Absenteeism, be it planned or unplanned, often turns out to be the most dreaded nightmare for many organizations, especially during the peak business season. The labor and employee welfare policies mandate the organizations to grant the employees with a fair share of casual and sick leaves as well as annual vacations.
It is entirely a matter of the employee’s choice and the organization may not influence or forbid the employees from availing their leaves. While it is a good practice for employees to plan their leaves in advance and inform the organization before taking a day off, many times in the case of an emergency or an unforeseen case the employee might have to opt for an unplanned absence. This often comes as a setback to the regular course of operations going on within the organization, especially if the employee was assigned a special task or was serving in some specialized job role. It might an irrevocable loss to the organization.
Since the organization cannot influence or manipulate the employees’ right to planned or unplanned leaves, the management can use the time-off policy as an effective tool to reduce absenteeism and cope with an unplanned absence in a smart and efficient way.
Devising an elaborate, clear and on-point time-off policy helps the management to budget for the planned or unplanned leaves in advance and take proactive countermeasures. Furthermore, it also makes a good impression on employees that the organization bears their best interest at heart and eventually fosters a loyal, responsible, and committed workforce.
Here’s an organization’s guide to formulating an effective and fruitful time-off policy.
It should be Concise
Your time-off policy should be concise. Devise a standard operating procedure pertaining to the system of leave requests and grants. Keep the process simple and train your employees to follow the specified suggestions while opting for a planned or unplanned leave.
It should be Fair
Remove all escape clauses that might allow some employees to take benefit of the time-offs while leaving their peers bound to pick up the slack and bear with the workload. You need to ensure that your time-off policy is fair, equally beneficial, and applicable to everyone.
It should be Flexible
Nothing excites an employee more than job flexibility. Often, the employee is stuck with some urgent and unavoidable personal work. Allowing them to work at their convenience from home or any place feasible to them is a good way to reduce absenteeism and get the task done, even in the case of an urgency or emergency at the employee’s end.
It should be Automatically Regulated
Rather than following a long haul of processes from leave request and application to approval, opt for smart and automated systems like a time and attendance software to regulate your leave and absence mechanism. This enables the organization as well as the employees to keep track of the assigned leaves and make a better choice regarding leave planning.
Offer a Reimbursement
Appreciate and reward your employees on punctuality and offer cash reimbursement against each unavailed leave. This motivates the employees to make a better use of their assigned leaves and prevents them from consuming their leaves just for the sake of consuming them.
