The Right Way to Use Attendance Point Systems (Part 1)
21 January 2025
Cutting through the myths about Attendance Point Systems to do what's best for your business.
Usually when a client tells us they use a point system for attendance, we cringe and begin to explain why this probably isn't a good idea. It's not that point systems are inherently bad... but in our experience, most businesses set them up wrong, which can cause employee unrest or even legal issues. Let's break down what these systems are and where they often go wrong.
What is an Attendance Point System?
A point system an attempt to transparently track attendance issues in a non-biased, easily enforceable way. For example, an employee gets 1 point for being 5-30 minutes late, 2 points for 31-60 minutes late, 3 points for being 1-4 hours late, and so on. Once an employee accumulates a certain number of points, the company moves to disciplinary action steps (verbal warning, written warning, etc.).
Seems pretty simple and fair, right? Wrong. These systems often breed discontent, and take away the flexibility necessary for running your business. Take these example scenarios:
An employee is running 6 minutes late. With the point system outlined above, he or she may as well stop for coffee and waste another 20 minutes, since the point penalty will be the same. Obviously the impact on the business is NOT the same, but the employee has no incentive to hurry once the penalty is already applied.
An employee who arrives 31 minutes late will get TWICE the penalty of someone who arrives 29 minutes late. This concept doesn't seem fair in practice... especially if the extra two-minute delay is caused by pausing to hold the door for a colleague (a practice you probably want to encourage) or by a stoplight that refused to turn green (which can't be controlled).
Also, not all late arrivals should be considered equal. Consider your star Employee A, whose spouse is away on business and is suddenly responsible for getting the kids to school, making him late to work. Are his three late arrivals really the same as your disengaged Employee B, who's late three Mondays in a row after staying out Sunday watching football and over-drinking? With a rigid point system, you MUST treat them the same.
And if you don't strictly enforce your published point system, you can get yourself into legal trouble. If you waive the point system for Employee A with the temporary school drop-off issue, then hungover Employee B (who may eventually lose his job for continued tardiness) might complain to a lawyer that you are unfairly picking favorites, or discriminating due to race or another protected attribute. In brief, the legal system doesn't look kindly on businesses that violate their own policies.
So should you throw out point systems entirely?
Not so fast. An employee who's consistently tardy or absent SHOULD be disciplined more severely than a first-time offender, and accumulating "points" can be a good way to keep track of this.
The trick: keep this point system PRIVATE, non-published, and for management eyes only.
Why does this work? You get the consistency of a systematic approach across managers and departments, plus flexibility when needed. Rockstar Employee A who needs to drive his kids to school can have his schedule temporarily adjusted, rather than having punishments doled out. Meanwhile, Employee B who's consistently and unapologetically late can be addressed based on the informal point tally, up to and including termination. Since these are unpublished guidelines rather than officially declared policies, you're not as legally vulnerable when you deviate for logical reasons.
There are plenty of nuances to setting up a point system correctly, even an informal "private" one. Check out Part 2
of our Attendance Point Systems post series for more info!
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