Attendance management

Attendance management is important to every single organisation, it can determine whether or not a business will be successful in the future. Businesses will have to keep a track of employees, this being their main concern and a lot of other things. Monitoring attendance helps in the long term for a business, as an employer will be able to tell which employees arrive early, which arrive late and who has the most absences without any valid reason. This could help an employer in deciding which employees are most suitable to work in the business, having employees who arrive to work on time means that the day-to-day tasks of the organisation will be fulfilled. Employees within an organisation should know about their employer’s attendance and absence policy, so that they are aware of what is required of them.^[1] Attendance management is also a health and safety procedure something in which that has to be carried out. It is important because in case of an emergency that was to arise in a workplace like a fire, then if they register in the company they will know how many people are inside a building. It is important to manage a set of workforce as it can lead to higher profits as well as an increase in productivity.^[2] If you have a look on the other side of what will happen if a business does not manage their attendance, it will mean that they will have no sort of information to look back on in case if it is needed in the future. They also will not be able to keep a track on their employees on a day-to-day basis which means there is no leadership in place.^[3]

How to monitor attendance?

There are many ways in which an organisation can monitor attendance. This will vary from business to business, some may just use an attendance sheet, some may use online and recently a lot of businesses have been using finger print recognition which can be very reliable. Each will have their own positive and negative. Nowadays everything is done through technology, over the last couple of decades technology has vastly improved leading it to be used by many businesses. Businesses can monitor attendance the simple way by having a sign in sheet which can be very quick and convenient, but however this system could be outdated in a business organisation and can easily get lost. Using an online register or using a programme can help a business in the broader context. If an employer has an online register he/she can bring up the past and current attendance information about each individual employee. This can be looked into detail if the employer wanted to. Another point about an online register is that it can’t get lost as you can have many saved copies of it and it is convenient you can bring it up whenever you log into an account. One piece of software that employers tend to use which is called ‘Celayix’ gives employers real time alert to display employee activity. Shifts missed as well as late check-ins this software will automatically alert the employer or the management team, and from this the employer will be able to do whatever is necessary. This all comes under in how a business will monitor attendance.^[4]

Rewarding employees with good attendance

Rewarding employees with good attendance both relate. Having an online register as I have already mentioned is a good way of an employer to check up on their employees. Some employers may choose to reward an individual employee because they have very good attendance or could be something else. A lot of businesses have reward system in place based on attendance this is because it motivates staff as well as if employees turn up on time it will save the business a lot of money, absences cause businesses to lose money. An example of this is Royal mail they were giving out free cards and vouchers to their employees with the highest attendance. Royal mail reported “that attendance levels have risen 11% - 1,000 workers a day - since it was launched last August”.^[5] Attendance management is really important as a business can reward employees which will combat absences. But there are some that oppose to rewarding employees as they believe they are getting extra credit for just turning up to work. But rewarding employees will bring higher staff motivation inside the work place, work being done quicker and also employees actually enjoying to come to work.

How is absence linked to attendance management?

Managing attendance can also be a factor in which a business can manage absences. Absences in a business can cause it to lose a huge amount of money as well as the productivity inside the company, because when one person is missing it has a huge impact on the rest of the business.^[6] If a business can manage or measure attendance the employer will be able to tell how much time is being lost/delayed. They will be able to look into this and see in what way to tackle this problem. The only way they will be able to tell the amount of absences is to manage their attendance. Minimizing absences absolutely to the lowest will mean that the business will have a higher financial reward.^[7] There are many reasons why an individual employee may be absent such as health and lifestyle factors, workplace factors and stress factors these all relate in some way or another.^[8] “Absence from work is now costing employers over £600 per employee per year on average, Absence costs business £11.6 billion a year”.^[9] This is a huge figure when looked into, so it is vital that a business manages their attendance properly. Not all businesses will have the same absence policy or attendance management policy, it will vary from business to business. Notifying absences will be different so an employee has to know what their business policy is.^[10]

References

1. "What is attendance management?". Retrieved 20 October 2014.
2. "Time and Attendance". Retrieved 26 October 2014.
3. "Workforce Timekeeper". Retrieved 27 October 2014.
4. "Employee Time and Attendance Software". Retrieved 20 October 2014.
5. "Should attendance at work be rewarded?". Retrieved 20 October 2014.
6. "Managing absence". Retrieved 21 October 2014.
7. "absence manager". Retrieved 21 October 2014.
8. Hayday S, Bevan S. "Attendance Management a Review of Good Practice". Retrieved 23 October 2014.
9. "Attendance management" (PDF). Retrieved 22 October 2014.
10. "Attendance Policy and Absenteeism Policy Samples and Examples". Retrieved 23 October 2014.