POLICY ON ATTENDANCE AND ABSENTEEISM

Timely and regular attendance is expected from all employees as the call center relies greatly on its people to man the phones and ensure that expected productivity is met.

These guidelines aim to ensure consistent compliance of all employees and proper implementation by leaders.

ABSENCE LIMIT

Ø Maximum of three (3) in a quarter and/or two (2) in any month.

Ø Any instance exceeding the maximum allowable number of unscheduled absence per month and per quarter shall be subjected to corrective action.

Ø Absences on critical work days without justifiable cause will merit immediate corrective action.

Ø Absences due to confinement/hospitalization and/or life threatening situations (emergencies), shall not be counted in the accumulated days provided that supporting documents are presented.

The below reasons of unscheduled absence are exempted from the absence limit :

• Hospitalization due to illness

• Contagious diseases and/or those for which doctor requires the patient to rest for two or more days.

- Sore eyes

- Chicken pox

- Measles

- Flu

- Mumps

- Tuberculosis

- Hepatitis

- Dengue

- Typhoid fever.

• Any other contagious sickness not mentioned in this list shall be consulted with the Operations Manager /HR.

Ø Unscheduled absences covered by reasons, such as, but not limited to the ones listed below, shall accumulate in the employees record and will form part of the basis of the corrective action for excessive absences. Except if the situation escalates to hospitalization.

- Migraine

- Dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps)

- LBM

- common colds

- Stomach trouble (indigestion, hyperacidity and the like)

- Sore throat

- Allergies

- High / Low blood pressure

- Anemia

• If the employee presents a valid medical certificate for the illness, then the absence shall be counted per instance instead of by number of days.

Ø Other cases not listed here shall be deliberated on a case-to-case basis.

Ø Pregnancy related situations and incidents must be consulted with HR or OM.

DEFINITIONS

• Quarter - refers to one calendar quarter (Jan-March, April-June, July-Sept and Oct-Dec)

• Unscheduled Absences - unplanned leaves/absences with no minimum 7 day notification.

• Scheduled Absences - planned leaves with proper notification and covered by approved leave forms.

• Critical Work Days - These days are considered the busiest. Therefore, Scheduled Leaves without cover are not permitted. Mondays, Saturdays, Sundays, scheduled paydays including the day after and dates announced by the operations manager are considered critical working days.

• Absence without Official Leave (AWOL) - three straight days of no call no show or unauthorized absence.

• Undertime counted as absence - any undertime in excess of 4 hours shall be considered an absence.

• Unauthorized absence - unexcused absences or those disapproved outright by the immediate superior.

LEAVE NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE

• Scheduled Leaves. A request should be submitted at least 1 week ahead (for vacation) and must follow the correct notification procedure; otherwise it will be considered unauthorized or without pay.

ABSENCE NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE

• Unscheduled Leaves. Absences due to emergency or sickness must be notified at least 2 hours prior to the start of the shift; otherwise you will be tagged as no call no show.

• Notification must be done by phone call to first level supervisor. If not available then the employee shall notify the next level superior.

• Notification via text messaging is discouraged and may only be considered valid if the supervisor acknowledges receipt via a reply. The employee is responsible for ensuring that an acknowledgment is received.

• If the employee cannot call because of any compelling or life or death reason, an authorized representative must place the call to the employee’s supervisor.

SICKNESS AND EMERGENCY LEAVES. This leave must be filed not more than 24hrs upon return (for one or two day absences).

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS. Documents that may be accepted to justify the absence are.

- Medical certificate

- Hospital abstract

- Death certificate

- Police report

- Affidavits

• Medical certificate must be presented within 24hrs after reporting for work otherwise considered unauthorized.

• An employee may also be required to present a fit to work clearance indicating that he is out of illness and is ready to return to work. (It does not replace a medical certificate)

ADVISING DATE OF RETURN. Employee calling in sick must inform the supervisor immediately on the date of his return. If he cannot return on such date, he must make sure to call his supervisor again and inform of the absence and of the reason.

SHIFT COVER AGREEMENT. Cover is required on days when staffing may be affected by an absence/scheduled absence (i.e critical workdays)

• A signed agreement form between the CSR who filed the SIL and the CSR cover shall be submitted to its first level superior. This will serve as a consensus that the CSR cover will take full responsibility of the schedule. Hence, with any corrective action deemed necessary.

* NCNS / AWOLs may lead to termination if the employee continues to be absent despite all communication efforts (email, sms, letter) instructing him to return to work and give his due explanation.

TARDINESS

Tardiness (Coming in not beyond 60 mins after scheduled start of shift)

Ø Maximum of two (2) instances in a month and / or three (3) in quarter.

Ø Any instance exceeding the maximum allowable per month and per quarter shall trigger the corrective action process.

All tardiness is generally unexcused.

Basis for time-in

For monitoring purposes, the basis for official time-in are:

- Opentimeclock, Phone system log in, VMO log in,

* The supervisor must ensure that an immediate DOCUMENTED coaching session is conducted for every instance of tardiness occurred even if the employee still does not qualify to be cited.

EXCEPTIONS

- OM / HR shall issue a memo declaring amnesty on certain incidents of tardiness. (ex: conditions affecting the general population, typhoon etc) only in such instances may tardiness be deemed excused.

- Situations arising from business exigencies may result in the employee coming in late (ex: mandatory overtime 3 hrs or more beyond the end of shift)

UNDERTIME

Undertime is work not covering the full 8 hours in a day.

• Coming in at least 60 mins after the start of shift or leaving earlier than scheduled off time

• Half day work (4 paid hours)

Ø Unauthorized undertime is a serious offense and will merit suspension on the first instance.

PRESCRIPTIVE PERIOD FOR ATTENDANCE RELATED INFRACTIONS

• Will be from the date of the serving of the MEMO to 60 calendar days after (verbal) or 90 calendar days after (written 3 day suspension) or 180 calendar days after (if 5 day suspension).

• Any succeeding offense committed within the same quarter of the prior infraction shall immediately merit the next applicable sanction.

• If the prescriptive period on the last warning spills over to the next quarter, the employee is still entitled to his allowable absence / late limit. Only when he exceeds the limit, shall he be subject again to corrective action.

• Multiple attendance related infractions of the verbal warning level overlapping its prescriptive period, will merit an additional 5 points deduction on the agents total bonus points on top of the sanction. E.g. (Verbal warning for Tardiness and Absenteeism given on Q2 : Sanction : Half bonus and -5 on bonus points)

CORRECTIVE ACTION PROCESS FOR ATTENDANCE RELATED INFRACTIONS

• MEMO/WARNING should be served no later than 7 days (Verbal warning), or 14 days (if for suspension) from the date of infraction.

• If the MEMO/WARNING has not been served within the specified timeframe, the memo shall then be considered nullified.

• If the leader has been found to be the cause of delay in the issuance / completion of the corrective action process for any case shall be subject to disciplinary process.

*Management may from time to time issue new rules or policies or alterations to existing policies in the form of MEMOS. These will be included in the code of conduct.

TABLE OF OFFENSES

LEVEL 1 : Non conformance which are considered as light misdemeanors. It has minimal impact on the business and orderliness but in a way affects professionalism and the company’s image.

LEVEL 2 : Serious offenses which can affect productivity, team effectiveness and relationships and cause delay in operations.

LEVEL 3 : Violation that merits dismissal on the first instance. It disrupts operations which could lead to client loss and doubts the integrity of the offender.

DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES :

1. Every employee who has allegedly committed an infraction, regardless of the gravity has the right to be informed before the superior serves him a disciplinary action.

2. Upon knowledge of the offense, the employee’s supervisor or manager shall conduct an initial investigation to determine if there was indeed a non conformance. Once confirmed the employee involved shall be given immediate coaching and Documented warning (MEMO) which specifies the facts of the incidents and the type of violation.

3. In serving the MEMO the employee is asked to sign the form. Should the employee refuse to sign, the supervisor is not hindered from serving the same, as the employee’s refusal to sign does not invalidate the MEMO. The supervisor shall merely give him a copy of the MEMO and note “refused to sign”

4. If corrective action includes suspension, then the supervisor shall determine when it will be implemented but no longer than 2 weeks upon serving of the MEMO.

5. All corrective action shall be recorded in writing and be made part of the employee’s 201 file.