🗓️ Attendance and Leave Policies: What Your Small Business Needs

We recommend these as part of your employee handbook. [Fit Small Business]( Expert Insights on HR September 04, 2024 Our Expert’s Topic for the Week: Attendance and Leave Policies Are your employees expected to work a certain number of hours per week? What happens to an employee if they are late for work? Is there a specific number of paid time off days each employee receives per year? How many days can be taken for maternity leave? What about a death in the family? All of these may be questions you or your employees are asking. The best way to answer these questions is to have an attendance policy and specific leave policies in place, such as paid time off (PTO), maternity/paternity leave, bereavement, etc. We recommend these as part of your employee handbook, but they can also be individual policies. - Jennifer Soper, Robie Ann Ferrer & Genevieve Que   Did You Know? September 2 - 6, 2024 is National Payroll Week! It honors the achievements of payroll professionals across the country who ensure payroll is processed in a correct and timely manner. Stay Current   - 8 in 10 companies said that they will track employee office attendance, according to a survey by ResumeBuilder - 58% of businesses have a hybrid or flexible attendance policy in place - According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national absence rate stands at 3.1% Here are the articles covered in today's edition. - [What is an Employee Attendance Policy? (+ Free Template)]( - [How to Create a PTO Policy: Small Business Guide [+ Template]]( - [Paid Sick Leave Laws by State](   [What is an Employee Attendance Policy? (+ Free Template)]( [What is an Employee Attendance Policy? (+ Free Template)]( Employee attendance policies are company documents, often part of your handbook, that clearly define attendance requirements at your company. These should include definitions, indicate how employees may be disciplined for violations of the policy, and an employee acknowledgement. For an example of how to draft yours, download our free attendance policy template and customize it based on your business’s needs.   [How to Create a PTO Policy: Small Business Guide [+ Template]]( How to Create a PTO Policy: Small Business Guide [+ Template]]( PTO is an excellent benefit to offer your employees and can help you retain top talent. When creating a PTO policy, determine the amount of time off days you want to offer and the different types that will be included in your policy. Check out our guide for help in building a PTO policy. It also contains a policy template you can download for free.   [Paid Sick Leave Laws by State]( [Paid Sick Leave Laws by State]( Although there are no federal laws requiring that employers provide paid sick leave, some individual states (as well as cities and counties) have created their own regulations. Find out which state has statewide or city or county paid sick leave laws—or both. Based on Your Latest Reads   [Free Time Card Calculator]( A time card calculator can be a great tool to help you calculate the total number of hours your employees worked in a given week. [How to Calculate Vacation Accruals (+ Free PTO Calculator)]( Small businesses that offer PTO must calculate accruals appropriately to avoid penalties. Use our free PTO calculator to help. [Free Excel Test for Interviewing Candidates]( An Excel test for interview candidates can show a person’s proficiency in using Excel. To assess candidates, download our free Excel test.   Latest in HR   [8 Best Time & Attendance Software for Small Businesses]( The best time and attendance software is designed to help employers efficiently monitor the working time of employees. It can track actual hours worked, overtime, absences, and leave balances while keeping you in compliance with labor laws.   [How to Calculate Vacation Accruals (+ Free PTO Calculator)]( Keeping track of how much PTO each employee has earned and when it was used is important to help you manage accruals accurately and avoid labor law violations. Our PTO accrual calculator lets you determine the appropriate accrual rate to use per pay period based on your business workdays, hours in a workweek, and annual vacation days.   [6 Best Leave Management Systems in 2024]( A leave management system (LMS) automates the leave requesting, granting, and scheduling process—taking a lot of the busywork off the hands of your HR employee or manager. The best employee leave management system allows you to set time-off policies and holidays and automatically notifies managers of requests and employees of approvals or denials. More FSB Resources   More Than A Newsletter   Written by Jennifer Soper, Robie Ann Ferrer & Genevieve Que About Fit Small Business HR Newsletter: Providing you with newsworthy tips, tricks, and informational deep dives on all HR and Payroll topics relevant to small business owners. Delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. [Sign up today]( Visit the [Subscription Center]( to get other free newsletters, manage your account settings or to be removed from Fit Small Business communications. 0[Unsubscribe](