dear [Employee name],
This letter is to inform you that your work attendance record is in violation of our expectations aligned with the [Company Name] Absenteeism & Tardiness Policy. As stated in our policy, employees are expected to provide reasonable advance notice for any absences for manager approval. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action.
Year to date, our records show unexcused [absences/tardiness] on [#] days. You received a verbal warning from your supervisor on [DATE]. Since that warning, our records show that you have been [absent/tardy] from work [X] times, on [LIST DATES].
A copy of this letter will be placed in your personnel file. If you do not make an effort to address this issue and continue to exhibit a pattern of absenteeism, you will face further disciplinary action, up to and including possible termination of your employment at [Company Name].
For the remainder of the year, if you do need to take an additional day of leave, you are required to provide a written request to your supervisor no less than [X] days in advance. Please be advised that depending on the nature of your request and the amount of time you have already missed, it is up to your supervisor’s discretion to approve or deny any future requests during this time period.
At [Company Name] we offer a variety of support options to help employees and their loved ones with external challenges and extenuating circumstances that may prevent you from reporting to work including: [List benefits: Backup Care, access to a Care Platform, mental health support]. If you have questions about our available resources, please contact [Name] on our [HR/Benefits] team so we can help you.
Sincerely,
[AUTHORIZED COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE NAME]
How to Prevent Absenteeism
In many cases, we know the root cause of absenteeism can be outside stressors in employees’ lives that are hard to manage, talk about, or plan for—such as a lack of care for a loved one. To prevent absenteeism, employers need to empower their employees and managers with benefits and tools to help in those situations. According to our report, The Future of Benefits, 65% of the more than 500 HR leaders we surveyed said they believe that increasing child and senior care benefits will help them increase workplace productivity. To mitigate unexcused absences consider:
- Flexible work policy including remote options and/or flex hours. Seventy-six percent of our respondents report an increase in productivity since they began offering more flexible work options.
- Support for child and family care. This could include access to a caregiver platform and backup care benefits for children, adult loved ones, and pets. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents say they favor offering flexible family care benefits.
- Transparency and communication of policies. It’s important that all employees are educated about company procedures and boundaries when they join your company, and on an annual basis moving forward. By increasing awareness, including around available resources, it can help decrease absenteeism.
By setting clear expectations, and having open conversations with employees, managers and HR leaders can help remove barriers to employee attendance and reduce the number of unplanned absences.
