By Girish Rowjee, CEO & Co-Founder,Greytip Software
All the way from school and right up to retirement, attendance plays a big role on the sidelines and has a substantial impact both on you and your employer today. It is imperative for an employer to keep a track of attendance in the organization. The lack of which can mount into huge financial losses and HR-related problems.
Do you have an all-inclusive attendance policy in place? If you don’t, it is highly recommended you draft or adopt one. The days of manual entry and tabulation are processes of the past. A past where word-of-mouth passed off as policy. With the stiff competition out there, comes an inherent need to be as efficient as possible. Today, there is an array of options to choose from. There are services that offer complete policies to suit any organization. With it, comes the ability to customize as per individual needs.
Stay compliant
I cannot stress this enough but the need to stay absolutely compliant is paramount. Very few are aware of the labour laws in this country. More so in SMEs who are perpetually caught up with the growth of the business and tend to deal with attendance related issues via ineffective ways. The penalties for non-compliance are severe and it will serve you well not to ignore them.
How do you prevent absenteeism?
From affecting the business efficiency to unrest among the workforce, chronic absenteeism is a plague that has repercussions on multiple levels if not checked early on. The best way to deal with this is not via aggressive means that have the employee in the cross-hairs. Instead, managers should:
1. Get an all-encompassing policy in place and make it known and available to everyone. This policy will cover everything from allowances to penalties. The chances of an employee breaching a written set of rules are slimmer than the contrary
2. Take interest in your employees’ needs and the reason behind their actions. More often than not, all it takes is simple adjustments that make both sides happy. It is worth hearing the employee out. Doing this would also raise the morale
3. Offer positive reinforcement as a strategy. As opposed to negative reinforcement, award employees at different stages; employees who attain 85% attendance would get ‘X’ as a bonus, those who attain 90% would get ‘XX’ and so on. This creates an additional incentive for the employee to work towards on his/her own free will and not because of fear
4. Have clear communications and a structured system of warnings in the event of a policy breach. The employee should be aware of the penalties at various stages of unauthorized absence so it does not catch him/ her by surprise. On reaching those stages, clear and written communication should be sent with the appropriate warnings
Automate
Let’s face it, no one likes to spend hours with a register – digital or not and try to make sense of it all before dispatching the payroll. Chances of inaccuracy are high and it is an unnecessary waste of a valuable human resource that could very well be used for a more vital task. In the rapidly growing cloud market of today, there are umpteen options to address these needs.
The incorporation of a good payroll software has the ability to automate just about everything. From leave and attendance management to HR and payroll functions. Besides being 100% accurate (potential to provide policies that are statutory compliant), they save time and form the backbone that your company can leverage to thrive.