How often should employees attend meetings? What happens if they don’t show up? How about knowing the best practices attendance policy? Meetings are important because they allow us to share information, discuss ideas, and collaborate. They also provide opportunities for learning, training, and development.
Meetings are essential to the success of any organization. If you want to improve productivity and increase employee satisfaction, you need to establish clear attendance policies. This article provides some helpful tips on how to create an effective policy.
Best Practices Attendance Policy in the Workplace
1. Employees expect to be at their desks doing work. They don’t expect to be in meetings.
If you have a meeting scheduled in your office, your employees should know that they are expected to attend. A good policy is clear and explicit.
2. Have a policy, but don’t be a slave to it.
If an employee has a legitimate reason for missing a meeting, let them know you’re willing to overlook it. Make sure they bring it up with the appropriate person before the meeting starts so that they aren’t late or disruptive.
3. A good policy will minimize the number of times employees feel they need to miss meetings.
If they’re required to attend every meeting, they will feel resentful and unappreciated. It is also important that you encourage employees to communicate with the speaker in advance if they cannot attend so that their absence is not disruptive to the agenda or other attendees.
Don’t just set policies and forget about them; it’s important to review them regularly and make changes as needed. You don’t want to create resentment among your staff just because you haven’t changed your policy in years.
4. Make your policy clear.
Ask the following questions:
- Does it apply to all meetings?
- How many meetings per day, week, or month?
- Does it apply to managers and employees equally?
- What happens when an employee is the one requiring a meeting?
6. Establish policies for meetings that require travel.
Anyone who travels for work needs to be aware of their company’s travel policies. The same applies to business meetings held outside of regular office hours; if employees are expected to be there, they need to know how late they will be.
7. Have clear policies for times when an employee has a conflict between two meetings.
If there is a conflict between two meetings scheduled for the same time, a good policy will address how that conflict should be resolved, and what happens when the resolution doesn’t work out as planned.
8. Ensure that your meeting policies are consistent with company objectives, not just company policies and procedures.
For example, if your goal is to maximize profitability through reduced turnover and retaining valued employees, then having a no-attendance policy will probably cost you more in lost productivity than it saves in time and money spent on meetings you don’t have to attend.
Conclusion
Attendance policies for business meetings depend on the policy of your organization. A good attendance policy will provide guidelines for employees and encourage them to show up on time and stay involved in business meetings.
