Employee absconding is a common challenge for many organizations. It happens when an employee stops reporting to work without informing the employer and cannot be reached despite repeated attempts to contact them. Such unexpected absence can affect daily operations and create workforce gaps.
But an employer cannot assume that an employee is either resigning or quitting his/her job merely on the grounds of being absent. There must be some procedures which an employer must undertake prior to making any decision.There is no statutory definition of “absenteeism of employees” in India applicable for all kinds of employment relationships. The procedure to deal with an employee’s absenteeism depends upon various factors including employment agreement, internal policies of the firm, orders, service rules, and labour laws.
Hence, organizations must take a careful approach towards employee absenteeism while undertaking the appropriate actions.
What is employee absconding?
Employee absconding is a state when the employee becomes absent from work without permission, does not get in touch with the employer, and is not reachable despite reasonable attempts to make contact.
However, such circumstance does not necessarily mean that the employee has abandoned employment. The employee may have legitimate reasons for his/her absence – an emergency, illness, family problems, communication issues.
That is why it is important for the HR department to differentiate between the two concepts.
How employee absconding poses HR problems?
In case an employee is absent from work, there might be other problems beyond absenteeism. The company may encounter some of the following complications:
- Impact on work in progress and business operations
- Replacement of absent personnel
- Payment of dues and final settlements
- Access to information/data security
- Missing company equipment
- Undertaking obligations by customers/internal stakeholders
- Documentation and compliance problems
- Termination and full and final settlement disputes
It becomes much more difficult to handle the above-mentioned problems when the organization lacks documented procedures concerning absence and disciplinary actions.
Is it possible to regard the absence as resignation?
The employer should not automatically conclude that the employee has resigned from the job due to being absent from work.
Whether a prolonged unauthorized absence can lead to termination or be regarded as abandonment is defined by employment terms and conditions. Generally, employers are expected to give a chance for an explanation to the employee.
The company may have a policy about the process of dealing with unauthorized absence, how many days it takes, and when the HR department should take action. However, the policy should be properly implemented according to applicable law.
Recommended HR process for employee absconding
It would be helpful for the organization to first ascertain the veracity of the absence of the employee concerned. This may be done through reviewing attendance, leave, communications with the reporting manager or HR and other records as deemed fit by the organization.
It would also be useful to determine if the employee has communicated the reason for the absence to his/her reporting manager or any other authorized individual.
Attempt to Contact the Employee
Reasonable attempts to contact the employees must be made through the means of communication available with the organization.
The method of communicating to the employee will vary from company to company depending on their policy. It may be through email, telephone calls or SMS. The organization must keep records of these attempts including date of attempts and response, if any.
At this stage, the objective is to know the reason for the absence and give the individual concerned an opportunity to communicate back.
Issuing a formal notice
In case the employee does not respond, it would be advisable for the employer to send a formal notice asking for explanation for the absence. The notice must include:
Give an opportunity to respond
It is critical that procedural fairness be considered prior to any adverse employment action.
Should the employee respond, then HR should consider his or her response along with the evidence presented to them fairly. If the employee has a genuine reason for the absence, the organization may decide on how to act based on their policies and situations.
In the event that the employee does not respond even if he or she has ample time to do so, then the organization may continue with the next step in their process.
Apply the proper disciplinary procedure
If the employee’s unauthorized absence is deemed misconduct according to relevant service regulations or company policies, then the organization must follow the appropriate disciplinary procedure.
Based on the situation, this may include preparing a charge sheet or showing cause notice and making the appropriate inquiry before making the final decision.
The process differs depending on the category of the employee and the relevant laws, employment terms, and other considerations.
Documentation is Paramount
One of the most significant factors associated with dealing with employee absconding is the aspect of proper documentation.
Some of the documents that HR must maintain include:
- Records of attendance and leave
- Employment contract along with policies
- Efforts made in communication
- Notifications made to the employee
- Evidence of delivery/dispatch
Replies from the employee, if any
- Manager’s report
- Disciplinary proceedings
- Final communication with regards to employment
- Documentation indicates that the process followed by the organization is organized and not arbitrary.
Employee absconding could also cause payroll issues. The HR and payroll department needs to correctly identify the last day of the employee’s working, payable salary, approved leave, deductions, reimbursements, and other relevant parts.
Organizations must never withhold amounts just because of punishment without having a legal ground and proper documentation. Recovery of company assets, notice period, loans/advances, or other dues must be done as per the terms of employment and law.
Payroll and HR departments of the organization should work in close coordination.
The security of the organization's information and property
In case an employee is uncontactable, organizations must also consider information security and property related concerns.
Based on the position held by the employee, the HR department as well as the IT department will have to check the access to:
- Organizational emails
- HRMS and payroll systems
- Customer databases
- Organizational applications
- Cloud services
- Information classified as confidential
- Company property such as company laptops, cell phones, ID badges, etc.This should be done in accordance with the organization’s information security policy.
How to stop employees from absconding through HR efforts?
While it is impossible to stop every case of absconding, companies can minimize the likelihood of this by having proper workforce management practices.
There should be:
- Employment contracts
- Attendance and leave policies
- Notice period policy
- Accurate employee contact details
- Communication between managers and employees
- Proper onboarding process
- Employee complaint mechanism
- Disciplinary policy
- HR and payroll documentation
Furthermore, managers should also be trained to detect early indicators of absconding, like frequent absenteeism, disengagement, or loss of communication.
Employee absconding may cause unexpected shortages in the workforce, reduced productivity, and increased strain on the HR department. When an employee stops reporting to work without notice and becomes unreachable, the organization needs to handle the situation carefully while also ensuring business operations continue without disruption.
Outsourcing the staffing function to a third-party staffing company can help organizations manage such situations through a structured process.
With such a third-party payroll model, where employees are hired, the staffing firm undertakes all the responsibilities for the employment process and coordinates the relationship with the client regarding all matters of the workforce.This helps separate workforce administration from the core of the business. Thus, instead of the HR team dealing with everything related to the hiring of employees, a third party can take care of these matters.
