| Attendance Record Forms | Employee Attendance Record | Student Attendance Record |
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Attendance Record Forms: When Attendance Counts
Although seldom mentioned as one of the keys to a successful business, regular attendance by your employees can often be the difference between success and failure, between operating in the black and operating in the red. And business is not the only setting where attendance is paramount. Schools, including elementary, junior high, high schools and even colleges and universities rely heavily on positive attendance rates. Not only is regular attendance the only way to ensure students are receiving all of the necessary information they’ll need to be academically successful, in many cases, including at most public schools, full school funding is dependent on student attendance. The fewer the number of students who show up for school, the less money that school will receive for things like supplies, equipment, books and teacher salaries.
For all of these reasons, in both business and academic institutions, keeping track of attendance using attendance record forms and attendance records software is a very important job and one that cannot be overlooked. Fortunately, whether you decide to borrow free attendance record forms from an online site, or create your own using attendance records software, this job is typically very simple and will take but a few moments of your time. To assist you in getting started, below we will briefly explain why tracking attendance is so essential, and discuss the various items/topics you should include when creating your own attendance record forms.
Attendance Record Forms: The Importance
For several years now, the economy has been less than brisk, and as a result, those businesses that have managed to survive this ongoing recession now face tough competition from other companies in their same industry. These factors, and many more just like them, have forced businesses to make some tough decisions and tighten their belt, which often translates to pink slips and companies operating with just a skeleton crew.
Collectively, the end result of these conditions is that businesses now have fewer staff members, all of whom have taken on more work and responsibility due to the layoffs. It also means that when an employee is absent from work, this absence has a much greater effect on the company’s overall productivity than it would have had if the company was still operating at full staff levels.
Attendance today has become so crucial in business that many managers and business owners have turned to attendance records forms as a means to effectively and efficiently track an employee’s absence statistics, and measure those statistics in terms of what they mean for productivity and profits. In other words, managers and owners are beginning to take a hard look at those employees who are regularly absent to determine if they are ultimately hurting the company. Many have even incorporated attendance record forms into an employee’s annual review as a measurement tool. As you might imagine those employees with less-than-perfect attendance are often passed over for promotions and raises.
Schools have also suffered in the wake of the prolonged economic recession. States have less money to dole out than they once did during the booming years of the 80s and 90s, which means school funding has been drastically decreased, teachers have been laid off, and class sizes have nearly doubled as a result. Schools are now operating with the very minimum in terms of staff and resources, and when you factor in low attendance, which further decreases funding, the situations becomes downright dire.
To combat the problem of needless absences in schools, many principals and district administrators have turned to sophisticated attendance records software to create an individualized student attendance record for each pupil in the school. These records help teachers and the administration quickly identify those children who are disproportionately absent from school, enabling them to intervene with appropriate and positive measures aimed at boosting attendance by getting to the root cause of the absences.
Attendance Record Forms: What Should Be Included on an Employee Attendance Record/Student Attendance Record?
Whether you opt to use free attendance record forms from some type of online source, or decide to create your own unique template using attendance records software, there are certain pieces of information that should always be included on the form. This holds true whether you’re developing a student attendance record for a child or teen or an employee attendance record for a staff member. This information includes:
• Manager/Teacher Information. For purposes of accountability and consistency, the name of the person recording daily attendance—company manager, classroom teacher, etc.—should be included somewhere on the form.
• Student/Employee Name. The name of the student or employee for whom attendance is being taken, along with any other identifying information such as a student or employee ID number, should appear at the top of the attendance form.
• Day and Date Columns. Whether creating a student attendance record or employee attendance record, the form should be equally divided into columns and rows to create an individual space for each day and date. It is in this space that the attendance taker will enter a “P” for present, “A” for unexcused absence, “T” for tardy or “E” for excused absence. An excused absence is one that has been approved by the management, usually for reasons such as vacation, illness, injury or a death in the family.
Of course creating and maintaining attendance record forms is not the most glorious task in the world, but the importance of it cannot be overstated. If you’re concerned about attendance at your school or organization, an attendance record form is often the most perfect measurement tool available.
• Use of Employee Attendance Record
• Use of Daily Attendance Record


