Can We Update Old Appointment Letters to Address Employee Attendance Issues?

Hi, I want to know if we can restructure the appointment letters which we issued 2 years ago. As I'm new to HR, please provide me with clarity on this.
The reason why we are considering this is due to the casual attitude of employees towards taking leave, arriving late, and frequently taking casual leaves. Please respond.
Shireen.

Simply pass an Administrative Advisory/Circular specifying the changes and circulate it to 'all' staff through an Authorized Representative's mail account. In general, the board of director/Managing trustee/CEO/COO can do that, but in case such a power had been delegated to someone else, say, CFO/CAO/HRO by the governing council, he/she can send the new policy superseding the erstwhile provisions.

Can be done as suggested above. Also, you can issue an addendum to the appointment letter to everyone, which will state the clauses being restructured without having to change the appointment letter originally issued.

Question: How will restructuring appointment letters help in resolving the issue?

What you really need to change is the "code of conduct." If you do not have one, you can put one in place starting now. Or just rework the leave and attendance policy.

Above forum members have replied aptly. You can also draft an Office Timing Policy and a Leave Policy, get the approval, and send them to the employees.

You cannot restructure the appointment letter once it is issued. However, you can implement new policies regarding attendance and tardiness by issuing notices, service rules, etc., as applicable in your case.

Thank you.

Neither the appointment letter, once issued at any point in time, can be restructured, nor can a supplementary appointment letter or an amendment letter be issued. However, an organization can implement, amend, and/or modify a new policy regarding attendance and/or late coming by issuing notices or circulars at any time.

We faced a similar problem in the past and therefore issued the following circular.

Circular for Marking of Attendance

Just like every train needs to arrive and depart from a station at a fixed time, every employee of the company is required to arrive and depart from the place of work on time and work for a minimum of 48 hours per week (54 hours with a lunch break).

Over time, the management of XXX has observed that a large number of employees are misusing the leniency of the management and have developed a habit of either coming late, leaving early, or leaving during duty hours. This has resulted in delays in work completion and/or missing targeted deadlines for assigned work. It has also led to increasing indiscipline among staff members.

In view of the above, and to restore much-needed discipline among staff members, the management of XXX has installed and made operational the Biometric Face Attendance Reader cum Recorder on 09/02/2012 at both the showroom and service center with the following rules of attendance:

1. The attendance recorded in the Biometric Face Attendance Reader cum Recorder shall be the basis for calculating salary and wages earned by a particular employee for a particular month. Therefore, every employee must use the Biometric Face Attendance Reader cum Recorder to record their time of arrival and departure from the office without any choice of their own.

2. In case the Biometric Face Attendance Reader cum Recorder is out of order and/or out of service for any reason, the procedure of signing manually along with the time of signature shall be used on a daily sheet as per the present practice in force, and such a sheet needs to be delivered to the management daily.

3. Regular and punctual attendance, completion of assigned work, and meeting the targets set by principal XXX shall have a bearing on the continuation of employment, profit-linked annual performance-based bonus payable, if any, and annual performance-linked increment to every employee.

4. The management has full rights to make modifications, alterations, or substitutions to any or all of the above provisions.

5. This arrangement comes into force with immediate effect.

6. Every employee has to sign this circular as a token of having read it very carefully and understood it completely.

7. In case of any doubt, every employee is free to consult the management.

Use of Biometric Face Attendance Recorder

S.No. | Arrival | Departure | Result

1. Not used at the time of arrival | Not used at the time of departure | Employee did not come to duty and hence marked absent

2. Not used at the time of arrival | Used at the time of departure | Employee came abnormally late to duty just for marking attendance and/or did not work for the full day and hence marked absent

3. Used at the time of arrival | Not used at the time of departure | Employee came to duty just for marking attendance and left immediately and/or thereafter without doing any work and hence marked absent

4. Came late and/or left early by 0 to 15 minutes (including 15 minutes) on up to 3 occasions every calendar month | Shall be marked half-day leave for every three occasions provided the total hours per week is 48 hours or more

5. Came late and/or left early by 15 (exceeding 15 minutes) to 30 minutes on up to 3 occasions every calendar month | Shall be marked full-day leave for every three occasions provided the total hours per week is 48 hours or more

6. Came late or left by more than 30 minutes | To be marked absent for the day

7. Came late and/or left early and total working hours per week falls short of the prescribed 48 hours limit without lunch break and 54 hours per week with lunch break | Double the shortfall hours shall be marked absent. E.g., if total working hours come to 44 hours, in such a case, the shortfall is 4 hours, and one day leave shall be counted.

8. Remaining absent without prior information to management | Absent and cannot be set off against any other day's working

9. Three half/full-day leaves get marked due to late coming and/or leaving early | Employee under censor/watch continuously till performance improves.

10. Came late and/or left early due to the company’s work | A note of the same needs to be recorded from the management in the attendance register on the next available opportunity

11. Outdoor duty within the city and/or out-of-station duty | A note of the same needs to be recorded from the management in the attendance register on the next available opportunity

12. Camps/Melas/Exhibitions | The attendance needs to be marked on a separate sheet for each day with arrival and departure time, and the sheet handed over to management the very same day

Above is in tabular format, but copy-paste has removed the lines between the columns and rows.

Hope you will find the same useful to you.

Regards, Jawaharlal Moondra

[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Appointment Orders and Standing Orders

Appointment orders are issued only once. When there is a change in the company, management, etc., new appointment orders are issued. For discipline and enforcing other important service matters, department circulars and office orders will suffice, as mentioned by senior members above.

The standing orders should contain these terms and conditions. Anyone violating them can be issued a notice, quoting the section of the standing orders. The Labor Department will also support in case of any litigation. The Labor Commission will support management's action only when the standing order is certified by them.

Regards, Neyimkhan

With due respect, I am not too sure about Mr. Moondra's suggestion as I feel this would create a very hostile working environment, leading to attrition and hence increasing HR costs. However, if you want to create a very strict environment, it is the perfect way to proceed.

Adapting to Changing Trends

Having said that, trends in companies have changed, and we as a community need to adjust innovatively to this change. A larger chunk of employees, especially in the IT, Media, etc. industries, do not feel the need to be tied down to a company that does not have employee-friendly policies. In my opinion, it is best to give a little liberty to employees and empower each one of them. This will, in turn, make them responsible, leading to an increase in discipline.

Please read this book called "Creativity Inc" by Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull to see how employees were empowered to such an extent that not only did they feel the need to work longer hours, but also did not feel the need to take leaves unless absolutely necessary.

Thank you so much for the valuable suggestions. I've started reworking and reframing the company policies one by one, keeping all of the points in mind.