Definition - Attendance: The act or fact of attending (being present at) work. Also, is used to define the number of persons present at work.

Examples - Attendance: Rob had a wonderful work attendance record; he rarely missed a day. The attendance on first shift averaged only 75 percent on Mondays.

Definition - Attendance Policy: The guidelines and expectations for employee attendance at work as defined, written, disseminated, and implemented by an organization.

Also Known As: Attendance policy is sometimes used interchangeably with absenteeism policy. My view is that an attendance policy is much more narrowly defined and limited to attendance, as opposed to absenteeism policies which address absenteeism management issues and more.

Sample - Attendance Policy: No-Fault Point System: The goal of this attendance policy is to reward good attendance and eliminate people with poor attendance.

It uses a point system, and does not excuse or unexcuse absences.

* Each absence = 1 point(no multi-day occurrences)
* Each late in (tardy) or early out = 1/2 point
* Each no-show for work = 2 points
* Each return with no prior call = 1 point
* Each absence-free quarter eliminates all points and rewards the employee with a day off with pay.
* Each employee starts fresh, with no points, each year.

Disciplinary Action:

* 7 points = verbal warning
* 8 points = written warning
* 9 points = 3 day suspension
* 10 points = termination

Source: About.com

Hi!

Work Attendance is the reason why people apply for employment and are hired by the company. The employee promises to report for work (for a number of hours per day) in exchange for a salary. This is the essence of the employer-employee relationship. The employee works, the company pays. NO WORK, NO PAY! Less work, less pay!

The employment contract must make it clear to the employee that the company is hiring him to work, and not to take a rest, vacation, and other forms of leave. The employee must understand that absence from work is a violation of the essence or spirit of the employment relationship and contract.

When the very essence or spirit of the employment relationship is volated, then the contract is breached. When a contract is breached, then it can be rescinded or thrown away. The employment relationship between the employee and the company ceases to exist.

Things in the workplaces, however, has changed. Thanks (?) to labor laws and HR practitioners. Labor laws, Labor Codes, Employee Handbooks, Code of Ethics/ Discipline, have made the words "leaves, absences, tardiness, undertime, AWOL, flextimes, etc." came into being.

Unfortunately, perhaps without knowing it, they have "distorted" the true meaning and spirit of the employment relationship, in the guise of benefits, improvement in labor relations, and improvement of working conditions.

Today, people can be paid even without working. People can come to work for less than the agreed number of hours they have promised to work. People can recover their tardiness and get full pay for the day by working the same length of time after the official work hours. People can avoid "disciplinary action" by making it sure that they don't breach the limits provided for their undertime, their tardiness, and even their AWOLs.

Today, many productive hours of the HR manager is wasted in managing
these distortions of the employment relationship. Organizations can even get sued for illegal dismissal when they attempt to break employment relationships with employees engaged in massive "absenteeism".

Best wishes!