Absconding Employee: Meaning, Reasons & Consequences

Employee absconding is a scary but undeniable truth of employee management. Employees may leave their organization for multiple reasons; however, being a formal relationship, they should end it by following the formalities. Yet employees sometimes abscond from their organization without informing anyone, leading to panic among the HR team.

Employee absconding is not only an unprofessional behaviour, but also unethical as it results in added expense for the company in terms of work mismanagement, missed deadlines, additional recruitment, etc.

Hence, we are explaining ‘employee absconding’ in this blog, along with its reasons, consequences for the employees, as well as how to prevent it through strategic employee management.

What is Absconding?

An absconding employee is someone who stops reporting to their work for multiple consecutive days, without informing their supervisor or manager, abandoning their job without following any formalities.

Since employment is a contract, the employee is bound to undertake specific formalities while leaving the organization, such as knowledge handover, asset handover, dues settlement, attending an exit interview, etc. However, an absconding employee simply disappears from the company, leaving them in the dark.

Employee absconding is a serious breach of contract, which often results in immediate termination of the employee. Some organizations might even go a step further and fine the employee for breaching their employment contract as a form of disciplinary action.

The following are some of the major aspects of employee absconding:

• Unexplained leave: The employee remains absent without informing anyone in the organization.
• Timeframe: 3 to 7 days of consecutive leave without informing is generally considered for absconding.
• Consequences: The employee may face multiple consequences, as defined in the company policies.
• Further Processing: Companies might send notices before taking any disciplinary action.

Companies provide detailed information about their ‘absconding’ policies and procedures through their recruitment software, while onboarding an employee, and hence, they can take the necessary disciplinary actions since the employee would have already accepted it as a part of their employment terms and conditions.

Difference between Absconding, Resignation & Termination

While absconding, resignation, and termination are all different forms of exit from an organization, they are fundamentally different from each other. The main differences between them are:

1. Resignation

Resignation occurs when an employee leaves the organization by completing all their exit formalities through their offboarding software. It is initiated by the employee when they wish to leave their organization. When an employee decides to leave, they send a resignation letter to their supervisor or manager, who, on behalf of the company, provides the employee with a pre-defined notice period. It allows the employee to complete the exit formalities smoothly, while also helping the company with enough time to find a replacement.

2. Termination

Termination is another form of employee exit; however, it is the organization that initiates this process. It is usually undertaken as a part of disciplinary action against an employee who may have been performing poorly or violating company policies. In rare instances, it can also occur as a part of company restructuring. Since it is initiated by the company, a notice period may or may not be applicable in the case of termination.

3. Absconding

Absconding happens when an employee simply disappears from an organization without informing anyone. Since it happens without the employer’s consent, they may be left at the mercy of their candidates to find a replacement as soon as possible, to ensure continuous productivity. Hence, companies often take disciplinary actions – outlined in their company policies – against employees who abscond.

Reasons for Absconding

While we often talk from the employer’s perspective while talking about absconding, we also need to understand the employee’s perspective to gain a complete idea of what makes them abscond. Here are a few common reasons for absconding in organizations:

➔ Work Stress

Work stress is one of the major reasons for employees absconding from their workplaces. If employees are burdened with a huge workload repeatedly, they are bound to abscond as they would understand that a heavy workload is a common occurrence, and they may not be able to leave citing it as the reason for resignation.

➔ Better Opportunities

Another major reason for absconding is better opportunities. Employees may find a better job opportunity that might require immediate joining, which leads them to abandon their current organization. It usually happens as a last resort after they may have already discussed normal options with their immediate reporting manager.

➔ Leave Concerns

Similarly, studies have shown that repeated difficulties in getting leave approved have resulted in employees absconding from their workplaces. Since leaves are essential for employees to take care of their personal well-being, companies denying leave requests often find themselves having higher employee attrition.

➔ Misconduct

Employee absconding can also happen after they have committed fraud against their organization. Leaking confidential information, sexual misconduct, workplace theft, and similar malpractices may also result in the culprit absconding later.

➔ Poor Management

Poor employee management can also lead to absconding employees, as they understand that their organization does not respect them. In most cases, employees abscond after repeatedly complaining to different teams and realizing that nobody cares about their issues.

➔ Personal Issues

There are many scenarios when employees might need to abruptly quit their jobs. If their employer asks them to serve a notice period, they are left with no other option apart from absconding. For example, health issues, family emergencies, relocation, etc., might necessitate immediate resignation, which, when denied, results in absconding.

Consequences for Absconding Employee

Since absconding is a breach of the employment contract, it also comes with multiple consequences for the employee. Employment contracts define the consequences that will be shared with the employees when they are onboarded. Hence, companies often send multiple emails or an absconding letter, warning the employee about losing their position before taking any kind of disciplinary actions.

Some of the major consequences for absconding employees are:

1. Loss of Salary

The first and most important consequence of absconding is that the employee forfeits their claim to their salary during the salary cycle they abscond. Employers can deny their salaries or even ask them to buy back their notice period, as a response to employees disputing their holding back their salaries.

2. Additional Fines

The company may also impose additional fines and penalties on the employee for not serving their notice period. In companies where the notice period is 2 to 3 months, it hinders employees from thinking of absconding. Additionally, the company should also share it as part of its company policy to remain transparent.

3. Legal Complications

The company may also start legal proceedings against the employee as the employment contract is legally binding. Absconding is a violation of this contract, and the company can approach the court to take action against the employee. However, companies take this step in extreme cases, such as if the employee had stolen company assets or leaked its secrets. For example, Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code prescribes punishment for criminal breach of trust, which is applicable in cases where an employee has leaked secrets.

4. Negative Reputation

Companies often band together to create blacklists where they create a blacklist of all employees who have been flagged for various reasons. Once an employee is on this list, the companies maintaining the list won’t hire them again. While the existence of such lists has been debated, the internet has made it very easy to maintain such a list for the companies.

5. Documentation Concerns

Another common practice among companies to hinder employee absconding is to withhold employee documents such as relieving letters, experience letters, or payslips. While the company is required to provide any document that the candidate might have submitted earlier, they can withhold the aforementioned documents.

Prevent Employee Absconding

Prevention is always better than cure – in the case of employee absconding, it is especially true. It is easier to tweak your organizational culture to make it more employee-friendly, rather than trying to call an employee back who has already absconded.

Here are a few steps that you can take to prevent employee absconding:

➔ Background Check

Undertaking background checks is one of the simpler options to prevent employee absconding, while also helping you avoid fraudulent candidates. If you find that a specific candidate has switched frequently in the past, you can enquire about the same during their interview, and if you are still unsure, you can check with their previous organizations.

➔ Clear Policies

It is also essential to let your candidate understand the repercussions of absconding. You should highlight it inside your employee handbook, as well as provide the list of actions you would take against an absconding employee.

➔ Frequent Feedback

Another excellent strategy to prevent absconding is to provide your recruits with frequent feedback on their work. It helps them understand whether they are fulfilling the company’s expectations, while also providing the HR and managers with insights into their mindset.

➔ Timely Recognition

Similarly, timely recognition also helps prevent absconding by letting the employees realize their value in their organization. When individuals are valued and appreciated for their efforts, they engage more with their organization, as well as staying loyal for a longer duration.

➔ Work Culture

If you find that your employees are absconding frequently, then there is definitely something wrong with your policies or work culture. While finding the problematic policy and changing it is fairly easy, changing the work culture will require further efforts. It is essential to have a work culture that is supportive of the employees, and hence, it should not be stressful or toxic in any form.

Conclusion

While employee absconding is scary for HR teams, you should take active steps to prevent it. While certain factors are beyond your control, you should ensure that your work environment and work culture do not lead to employee absconding. Since there are multiple reasons for employee absconding, you should try to investigate whenever an employee absconds to understand whether it could have been avoided by simply changing specific work policies or whether it was an issue from the employee’s end. Making the right changes will encourage positive behaviour from your staff members too, helping you avoid instances of absconding.