Many companies are developing more progressive strategies for dealing with absence; these frequently include relatively new disciplines such as health assessments or Employee Assistance Programmes. As an employer you will need to develop a series of cohesive policies that clearly establish the practices that you will follow when running your organisation.

Absenteeism policies should contain:

• Payment for work including payment for days missed before and after a holiday;
• Types of excused and unexcused absences;
• Days/hours worked on a normal work schedule before payment of overtime hours occurs within a pay period;
• Policy about calling in absences;
• Management of absenteeism; culpable absenteeism and disciplinary process

Managers should take into account the following factors in determining whether or not progressive discipline is warranted:

• Make sure absenteeism is relating to culpable absenteeism
• Make sure procedures have been communicated clearly to the employee.
• Check if absenteeism have been consistently and uniformly applied in the past
• Check How serious is the incident in question
• Analyze what is the impact of the absence on the business
• What is the nature of the employee past disciplinary record

Ensure that you follow up with your employee.