Attendance and Absenteeism

Employees may be absent from work on occasion. This may be due to an involuntary or a voluntary reason. Involuntary absenteeism includes sick children at home, personal illness, funeral attendance or other unavoidable situations. An example of voluntary absenteeism is a “mental health day.” Some businesses do not differentiate between involuntary and voluntary absenteeism, instead a “no fault policy” is put into place. In this case, employers do not look at whether it is an excused or unexcused day off but put the employee responsible for managing his or her work time. A similar policy to “no fault” is “paid time off.” This allows employees to use their paid time off days at their own selection. Holidays, vacation, personal days and sick days are placed in an account for the employee’s use.