How Can I Change My Absence to Present After a Tiring Work Trip? Seeking Advice!

Suppose I am traveling from Delhi to Lucknow early in the morning at 4:30 am, reaching Lucknow at 7:30 am. I finish my work and take the bus back to Delhi at 10:00 pm. The next day, I arrive at 9:00 am. I am so tired that I decide to go straight home and rest. On the same day, I do not go to the office due to resting at home. However, the HR department marks me absent for that day. Please suggest how I can change my absence to present. If you have any other suggestions, please write.

Thank you.

Did you report the absence? Another thing, the company will mark you on duty only for the period you need to be there to close the meeting and then the time required to travel back. Once back in the city, it is your responsibility to be at the office. Instead of a full day, you could have called the person and said since you reached the city at 9 am, you would appreciate it if the company allowed you to go home, freshen up, and discount your working time to a half day.

Travel Time Discrepancy

Secondly, you mentioned you started from Delhi at 4:30 am and reached Lucknow at 7:30 am (3 hours of travel). While coming back, you took the bus at 10 pm and reached Delhi the next day at 9 am (11 hours of travel). How is it that the travel time has changed to almost four times while returning?

Thank you.

Beautiful analysis, Ankita. I appreciate your ability to analyze posts critically. It deserves more than appreciation. In fact, these questions came to my mind as well. Anyway, the same question you have asked.

To the Poster of the Query:

You could have clarified about your post-travel off (from your seniors) well before your travel. You could have obtained approval from the authorities concerned and sent this approval to HR. If you had been proactive, you could have avoided this post.

Anyway, as a follow-up, I recommend you get your absence regularized by the seniors. You may even ask HR itself how to regularize this absence.

You might be doing a good job as well. However, merely working sincerely is not sufficient. We need to be careful in avoiding these pinpricks as well.

Ok...

Dinesh V Divekar

Admn1,

Did you report the absence? Another thing, the company will mark you on duty only for the period you need to close the meeting and the time required to travel back.

Once back in the city, it is your responsibility to be at the office. Instead of a full day, you could have called up and said since you've reached the city at 9 am, you'd appreciate if the company allows you to go home, freshen up, and discount your working hours to a half day.

Secondly, you mention you started from Delhi at 4:30 am and reached Lucknow at 7:30 am (3 hours travel).

While coming back, you took the bus at 10 pm and reached Delhi the next day at 9 am (11 hours travel).

How is it that the travel time has changed to almost 4 times more while returning?

Depending on the availability, the company might have given you the tickets for the bus/plane. However, at the bottom line, a full day to rest is not something appreciated.

Another point, as Mr. Dinesh mentioned, is that we are assuming the trip was planned. In this case, you should have informed your HR/senior that since you'll reach the city by 9 am, you would need some time to freshen up before reporting to work. A half day off would have been reasonable, but a full day off, I believe, is too much to ask for. Seniors, please advise.

Lessons Learned from Mistakes

Everybody makes mistakes. We learn by making mistakes. You have the following lessons to learn from the incident:

• "Communication" is more than body language or eye contact. It is important to ask for information or give information.

• You should be proactive in asking or seeking information.

• "Do not assume anything" is the first rule of communication. Your absence for an extra half-day is based on the assumption that it would be granted. You could have sought approval for that.

Anyway, do not get demotivated. As stated in my earlier post, talk to your superiors/HR, and if they agree, then put in an application for the regularization of absence. If they accept your request, then well and good. If not, take it in your stride and move on.

Ok...

Regards,
Dinesh V Divekar