Checking the Records Are Right

Attendance records drift. These four checks take an hour between them and catch most of what goes wrong.

Balances recalculated from scratch

Once a year, for everyone, rather than rolling forward last year's figure.

Errors compound. Half a day rolled forward for four years is two days, and it surfaces when someone leaves and asks for it in cash.

Compare against what the record says and investigate every difference.

The record is wrong about as often as the calculation, which is why this is worth doing rather than assuming.

Sample against reality

Take three absences from the last quarter.

Reconstruct them from the record: dates, reason, evidence, what was paid.

If you cannot, the record is not detailed enough, and you will discover that in a dispute rather than in a quiet hour.

The consistency audit

Who was asked for evidence. Who had a return-to-work conversation. Whose leave was refused.

Check against the obvious characteristics: newer, older, part-time, caring responsibilities, known health condition.

A pattern you find yourself is fixable. A pattern someone else finds is a claim.

The access request rehearsal

Pick one person and assemble everything you hold about them.

Time it.

Read it as they would.

Two things usually turn up: records in places you forgot, and a note written in a tone you would not want to defend.

Both are worth finding now.

What each typically finds

The recalculation: two or three balances wrong by a day or so, usually from a mid-year change nobody applied.

The sample: one absence with no recorded reason, or evidence that was never filed.

The consistency audit: one practice applied to some people and not others, almost always started as kindness.

The rehearsal: health information somewhere it should not be.

Afterwards

Fix what you found, and note what you fixed.

Tell people if a balance changed in their favour, promptly and without being asked. It costs nothing and it is noticed.

Put the four checks in the calendar for the same month next year, because the only reason they get done is that something reminds you.

Tell people when a balance changes

Promptly, and without being asked.

The recalculation will find balances wrong in both directions.

Where it is in their favour, say so immediately.

It costs nothing and it is noticed, and it is the clearest possible evidence that the record is maintained honestly.

Where it is against them, explain the working and give them time rather than simply adjusting it.

Check the difficult case

Use the consulting workflow to frame one representative test for this issue. The useful evidence is the record created when an employee corrects an entry, a manager reviews it and an administrator exports it.