Employee Attendance and Punctuality Policy
This template is written for an Indian workplace that records attendance on a biometric terminal. Replace every value in square brackets with your own, delete the clauses that do not apply to you, and have the result reviewed before you circulate it.
The numbers used throughout — a 15-minute grace period, three lates to a half-day deduction, a 30-minute overtime threshold — are the most common settings we see, not a recommendation and not a legal standard. They are here so you are editing a policy rather than drafting one.
1. Purpose and scope
Why the policy exists, who it binds, and the principle it is judged against. Keep this section short: a policy that opens with three pages of preamble is not read.
1.1 Purpose
[Company name] operates on shifts, and the work of every team depends on colleagues being present at the times agreed with them. This policy sets out how attendance is recorded, what counts as late, what happens when lateness becomes a pattern, and how errors in the record are corrected.
It exists to make attendance predictable and impersonal. Every employee is measured against the duty time recorded for them, by the same rule, applied the same way each month — not against a manager's memory of who arrives when.
1.2 Scope
This policy applies to all [permanent / probationary / contract] employees at all locations of [Company name], including [list branches or write 'all branches'].
- Employees on a fixed duty time are governed by every clause below.
- Employees whose role has no fixed duty time — [field staff / sales / senior management, as applicable] — are governed by Sections 2, 6 and 7 only. Lateness clauses do not apply to them, because there is no agreed start time to be late against.
- Contractors and vendor staff record attendance for access and safety purposes under Section 2. The deduction and disciplinary clauses do not apply to them; their engagement terms govern.
1.3 Principle
Attendance is recorded, not adjudicated. The terminal records what happened; this policy sets out in advance what the record means. Where the record is wrong, it is corrected through the process in Section 6 — not by argument at the end of the month.
2. Recording attendance: biometric marking rules
How presence is captured, and the rules that stop the record being disputed later. This is the section employees actually read, so it is written to them.
2.1 The terminal is the record
Attendance is recorded at the biometric terminal installed at your work location. Every employee marks their own attendance at the start and the end of their shift.
A day with no punch is a day with no attendance record. It is not assumed to be absence out of suspicion and it is not assumed to be presence out of goodwill — it is an incomplete record, and it is resolved under Section 6.
2.2 Marking rules
The following rules apply to every employee at every location.
- Mark your own attendance. Marking attendance for another employee, or asking another employee to mark yours, is a disciplinary matter under Section 7 for both parties. This is the single rule that keeps the whole record trustworthy.
- Mark in and out. The out-punch is what evidences hours worked, and it is the only basis on which extra time can be recognised under Section 5.
- Mark at your assigned terminal unless you have been told otherwise in writing. If you work at another branch for the day, mark at that branch's terminal and tell your manager, so the day is read against the right site.
- If the terminal does not accept your finger or face, try once more, then report it the same day under Section 6. Do not leave it for the end of the month.
- If the terminal is out of service or the power is off, your manager records attendance manually for that day and the record is corrected under Section 6.
2.3 What the terminal stores
Employees are entitled to know what is held about them, and stating it here prevents most of the objections that arise at enrolment.
- A fingerprint terminal stores a mathematical template derived from your fingerprint. It is not an image of your fingerprint and it cannot be turned back into one.
- A face terminal stores a template and, depending on the model, a reference photograph used for verification.
- No Aadhaar number and no Aadhaar-linked biometric data is collected, stored or used by this system. Attendance here is an ordinary private-employment record and is unconnected to any government biometric programme.
- What is transmitted to the attendance software is the punch record: who, when, at which terminal, and by which verification method. Enrolment templates remain on the terminal.
- Attendance records are retained for [retention period, e.g. 3 years] and then [archived / deleted] under [Company name]'s data retention policy.
2.4 Weekly off and holidays
Your weekly off is [day, e.g. Sunday] unless your shift roster states otherwise. The list of paid public holidays for the year is published at the start of each calendar year and displayed at [location / intranet].
A day marked as weekly off or holiday is not an absence, and no punch is expected on it. Attendance recorded on such a day is treated under Section 5.
3. Working hours and shifts
The agreed times each clause below is measured against. Without this section the rest of the policy has no reference point.
3.1 Standard duty hours
Standard duty hours at [Company name] are [09:30] to [18:30], with a [30 / 45 / 60]-minute meal break, [six] days a week, subject to the Act applicable to your establishment.
Where your role carries a different duty time, it is recorded against your employee record and communicated to you in writing. That recorded time — not the standard time above — is what your attendance is measured against.
3.2 Shift work
Employees on rotating shifts are assigned to a shift by roster, published [weekly / monthly] and at least [7] days in advance. Each shift has its own start and end time, and lateness is measured against the shift you were rostered for that day.
An employee working two shifts in one day is recorded against each shift separately.
3.3 Changes to duty time
A change to your duty time takes effect from the date it is recorded and is not applied to days already past. If your shift changed on the 12th, days 1 to 11 are measured against the old time and days 12 onward against the new one.
4. Punctuality: grace period and late marking
The clauses that get argued about. Write the numbers down in advance and the argument does not happen — which is the entire point of having a policy rather than a practice.
4.1 What counts as an in-time
Your in-time is the first punch recorded for you on that shift. A punch at or before your rostered start time is on time.
4.2 Grace period
A grace period of [15] minutes applies to the start of every shift. A punch within the grace period is recorded as the time it happened but is not marked late, and carries no consequence under this policy.
The grace period exists for traffic, weather and the ordinary friction of getting to work. It is not an extension of your start time: it is not to be planned around, and a pattern of arriving at [09:44] every day is addressed as a punctuality discussion under Section 4.5 even though no single day was marked late.
- Grace applies to the shift start only. It does not apply to returning from a meal break or to the end of the shift.
- The grace period is the same for every employee on a fixed duty time. It is not varied by seniority, and it is not varied by manager.
- A punch at [09:45] with a [09:30] start and a [15]-minute grace is late. The grace period is inclusive of its final minute and exclusive of the minute after it.
4.3 Late marking framework
A shift start punched after the grace period is recorded as a late mark. Late marks accumulate within a calendar month and reset on the first of the following month.
Late marks are counted; they are not individually penalised. The first [two] late marks in a month carry no deduction. The framework below applies from the [third].
- A half-day deduction means one half of one day's pay, calculated on the same basis as any other attendance deduction in Section 8.
- Deductions under this clause are applied in the month the threshold is crossed, and appear as a separate line on your salary statement rather than being absorbed into the net figure.
- Late marks are not carried forward. A month with two late marks costs nothing, and the count starts again on the first.
- Arriving more than [two] hours after your shift start without prior approval is recorded as a half-day absence rather than a late mark, and Section 4.3 does not apply to it.
| Late marks in a calendar month | Consequence |
|---|---|
| 1 – 2 | Recorded. No deduction. |
| 3 | Half-day deduction from the month's salary, and a note on the attendance record. |
| 4 – 5 | A second half-day deduction, and a documented conversation with your reporting manager. |
| 6 or more | Treated as a pattern of non-adherence and dealt with under Section 7. |
4.4 Early departure
Leaving before your shift end without your manager's approval is recorded as an early departure. [Two] early departures are treated as one late mark for the purposes of Section 4.3.
Leaving more than [two] hours before your shift end without approval is recorded as a half-day absence.
4.5 Persistent lateness
Punctuality is a performance matter as well as an attendance one. Where an employee stays within the framework above but shows a consistent pattern — habitually arriving at the edge of the grace period, or repeatedly reaching two late marks a month — the reporting manager will raise it as a documented conversation rather than allowing the deduction table to substitute for managing it.
4.6 Exemptions
No late mark is recorded where any of the following applies, and the manager records the reason against the day under Section 6.
- You were on approved leave, on an approved short leave, or on an approved work-related trip.
- You were required to be at another location, a client site or an off-site meeting before reporting.
- The terminal was out of service, or the site was inaccessible for reasons outside your control.
- [Company name] has notified a delayed start for the site — for weather, a public disruption, or a declared emergency.
5. Overtime and extra hours
The section to have your own advisor check most carefully: the overtime rate and the maximum-hours ceiling are set by the Act your establishment falls under, not by policy.
5.1 Approval
Overtime is worked only when it has been approved in advance and in writing by [reporting manager / department head]. Time worked beyond your shift without prior approval is not overtime and does not attract payment, though it is still recorded by the terminal.
Approval is given for a specific date and a stated number of hours. A standing approval is not given.
5.2 When overtime begins
Overtime begins [30] minutes after your rostered shift end. Time worked within that window is treated as ordinary variation in the working day and is not counted.
Overtime is computed from the out-punch recorded at the terminal. A shift worked beyond its end without an out-punch cannot be evidenced and will not be paid.
5.3 Rate
Approved overtime is paid at [rate — for establishments under the Factories Act 1948, section 59 requires twice the ordinary rate of wages; state Shops and Establishments Acts vary, and several also prescribe a maximum number of overtime hours per quarter].
[Company name] confirms its applicable rate and its maximum-hours ceiling under [the Act applicable to this establishment] and states them here before this policy is circulated.
5.4 Work on a weekly off or public holiday
Attendance recorded on your weekly off or on a declared public holiday is treated as [compensatory off / overtime at the applicable rate], subject to prior approval under Section 5.1.
Where compensatory off is granted, it is taken within [30] days and is recorded against the day it is taken.
6. Corrections, missed punches and leave
Every biometric policy needs an exception route. Without one, employees learn that the way to fix the record is to complain at month end, and the register stops being trusted.
6.1 Missed punches
A missed punch is reported to your reporting manager within [2] working days, stating the date, the shift and the actual time. Requests raised after the [5th] of the following month are not considered, because the month's salary has been processed.
A missed punch corrected under this clause is recorded as a correction with the name of the approver against it. Corrections are visible in your own attendance record.
6.2 Who may approve
Attendance corrections are approved by the employee's reporting manager. An employee may not approve their own correction.
Where the reporting manager is unavailable for more than [3] working days, [named role] approves in their place.
6.3 Leave
Leave is applied for and approved under [Company name]'s Leave Policy. This policy governs only how leave interacts with the attendance record.
- An approved leave day with no punch is recorded as leave of the approved type, not as absence.
- A day on which an employee both attends and has approved leave is recorded as present. Attendance takes precedence; the leave is not consumed.
- Approved paid leave is paid. Unapproved absence is unpaid and is dealt with under Section 7.
- Leave applied for after the fact is at the approver's discretion and is not an entitlement.
6.4 Absence without notice
An absence with no approved leave and no notice to your manager is recorded as absent and is unpaid.
[Three] consecutive days of absence without notice will be treated as abandonment of duty and dealt with under Section 7 and your terms of employment.
7. Non-adherence
Short, and deliberately so. It exists to make the consequences knowable in advance, not to catalogue every possible failing.
7.1 Escalation
Repeated lateness, repeated unapproved absence, or a pattern of missed punches that cannot be explained is addressed in this order: a documented conversation with the reporting manager; a written warning from [HR / department head]; and thereafter under [Company name]'s disciplinary procedure.
7.2 Proxy marking
Marking attendance on behalf of another employee, or arranging for your attendance to be marked by someone else, is a serious matter and is dealt with directly under the disciplinary procedure, for both employees involved, without the escalation in 7.1.
Tampering with, obstructing or disabling an attendance terminal is treated the same way.
8. Deductions, records and review
How the money is calculated, what the employee can see, and when the document is next looked at.
8.1 Basis of deduction
Attendance deductions under this policy are calculated on [gross salary / basic salary — state which] divided by the number of working days in that calendar month.
Because the divisor is the month's own working days, a full month of attendance always pays the full agreed salary, in a 28-day February and a 31-day March alike.
All deductions under this policy are subject to the limits in the Payment of Wages Act 1936 and the Act applicable to your establishment. Where a deduction under this policy would exceed a statutory limit, the statutory limit applies.
8.2 Visibility
Every employee can see their own attendance record, their late marks for the current month, and the deductions applied to them. Any figure that affects pay is visible to the person it affects before the salary is paid, not after.
Queries on the record are raised under Section 6 and within the timelines stated there.
8.3 Records
Attendance records are maintained for [retention period] in accordance with [Company name]'s data retention policy and any record-keeping requirement under the Act applicable to this establishment.
8.4 Review and authority
This policy is reviewed [annually / on any change to the applicable Act] by [HR head / named role]. The version in force is the one published at [location].
This policy is effective from [date] and supersedes all previous attendance policies, circulars and practices at [Company name].