How to Solve Excess and unin formed leaves by employees

We are an IT-based company in Mumbai and we are facing excessive leaves/holidays taken by employees and uninformed absences:

- Taking long leave of more than a month to go home town.
- Not coming on the specified date and extending leave while visiting the home town.
- Frequently absent from work with or without informing.

Can we create a policy where if any employee takes more leave or is absent for more days than the leaves sanctioned, we can deduct more salary than usual? For example, a 10% extra deduction for the number of excess absent days. Is there any other action we can take against the employee?

R. Modi

Dear Ravi Modi,

After reading your post, the first question that comes to one's mind is whether you have a policy on employee leave. If yes, have you defined what is the procedure to obtain leave, types of leave, and what constitutes "unauthorized absence" and merits the deduction of pay?

First and foremost, revise your leave policy. After revision, circulate it to all employees. If the leave is not approved by the HOD, then start deducting the pay for the unauthorized leave.

In case you are already deducting the pay, this means the punishment is not working. It shows the mindset of the employees as to how much they are "desensitized."

Therefore, the problem lies in the culture of the company. It appears that you do not have career-conscious people in your company. Going on unauthorized absence shows employees are not concerned about their career, and if they are not concerned, they are not taking your company seriously. They must be considering your company as a "stopgap" arrangement.

Generally, this problem occurs in a manufacturing company where workers are uneducated and lack seriousness. That this problem should happen in the IT company is a matter of surprise.

The situation merits not just reviewing the leave policy but the policy on employee recruitment, policy on employee welfare, etc. Please check whether you are paying as per market standards.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar