How Can We Curb Unplanned Leaves on Fridays and Mondays in a 5-Day Workweek?

I work in the HR department of a private company where we have a five-day week. What measures could we adopt to maintain discipline, especially regarding preventing employees from taking unplanned leaves on Fridays or Mondays?

Let me clarify that leaves taken prior to or after weekly offs or holidays are 99.99 percent planned. The only thing employees should do is communicate about it and get it approved by the respective manager. Now, if the employees are not doing that and are absent on the first or last day of the week, then it's time to amend your leave policy with a clause that all such leaves (taken without approval) will be termed unauthorized and/or without pay. Believe me, no one will dare to go on leave without informing once you deduct the salary of two to three employees for being absent without authorization.

What is the percentage of employees taking strategic leaves?

I would suggest you send a circular to all HODs highlighting the problems created by the sudden absence of employees. Only after making an effort to counsel and advise employees should disciplinary action be considered. After the circular is sent, identify employees who have made a habit of such "unplanned" leaves and inform the HOD about the names and ask them also to counsel.

After all this effort to persuade or dissuade employees, then plan out the issue of show cause notices and further actions as deemed fit by higher administrative authorities.

Apart from the useful suggestions made above by respected senior members of this forum, be mindful of the fact that absenteeism is not the disease. It is a symptom of some deeper malaise in the organization. As absenteeism is perceived to be worrisome, you may look for the factors responsible for it. It is better to study the morale or alienation felt by the employees in general and such employees in particular.

Managing Weekend Extensions in a 5-Day Workweek

This is a commonly observed tendency to make the weekend longer by availing leave on Fridays or Mondays in 5-day week companies. Whether planned or unplanned absence, the working of the department gets disturbed. It needs to be curbed by making a suitable policy.

Proposed Policy to Curb Unplanned Absences

You may like to consider making a rule that no absence, whether with or without permission, will be permitted on Fridays and Mondays (except if it falls on holidays), and is liable for salary deduction if availed.

Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR Consultant

Employee Leave Planning and Management

One more thing that I missed in my post is that employees, if taking leave prior to or after weekly offs, usually plan them so that they can utilize the time to go on outings or vacations and to exhaust the minimum amount of leave possible. This is something they can surely inform about.

Challenges with Unplanned Leaves

The real problem is taking leave after the weekly offs just for the sake of avoiding work and taking rest for one more day. People usually do that when they don't enjoy their work or lack a sense of belongingness and ownership.

Strategies to Prevent Unplanned Absenteeism

To avoid this, apart from disciplinary action, motivation and a sense of responsibility seem more effective. Managers should be more cooperative, empathetic, and accessible. That way, employees won't feel left alone and will share their plans instead of keeping them from managers or HR. This way, unplanned absenteeism can be avoided.

Thank you, Seniors, for guiding me. However, I still have one question - if we deduct their salary, then how do we deal with leaves for that month which have been credited in their leave bank.

Types of Leaves

I believe there are two sets of leaves:

1. SICK/CASUAL: These kinds of leaves are a right of the employee and are provided once a month generally. So, you cannot stop anyone from taking such leaves. However, reasons justifying such leaves could include medical/family urgency, etc.

2. Earned Leaves: These kinds of leaves are earned by the employee, so rules can be implemented to prevent their misuse. For example, avoiding clubbing them with weekends or during business exigencies. However, the manager should make decisions on a case-by-case basis and not treat each employee exactly the same.

Most leaves are usually planned according to the convenience of all family members. It is important not to restrict employees from taking leaves. Therefore, it may be beneficial to schedule significant tasks from Tuesday to Thursday to avoid impacting delivery schedules, meetings, etc.

I work in IT, and we often encounter such issues. People who travel on weekends are generally less enthusiastic on Mondays, which can negatively affect productivity.

Dear Archana,

This is a very hard decision to make, and please involve your officials in this. First, you have to issue a circular, then comes the part of leave deduction with the approval of the Manager. If you go for the without pay option, it will impact not only the salary but also PF, Bonus, etc. First, discuss all the suggestions you have received with your seniors and then implement. All the best.

Unplanned Leaves: Guidelines and Management

Some points regarding unplanned leaves taken by employees:

1. Unplanned leaves should fall under CL (Casual Leave) or SL (Sick Leave) with post facto approval/regularization from the concerned managers for a proper cause. It cannot be considered as LOP (Loss of Pay).

2. Unplanned leaves may affect PL or EL (Privilege or Earned Leave) if there is no CL/SL balance. In such cases, the same post facto approval/regularization can be done with a proper and genuine cause along with supporting documents (e.g., medical certificate).

3. If there is no balance of CL/SL for unplanned leaves, the leaves should always be justified with reasons. Concerned managers are empowered to mark it as LOP if the company suffers due to that leave.

4. Whenever there is a loss of pay (LOP) due to unplanned leave, care should be taken to adjust the payroll workings as well as PF and other workings that have a direct impact on LOP. Also, the employee should be informed about the LOP before processing their payroll by their manager and/or HR.

5. If an employee does not come on Friday or Monday, the concerned manager (empowered by company policy) has the right to mark it as LOP with an intimation supported by a clause in the company policy.

6. Normally, if the company is able to provide a healthy environment (meaning proper care of each employee with regular/periodical interaction by HR and/or manager (1 to 1)), an awareness can be generated among all employees. It is basically the responsibility of managers to make employees understand their ownership and involvement in the processes they are a part of.

Leave Policy and Employee Discipline

An employee would avail of his quota of leave during the year either less than or equal to LOP in case of any exigency, emergency, or casualty.

An employee with a plan can opt for leave either on Friday or Monday, whichever best suits his plan.

Restructuring Leave Policy

You need to restructure your leave policy to address the issue you have mentioned. You could also consider offering incentives for working on Fridays and Mondays.

Estimating Man-Days Lost

Estimate the man-days lost due to the reasons mentioned above. For 104 days in a year (Fridays and Mondays), there are multiple employees available for work if there are no NH or FH holidays. Quantify the loss of man-days due to proposed leave on these days and decide if the loss is significant.

Leave Approval Conditions

Do not allow leave on those days without a valid reason or work that cannot be postponed to another date (ask for proof).

Ensure a single line break between paragraphs.

In many establishments, they follow the rule to count weekly off-days as leave, where an employee takes leave from Friday to Monday.