An attendance improvement plan sits between the warning and the separation: it is the employer saying, in numbers, what the next eight or twelve weeks have to look like, and the tracker saying at the end whether they did. A plan whose target is to improve attendance cannot succeed or fail; a plan whose target is an on-time rate and a cap on unexcused events over a stated period can do both. This page sets out the four parts of the plan, worked on one employee on a small crew under the points policy used across this site, and shows how the employee attendance tracker template reads the result. The corrective action guide covers where the plan sits in the sequence.
Part one: the starting position, from the record
The plan opens with where the employee is: the points in the window against the threshold, and the attendance and on-time rates the tracker computes from scheduled and missed shifts. On the worked example the employee is at 6 of 8 points after a final warning, with an on-time rate over the last quarter well below the crew's, and the plan says so with the events listed. Starting from the record rather than from an impression matters because the plan will be judged against the same record at the end. If the starting figures are wrong the whole plan is wrong, so the employee checks the table before signing and raises any excused event that was scored.
Part two: the targets, as numbers the tracker can read
The plan sets two or three targets and no more. On the example: no unexcused absences and no no-calls in the period; at most one tardy; and an on-time rate at or above the crew's average as the tracker measures it. Each target is something the tracker template on this site computes from scheduled shifts, worked shifts and late arrivals, so the review is a reading and not a judgement. A target expressed as a points total is also fine, since the points calculator reports it, but a cap on events is easier for the employee to hold in mind on the way to work: one tardy is a rule; stay under 7.5 is arithmetic.
Part three: the period, the check-ins and the support
The plan names a period, eight weeks on the example, and a check-in at the midpoint where the tracker's figures are read aloud and written down. It names what the employer will do: a fixed schedule for the period where the roster allows it, a named person to call before the shift if something goes wrong, and a reminder of the leave the policy and the law excuse. Support is not softness; an employee who cannot reach anyone at six in the morning produces a no-call, and the plan is trying to prevent exactly that. The check-in is the moment to correct the table if an event was scored wrongly, and the plan says the employee may raise it then.
Part four: what happens at the end, in both directions
The plan states the outcome of success and of failure before either happens. Success: the plan closes, the events in the period were within the targets, the total is whatever the window says it is and the corrective sequence resumes from the current step only if a new event occurs. Failure: a stated event count or points total during the period, or the targets missed at the review, leads to the policy's next step, which on the example at 8 points is separation. Writing both outcomes down is what separates a plan from a probation, and it lets the tracker's final reading settle the matter rather than a meeting. 29 CFR 825.220 still applies throughout: protected leave taken during the plan scores nothing and cannot count as failure.
Questions people ask about attendance improvement plan
What should an attendance improvement plan include?
The starting position from the record, two or three targets the tracker can measure such as a cap on unexcused events and an on-time rate, the period and a midpoint check-in, the support the employer provides, and the outcome of success and of failure written down in advance.
How long should an attendance improvement plan run?
Long enough to contain a real number of shifts and short enough that the employee can see the end: eight to twelve weeks is common. The period is stated in the plan, and the review date is fixed when the plan is signed.
Does protected leave during the plan count against it?
No. Leave under the FMLA, an accommodation under the ADA or the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and USERRA service score zero and cannot count as a missed target. The event is recorded as excused with its reason, and the tracker's rates are read with it excluded.