How do I set an attendance and lateness policy?

Step by step

1. 1

   Set hours and flexibility

   Start and finish times, any grace period, and flexible hours or shifts, written into the policy.

2. 2

   Use one recording method

   Fingerprint, app or an online system, with a clear procedure for correcting errors and for work outside the office.

3. 3

   Define violations and reporting

   Lateness, leaving early, absence without permission, and how to report an absence in advance. Article 134 requires workers in Egypt to keep to working hours and follow the set procedures when absent.

4. 4

   Graded, proportionate penalties

   A written warning, then a deduction according to how often the violation repeats, as the approved regulations and your country's labor law provide. In Egypt a deduction may not exceed five days of basic pay for one violation, and no more than five days' pay a month may be withheld for penalties, under Article 143.

5. 5

   Procedure before penalty

   Notify the employee in writing of the violation, hear their response and document it. The investigation may be oral for violations punished by a warning or a deduction from basic pay of up to one day's pay, provided its content is recorded in the penalty decision, under Article 141.

6. 6

   Long absence

   In Egypt a worker is considered to have resigned after unjustified absence of more than 20 separate days in a year or more than 10 consecutive days, provided a warning is sent by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt after 10 days of absence in the first case and 5 days in the second, under Article 166.