Future Business Ideas

Maintaining an attendance record is mandatory for any organization. This can be either in manual or electronic format. There are many advantages in recording the staff attendance. Most important of all it throws some light on the discipline of the employee. Monitoring of the attendance record by the superior gives some idea on the absence or leave taking phenomenon of the employee. It is generally observed that the employees have a tendency to take leave along with the weekends or holidays. This is because of the three day weekend phenomenon that all employees have come to love.

The employee attendance record or the EAR contains columns to be filled up duly by the employee and cross checked by the superior. Some of the basic contents are the Employee's name, Personnel No, Social Security Number, Department and Position. The attendance record reflects a detailed monthly summary of the employee's attendance in the office. An important point to be noted is that an employee attendance record should contain information only regarding the employee's absence from work.

The attendance record also finds a mention on different types of leaves such as Sick Leave, Family or Floating Leave, Military Leave, Maternity or Paternity Leave and Bereavement Leave. Besides that provisions are also made to include Accident, Long Term Disability and Vacation. Sick leave or sickness pay or sick pay is a form of employee benefit which can be taken during periods of sickness. This is a paid leave. Half day work schedule and holidays are also recorded. The attendance record is thoroughly scrutinized by the HR service to verify whether the employee has submitted the leave letter stating the reasons for his absence.

Separate provisions are made to record the working hours put by the flex time workers, casual laborers, daily wage workers and the regular employees. The regular employees are expected to record the standard and variable hours separately. Based on the details of working hours mentioned in the employee attendance record and the rates documented in the employee hiring agreement the salary is given. It is important to note that the staff attendance record should be filled only within the premises of the work unit. It is statutory to maintain the attendance record for a minimum period of 6 years.

The ideal attendance to be achieved by the companies is 96% to 97%. To reduce the incidents of absenteeism new strategies such as Perfect attendance programs are being implanted. Financial rewards and other motivational tools make it easy. This concept should be carried out with caution as it should not force the employees to turn up to office in sick condition. Mere attendance of the employee without any performance does not make an organization efficient.