How Do You Handle Employees Taking Uninformed Leaves and Delaying Projects?

Dear All,

I hope you must be facing this problem in your organization as well. We have many employees who take leaves and either they inform late or do not inform at all. What action can be taken against them? Without this information, projects suffer and get delayed 😕. Salary deduction does not seem to be an effective tool. Kindly share your inputs on the same.

Dear Deepa,

I too have the same kind of problem in our company. I, being the only person in administration and HR, am finding it difficult to handle it alone. There were 27 views on my post but only 1 reply. Seniors, please help.

Regards

Dear Deepa,

I can only suggest that we should not allow the person to perform his routine activity if he is engaging in such activities. Let the employee come to his workplace and sit idle for 3-4 days without any work or responsibilities. Alternatively, the authority given to him should be shared among his subordinates for a short period. This way, he will realize the impact of his actions.

Warm Regards,
Roopesh Sharma

Dear Deepa,

I can only suggest that we should not allow the person who is engaging in such activities to continue with his routine tasks. Let the employee come to his workplace and remain idle for 3-4 days without any assigned work or responsibilities. Alternatively, the authority and responsibilities assigned to him could be temporarily shared among his subordinates. This would allow him to reflect on his actions.

Warm Regards,
Roopesh Sharma

Dear Deepa,

You can assume that responsible persons will never avail leave without authorization. In case of an emergency, they will put a small note on their desk or at least convey the message to someone to pass it on to their higher-ups.

In general, employees who take leave may be frustrated with their work, uninterested, or eager to be away from the office, and the reasons for taking unauthorized leave will continue.

In such cases, you can have a discussion with them, explaining their responsibilities and the impact on the work/organization due to their absence. If the behavior persists, a warning letter should be issued.

If the issue continues even after the warning, disciplinary action should be taken with the approval of management, possibly leading to recommending separation from the company's services. There is no point in retaining such employees on the team.

Regards,

LK

Dear Deepa,

I too faced the same problem in my company. Employees used to take leave without informing anyone. In such a case, we can issue a letter asking them the reason for their unauthorized leave or leave without any intimation.

The format is:

It has been observed that you have proceeded on leave without prior permission of the concerned authorities, resulting in gross negligence of duties in your capacity _________ (Designation of the Employee who has proceeded on leave).

Absenting yourself from duties without prior intimation is misconduct for which you are making yourself liable for necessary action. Hence, you are directed to report to the office within 48 hours of receipt of this letter and submit a written explanation regarding your unauthorized leave as soon as you receive this letter.

This letter is issued without any prejudice to the rights of the organization.

This approach has proven effective in my company, and now employees have stopped taking leave without intimation.

Regards,

Ruksana

Give extra workload on the next day, telling them it's because of yesterday's leave. Let them taste the pressure.

Mukesh

We too face the same problem in our organization. Can anyone help us in solving this issue?

Hi,

I totally understand your concern as I also face the same problem in our org. We have started informing employees via email with CC to their managers and managers' managers that this is being recorded and the same will be considered at the time of their appraisal and their relieving letter. If any employee repeats the same action more than three times, they will be given an official warning letter regarding the same. Trust me, this helps.

Do try this and let me know the result.

Regards,
Tejahsri

Hi,

I also faced the same problem, so I called for a monthly meeting and explained the leave policy and procedures to them. I made them realize that if they are going to continue the same thing, it will not only result in salary deduction but also might affect their appraisal system and career growth. It worked. You can also try the same.

Thanks,
Raksha Rao

Hi,

In our organization, as per our leave policy, we are treating leave without intimation as absenteeism and deducting it from the salary of the concerned employee. However, how can we track leave records of Marketing field staff such as Medical Representatives and Regional Business Managers? They are not availing any casual or sick leave throughout the year. Do we have any solution for this?

It happens because their supervisors/managers/heads let them do it or pay no attention to it. You should initiate asking for the attendance details for every employee of the organization. The employees in the corporate office can sign the muster or punch the access cards, while those on field visits can inform the coordinators of the concerned department or the manager. You may then ask for the compiled data of attendance.

It will ease your burden. Secondly, you may ask the marketing/sales team to sign the muster before going for visits. I hope all such visits and meetings are scheduled in advance so they have enough time to sign the muster, mentioning the sanctioned date for out-duty. Later, you may cross-check it with the managers/heads.

Hi Deepa, first, you should inform them about the leave policy at the time of joining. In any meeting, you have with them, without prior intimation, if anyone takes leave, you should give them LOP (Loss of Pay). You must follow this rule for two or three months. After that, nobody should take leave without prior intimation.

I would like to know what type of notice to be given to the employee who has taken a leave for 15 days and has not returned even after 3 months. What action can be taken against him? Help is needed in this matter.