Hi Melissa

I would recommend stating what the potential outcome of the meeting could be. By doing so you can use it as a deterrent and also be open and transparent with the team about possible sanctions. It may be that in some circumstances you don't need to do anything, sometimes you may monitor their attendance and in others you may issue a formal warning. If it helps, our policy has 3 stages with stage 3 being a potential dismissal.

Personally I am not a huge fan of stipulating what penalties might follow. That’s for the review to decide. At extremes if all four were directly linked to a long serving employee who had developed cancer then you would probably do nothing ( negative that is) , however if all four related to a new employee who on review you noticed took the four Friday’s before bank holidays off it might be a final written warning or potentially dismissal.

The range really can be that wide. As ( I assume) a relatively small business and as a start up I would keep maximum flexibility. .

In reply to Caroline:

Thank you

In reply to Keith:

Thank you, Keith. That's what I'm leaning towards. I do intend to have the potential outcomes of formal reviews written down in a separate document, but it doesn't "feel" right to have it listed in the absence policy, when its aim is to make people feel supported.