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In school promoting organizational efficiency is majorly dependent on staff attendance. Not to mention, Staff absences can lead impact on school management also on terms in finance along with other staff potential disruption to plan for and provide its service. Just like many other organizations schools too work as a collective force, in many ways the functioning of the school is interdependent on multiple departments.

While absence without leave may have its legitimate reasons, nevertheless, the school needs to ensure staff members are accountable account for their absence and meet their responsibilities to work. When a school can ensure to navigate the disruption caused by absenteeism, it can be reduced with effective measures and by consistently offering to work as a team.

In addition to this, when leaders choose to treat each case differently it provides more scope to deal with sensitive circumstances with a healthy approach. Managers have a key role in dealing with staff absence which is to strengthen administrative skills. This will allow school leaders to bring a strategic approach in dealing with unpredictable situations and also to treat all staff members equally.

Ways school leaders can manage absence with leave skillfully –

Monitor Absence

The biggest step towards managing absence is to ensure that it is being monitored and that staff’s overall absence rates are regularly reviewed. The monitoring and regular review can allow distinguishing between sickness absence, authorized and unauthorized leave taken by an individual. With this administration, leaders can assess whether the ongoing measures and procedures for managing absence are working or not.

Additionally, with a structured system in place, school employees can be more conscious of taking things seriously on their behalf. Overall, by monitoring absence, leaders can establish a solid ground of responsibility also identify any ongoing issue with absenteeism.

Conduct Meeting

Meetings with the school employee for healthy discussion can be one way to take a precautionary measure. When school staff understands that you as the leader emphasize collective and individual responsibility, the focus can be put on employees' productivity rather than dealing with absent staff.

Meet with the staff member to discuss any concerns they have over absence and/or their workload can be taken into consideration. It is not news that burnout in schoolwork can be a major factor for such a lack of motivation. When school leaders can make it a point to embrace mental health as an active subject to talk and strengthen upon, both administrative staff and teachers feel they are being seen and heard.

Practice Compassion

When there is a prolonged issue of absenteeism without providing a legitimate reason, the most ideal way to deal with such a situation is to be patient and allow the individual staff member the time of explanation. When you establish a firm structure in the school premises on absenteeism, make it a point in writing that school employees are considered to be absent without leave and that it can result in stopping pay and even may lead to disciplinary action when needed.

But also know taking strict measures is not the first step. As your employees are already aware of it jumping to the conclusion never helps in this type of situation. Also never assume anything. Try contacting them, record all attempts that you have tried to contact them. Most of all, things can be serious on the other side and probability can widely be varied. Therefore, being compassionate towards the employee’s situation will help you to come to a resolution sooner.

Final Words

While considering measures to manage absence in school, it is essential that school leaders also prioritize adapting procedures that are fair, consistent and also ensure equitable treatment for all staff members. A Diploma in Educational Administration and Management course can strengthen administrative skills to mitigate repetitive issues. By monitoring staff attendance records you can identify patterns of absence for individual workers, scrutinize any underlying reason for absence, and provide solutions in the future.