Letter of invitation to employee to attend informal meeting to discuss absence

What’s a letter of invitation to an informal meeting to discuss absence and when should you use it?

This is the first letter in any disciplinary proceedings – before you activate the formal disciplinary process.

This letter should be issued when you are considering issuing a verbal warning or where your concerns about an employee’s absence are relatively minor but still a cause for concern.

It is always best to try and address any concerns you have early on.

It may be more effective to deal with such concerns informally in the first instance as you may be able to resolve matters then and there, without having to resort to your formal disciplinary procedure.

What else should you consider?

When it comes to handling any concerns with an employee’s absence from work  you should be consulting your absence policy, which sets out the procedure you should follow regarding any possible disciplinary action for absence.

You may also need to refer to your disciplinary policy if the employee’s absence record fails to improve as it then becomes a disciplinary matter.

We have a suite of letters which take you through the disciplinary process step by step and you can find these templates in our Disciplinary Hub

You should also check out our step by step guidance on handling a disciplinary issue with employees.

If you find that the unauthorised absence warrants a verbal warning, you should issue a further letter to the employee after the informal meeting advising them of the verbal warning.

To do this you can use our disciplinary verbal warning letter about absence