Employee Absences and Time Off Overview
How will you address employee absences and time off in your early learning setting? Life happens. If you have employees, they will need to go to appointments, they will get sick, they will have family events to attend – long story short, they’re going to be absent sometimes, and sometimes it will be short notice. There will be situations where you’ll be able to handle it smoothly, and situations where it’s going to feel like a mud-covered mess.
This post is intended to spark reflection and suggest ways of addressing the topic covered when writing or updating policies and procedures. Your policies and procedures should be written to meet your program’s needs and unique circumstances.
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As you think about what you want your program to look like, consider the procedures for when a staff member needs to request time off in advance, or when a staff member wakes up with food poisoning. How will you maintain a compassionate, professional atmosphere? What steps can you take to create systems that function as smoothly as they can? If your center is small, you might give your personal phone number to your staff, and just have them text you as soon as they know they need time off.
For larger groups, you might have an online system or dedicated administrative person who coordinates teacher coverage. Think through how coverage for your staff will be provided: are teachers required to find their own substitutes from a certain list? Are some classrooms well-within the childcare ratio of your area, allowing you to pull staff from one room to cover another? Are you comfortable outsourcing substitute coverage to an agency? (As an aside, we have a whole post about substitutes to help you think through that.)
Some programs provide a certain amount of sick leave and paid time off: sometimes they’re separate (such as three sick days and five days of PTO/vacation) and sometimes they’re grouped together (eight days of PTO, to be used for whatever reasons.) Sometimes, time off is accrued based on time spent working (X amount of PTO for Y number of hours worked). Sometimes it’s simply provided at the time of hiring (you can take seven days off per school year, in addition to federal/bank holidays.)
From a personal perspective, simply providing a specific amount of time off for whatever reason to your employees once you hire them is the simplest, most equitable way to encourage staff to take the time off that they need. After all, it’s not your job to police how people are using their days off, so designating some days as ‘sick’ and some days as ‘personal’ can be unnecessarily fussy.
In many examples, you’ll read about how a certain number of short-notice absences leads to disciplinary action. Consider if this is really a necessary addition to your handbook: do you need a punitive point system for your staff, or can you talk it out when a lot of absences start happening without a clear reason?
If you’re working in an administrative capacity, get familiar with local and federal laws surrounding leaves of absence for things like jury duty, parental leave, military leave, and FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) You’ll also need to understand how PTO is ‘paid out’ to employees who leave your program without using it.
Where to Include
At Playvolution HQ, we recommend using the Three Handbook Method.
Consider adding this policy to your Staff Handbook.
Considerations
- When will your program be closed? Especially if you operate year-round, staff will begin to tire without a break. What days can you provide professional development, half-days, or close the center to give everyone a change to recharge? Can you match these days to a local school district (either following their time off or operating during their time off and closing at another date – cases can be made for both)?
- Are there times when you will automatically deny time off requests, such as the first week of school or the day(s) before a long break? Why? How will your staff feel about those decisions, and what kind of environment do they reflect?
- Who approves time off? Just the individual in charge, members of a team, or a combination? Is a written procedure necessary, or is a text thread or afternoon conversation good enough?
- For sick days, will you require a doctor’s note? After how many days? In what ways does requiring a note serve your program, and it what ways could it present a barrier to your staff? (Particularly if you aren’t providing health insurance, how much money would it cost for your staff member to go to a doctor for a note?)
- If two staff members request the same time off, how will you decide which one to approve and which to deny? What factors into your decision, and what does that show you value?
Sample Policies
NOTE: The following samples are real-world examples relating to this post’s topic and are provided as a reference for creating your own policies and procedures. Sharing them here is not a recommendation of their content.
Sample 1
Celebrating Holidays
Attendance
Teachers have ten days off per year, to be used as personal days or sick days. Additional days will be docked from salary. Please check with the director before scheduling days off. Personal days are not always possible; please check in as far in advance as you can. If you have a preferred/available substitute, be sure to let us know.
If you are unable to work on a given day, you must call/text the director first. Use the staff Slack channel to inform the whole staff that you will be absent.
Private school in California, USA
Sample 2
CALLOUT PROCEDURES FOR STAFF
It is the employee’s responsibility to follow call out procedures as posted at your center. Texting is not an acceptable form of notifying your director of an impending absence. Repeated absences, regardless of whether said absences are qualified as excused, may require your director to adjust your shift and/or weekly hours to provide consistent classroom coverage of children in our care.
- We ask that you provide one week’s notice to your director or supervisor if you will be missing work for any reason. This allows the director or supervisor to adequately find a replacement in your absence.
- If you cannot provide this much notice (i.e. unexpected sick day), then you must first call your director’s cell phone (texting is not accepted) and let the director know about the situation keeping you from work and a number where you can be reached. It is the employee’s responsibility to have these numbers available.
- If you do not hear back from your director by 6:30 am, you must then reach the office manager of your center when it opens in the morning. Please speak to him/her in person, rather than leaving a message, as messages are often not received in a timely fashion. In the event your supervisor is unable to locate a replacement for your shift; you may be required to come to work until a suitable replacement is located.
- If you do not follow these procedures and do not show up to work, it will be considered a no-call, no-show and disciplinary action will be taken, including possible discharge.
- For a callout related to a health problem or medical issues a doctor’s note may be required.
- You are not to send messages through your co-workers because it is not their responsibility to report your absence and they will not be held accountable if your message does not get delivered.
- If you have any issues with these instructions, please contact your director or franchise owner.
Youthland Academy, Ohio, USA
Sample 3
Work Attendance
A “Time Off Request” (file drawer in the office) must be completed and approved by the Program Coordinator before any time off may be taken. Please make requests as far in advance as possible as it helps with the planning process. Vacation leave is granted based staff vacation accruals, on the needs of the University and operational needs of the Center. While we try to accommodate all requests, program needs may limit our ability to do so. Requests are not routinely granted during exam, break weeks or the first week of each quarter (see forms).
When a teacher chooses / needs to take time off, and the absence will be three days or less, the teacher may be responsible, in conjunction with the staffing and program coordinator, for making sure that the class is covered at all times throughout their shift in accordance with Title 22 and 5 licensing regulations and Center policy.
A list of available substitutes will posted quarterly. Please ask the Program / Staffing Coordinator for additional suggestions if you are having problems finding adequate coverage. The Coordinator may be able to arrange the coverage for you, but, it remains your responsibility to check in a timely manner and be sure that arrangements have been made. When arranging substitutes, a teacher should replace her/his self with a teacher assistant for the hours in which another teacher is regularly present in the classroom. There may be no time that a teacher assistant is scheduled to be alone with a group of children.
Please inform the Program Coordinator as soon as possible if you need to be absent due to illness.
UCSB Early Care and Education, California, USA
Sample 4
Attendance and Punctuality
Time off
- Time off will not be approved unless you get approval from the director and assistant director and have found a substitute to work for you. If you have a planned absence, you must find a replacement for that day and fill out a leave request form from the office. Both teachers in the same room may not take time off on the same day. Time off on special activity day will only be approved under extenuating circumstances. The office reserves the right to cancel/disapprove any leave based on the needs of the center.
Sick Leave
- If you are sick and need emergency time off, you are expected to call in as soon as possible on every day that you are out sick. Please call and speak to an office personnel, do not wait till the last minute, try and find coverage so that someone can arrive in time to cover your shift. Only sending emails is not enough. We open at 7 am, you should text office staff particularly Assistant Director if it’s before and after hours, otherwise at 7am call the X room at [NUMBER] or try office number at [NUMBER] somebody will answer.
- 7:00AM opening staff must call other opening staff or administration at home if they will be out and ensure somebody will be there to open the center.
- If you are going to be out the next day please make the decision earlier in the day and inform the office so we can arrange for coverage. After 3 days, doctor’s note will be required. Doctor’s note may be required at director’s discretion earlier if needed. Frequent Monday/Friday illnesses get old fast.
- Do not come to work with a fever. In addition, you should not be at the Center if there are any indications of:
- yellow or green discharge from nose, eye or throat
- fever of 100 or more
- rash
- Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
- You must be free of fever for 24 hours before returning to the Center. Please report to the Center if you contract a communicable illness or condition (such as chicken pox, “pinkeye”, mumps, flu, head lice, impetigo, pinworm, ringworm, etc.). If the administration feels you are not able to carry out your duties due to listlessness or illness you will be asked to leave for the day or seek doctor’s advice.
UNF Preschool, Florida, USA
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