Attendance and Punctuality

System · March 2003

The age old HR dilemma - how to evaluate employee attendance and punctuality...Anyone out there have a method they believe is effective? We have ratings that determine an employee's performance in these categories based on usage of sick hours and unscheduled leave (some employees hate this because they believe they are "entitled" to the sick hours and shouldn't be evaluated on them) and number of instances of tardiness. We have some employees who deal with the public and some behind the scenes. Someone has suggested to me that we consider a more flexible method of evaluating those who do not deal with the public. I don't like the thought of two different methods of rating attendance and punctuality based upon what job you hold, but maybe I'm being inflexible???? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Parabeagle · March 2003

I can relate. It's this 'entitlement' mentality that led my company to eliminate sick leave altogether. Our rules are simple: We expect people to do what they need to do to stay healthy and be at work when they're supposed to, regardless of whether they're line employees or staff. However, we are very careful not to consider any protected leaves (FMLA, military, etc.) when conducting annual performance appraisals (which often brings its own type of resentment to the table).

Don D · March 2003

Just as you would not question an applicant about his prior use of sick leave or his absences due to illness, you should never evaluate or rate a person using sick leave as a criteria. You are on the thinnest of all available ices when you do. This will sink you with a jury, an EEOC investigator or any hearing officer I know of.

Trinity · March 2003

I agree with Don. How can you say they are allowed this many sick days and then count those sick days against them in their performance evaluations? I was under the impression that you allot sick days to determine discipling them when they are over their limit. Now if you could see that they were abusing the privledge (always out before a holiday, before or after a weekend, etc.) you can do things to discourage that, like require a doctor's note and give a verbal warning. But I would still not punish them for days taken within the limit given..not fair to those genuinely sick.

Parabeagle · March 2003

I think that an employer is entitled to expect an employee to be present and ready to work. You don't hire employees to stay home and get paid. Trinity and Don both make good points in that basing any sort of an evaluation on use of SICK TIME (emphasis added) is definitely not a good idea. However, an employer has a reasonable expectation that an employee who is trading services for pay will show up, do his/her job and not take advantage of the situation. Having said that, I doubt if there's a single one of you out there who has not personally observed many cases of employees who abuse the system. An employer must have an avenue he/she can pursue to deal with attendance policy abusers. Having attendance as a performance criterion on an appraisal is a perfectly valid way of handling this.

Don D · March 2003

Yes, (and I appreciate the asides), but, having had some legal experience I am sure you know that you can quickly run afoul of several laws when you discuss ones sicknesses in a disciplinary manner, rate one based on or reward one using sick leave, medical issues or non-use of sick leave as a basis.

Terri B · March 2003

You don't address attendance issues as related to sickness or illness. Only deal with scheduled vs. unscheduled. The reason they were gone isn't the issue.

Attendance and Punctuality

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