Daylight Savings Time is coming up – Attendance Policy Still Applies!

Spring ahead! Change your clocks for Daylight Savings Time on March 9, 2014! Changing our clocks to an hour ahead mean we lose an hour of sleep. This can often be a difficult event for many employers, as it results in employees showing up late for work.

Your attendance policy must be adhered to, even with this change. Make this clear to your employees in advance, and let them know that they are all expected to arrive at work at their regular scheduled time. Attendance during scheduled work hours is mandatory, and this does not change simply because Daylight Savings Time results in a lost hour of sleep. Ensure that employees are aware of the change and that they understand that they must report to work on time and ready to do their jobs.

Make sure your time clocks reflect the correct time. This is a common oversight made by many employers with manual time clocks, and it is one that can be easily avoided. Make sure that you adjust your clocks before leaving the night before the change (once all employees have clocked out) or have someone on the night shift properly change the clocks at the correct time.

Clearly communicate the impending change, in writing, to your employees. The simple fact is that some employees will not know that it is time to spring ahead, resulting in the potential to be an hour late for work. Providing a written reminder of “Daylight Savings Time” can prevent this. Whether you send out a company-wide memo or a mass email, make sure that each and every one of your employees gets a reminder to set their clocks ahead.

Document your communications – no excuses for coming in late. One benefit to sending a mass email is that you have an electronic record that all of your employees were informed of the time change. If you sent out a memo, make sure that it was personally received by every member of your staff. You want to ensure that everybody knows that the time is changing and that there will be no excuses for workers who come in an hour late for work.

Call us at (818) 845 – 5584(818) 845 – 5584(818) 845 – 5584 or email us at info@executivehrconsulting.com to establish a clear attendance policy.