Attendance point system policy: what to put in it

An attendance point system policy states how many points each kind of missed time costs, how long a point counts, and what happens at each total. Written well, two supervisors reading it reach the same number for the same employee.

This is a drafting checklist for an HR manager at a plant or warehouse, not legal advice. Laws on leave, notice and discipline vary by state and by union contract, and your attorney should review the final wording.

What should an attendance point policy include?

Ten items cover it. Anything left out becomes a judgment call a supervisor makes alone.

1. Who it covers. Hourly employees, a site or the whole company, and any probation period.
2. What counts as an occurrence. Tardy, left early, absence, no call, no show. Define each, including how many minutes late is a tardy.
3. Points for each. A number per type.
4. The rolling window. How many months a point counts, and whether it leaves on the anniversary of the date.
5. The steps. Points at which each step applies, in order.
6. What each step means. For example a verbal warning is documented, a final written warning has a signature line.
7. Exceptions. Which absences score zero, and who decides.
8. How to report an absence. Who to call and by when, since a no call, no show is worth more.
9. Who records points. Supervisors, HR or both, and who approves.
10. How employees see their balance. When and how they can ask.

How many minutes late is a tardy?

Choose a grace period and a second cutoff, and state both. For example: arriving up to 5 minutes after start is on time, 6 to 60 minutes late is a tardy, and more than 60 is half an absence. Any numbers work if they are written down and applied the same way. The number is yours; we have no law to cite for it.

Which absences should score zero?

Those your policy, your contract or the law says should not count. That often includes leave protected by law, approved time off and jury duty. Which absences are protected varies by state and by situation, so have counsel check this section above all. Record the fact that an absence was protected, not the reason.

What should the policy say about the rolling window?

Say the length, say what starts it, and say what it does to a point when the window ends. For example: "A point counts for 12 months from the date of the occurrence and does not count after the anniversary." Include a worked example in the policy itself so a supervisor can check a balance by hand. The attendance point system guide has one.

How should warnings be documented?

Each step should produce a record the employee can see: the date, the occurrences that counted, the balance, the step and what the policy says happens next. See the attendance write-up template for the parts.

How do I introduce the policy to employees?

Give every employee a copy, explain the rolling window with a worked example, and keep a signed acknowledgement. Tell them where to ask about their balance, and when. Employees accept a points policy more readily when they can find out their own total at any time and see the date their oldest point leaves. A policy nobody can check feels arbitrary, however fair its numbers are.

Changes need the same care. If you change a point value or a threshold, say whether it applies from a set date forward, and whether points already logged keep their old values. Applying a new value to old occurrences changes balances that employees have already seen, which invites disputes.

How do I test a policy before I roll it out?

Run it against last year's real occurrences. Load a year of occurrences into the free run below, enter your point values, window and steps, and see who would have been at which step on today's date. If it puts half the plant on a final warning, the numbers are too tight. If it puts no one at a step, they may be too loose. The run takes CSV or Excel and keeps nothing.

Point Ledger keeps one policy per account: occurrence types and points, the rolling window, the point at which each step applies and your notice wording per step. A change applies from its effective date forward and does not rewrite logged occurrences. Compare options in attendance point system software.

Frequently asked questions

Does an attendance point policy have to be in writing?

Put it in writing and have employees acknowledge it. Whether any particular rule is required varies by state and contract, so ask counsel.

Can I change the policy mid-year?

You can change it for the future. Decide in writing whether points already logged keep their old values, and tell employees before the change takes effect.

Should a supervisor be able to override the points?

Decide that in the policy. A common approach is that supervisors report, and HR approves each occurrence before it counts, so there is one reviewer for every case.