A Sample Employee Warning Letter for Absenteeism

When chronic absenteeism occurs in your workplace, the standard step that follows a verbal warning is a written letter to the employee. It’s important to remember that frequent absenteeism is often the result of illness or personal or family issues, so a level of sensitivity in the approach is required while still being firm about the individual adhering to the company’s policy. The team at ATS have created a sample employee warning letter for absenteeism, for more in-depth information on minimizing employee absenteeism, check out our free Attendance Policy guide.

To learn more about what you can do to prevent your company from losing money using time and attendance best practices, check these posts out:

What to Include In an Employee Warning Letter for Absenteeism

Writing a warning letter for absenteeism can be tricky business. It needs to be written in such a way that it informs the employee that he or she has not adhered to the company’s attendance policy while avoiding an overly authoritarian tone. The letter should be generally positive with a view to helping the employee change the problem behavior and improve performance.

The letter should detail which infractions have been committed by the employee, including specifics. The letter should clearly indicate what the consequences of further absenteeism will be.

A means for the employee to get back on track should then be outlined in the letter.

Sample Warning Letter

Employer’s Name

Company Name

Business Address

City, State, Zip Code

DATE

Employee’s Name

Employee’s Position

Employee’ Address

City, State, Zip Code

Dear Employee’s Name,

This letter is an official written reprimand that serves to emphasize the seriousness of your recent unauthorized absence from work. On DATE, you took leave from your job without requesting or receiving prior permission from your manager. This written warning letter comes soon after a verbal warning you received following several late arrivals for work. In the absence of mitigating emergency circumstances, this kind of behavior is seen as a sign of gross negligence of your duties that goes against our company’s employee attendance policy.

If additional unauthorized absences or late arrivals occur, you will be subjecting yourself to possible further disciplinary action.

At company name, we value attendance and consider it to be an important factor in any employee’s position. It is our sincere hope that you will adhere to the company’s attendance expectations to avoid further actions.

You are hereby advised that further infractions of our attendance policy will not be accepted and that proper attendance is required.

Kindly treat this matter with all the urgency and seriousness it demands. A copy of this letter will be enclosed in your official personnel file.

Employer’s Signature

Employer’s Printed Name

Company Name

Every employee warning letter for absenteeism can be slightly modified or changed to reflect the opinions or policies of the company, but this sample will usually have all your bases covered.

While ATS is passionate about time and attendance and excited to support organizations navigate workforce dynamics around timekeeping, we recommend you reach out to your regional and/or local HR chapter for more information on common workplace advice and procedures.