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AWOL

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

It seems to be in the air. Employees who either go off sick and then don’t come back, or others that just don’t show up for work one day.

Key to dealing with this is to call us immediately you have someone absent and have no information where they are. On the same day ideally.

You need to try to contact them by post, email, text message, social media (if one of their colleagues is connected to them). So it is always a good idea to check that you have all the contact details for each employee, just in case.

If you have asked them to contact you, to no avail, then you need to up the ante.

 

 

Send them a text/email or letter (or all three) that says “If you do not contact us by 5pm tomorrow evening, then we will assume that you have resigned with immediate effect.” If you are sending it by post, give them more time. If by text, probably less time.

Two employees recently just disappeared from the face of the earth, off of social media, husband and wife, both employed at the same company, gone.

Another one was an employee who went off sick and had a sick note till 20 June, but hasn’t turned up for work since.

The best one was when his girlfriend claimed she didn’t know where he was, we went ahead and dismissed, and found out a couple of months later that he was in prison!!

What we usually find is that there is no response to the AWOL ultimatum. Then the employee has resigned with immediate effect, which means that you don’t have to pay notice. You could dismiss for gross misconduct, but you then have to go through the process. This is a much easier approach.

And if they do come back to you and say “No, I haven’t resigned”, you can sort it out then.

The only one that has responded recently was due to sickness. We did the text message to an employee, under 6 months’ service, and got the reply within the hour that she was in hospital with an infection resulting from her newly diagnosed diabetes. So then we could apologise for the misunderstanding and keep paying her SSP.

Call us if you have any staff who “disappear” and are not responding in any way (this does not apply if they have gone on holiday!).

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About Carolyne

Carolyne has run a successful business since 2003, is a well-respected speaker, and author of all things HR. There are many, many business owners across the country who have had their very stressful employee issues magically disappear because they’ve teamed up with Carolyne and Gap HR.

Why Gap HR?

We exist to help you stay legal, compliant and profitable, without shelling out for an in-house HR manager. Over 180 clients benefit from the experience and expertise of the Gap HR team.

 

Call us on 01491 598 600

Email me on cw@gaphr.co.uk

 

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Ask a Question

  • If you are an employee and feel that you have been treated badly, then we strongly advise you to contact ACAS:

    Call the ACAS Helpline on 0300 123 1100 for free support and advice.

    Simply get in touch and they'll provide you with clear and confidential guidance about any kind of dispute or query that you have about relationship issues within the workplace.

    You may want to know about employment rights and rules, best practice or you may need advice about a dispute.

    Whatever it is, just give ACAS a call, their team are on hand to respond within the hours: Monday-Friday, 8am-8pm and Saturday, 9am-1pm.

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