Hi Bharadwaj,
As far as my knowledge goes, attendance is a legal document because it contains evidence of an employee having attended the office. Many are not aware of it. In several cases, this has been produced as evidence in Court of Law.
And Courts have accepted it.
As to your point, usually the general convention is that only when an employee absents, it is marked in red ink in the muster roll. So if your employees do not heed to your advice, wherever they have marked in red ink, treat that as absent on that day! So simple. This may have a salutatory effect on them.
But a word of caution!! Please inform them well in advance that if they do not follow you advice and continue to mark in red ink, you will be constrained to mark those days as absent!After giving a reasonable time to mend their ways, if there is no change in their behavior, you can straight away mark absent wherever attendance is marked in red ink. Be tough. Don't compromise. This suggestion may sound harsh but this is one of the ways in which you can deal with recalcitrant employees.
You can also follow the advices given by other members also,which are mild.
M.J.SUBRAMANYAM, BANGALORE