How to manage AWOL Employees in large organisations

AWOL (absent without official leave) means an employee misses work without permission or explanation. This is different from authorised absence, which includes:

• Approved annual leave
• Sick leave reported under company policy
• Maternity, paternity, or parental leave
• Time off for statutory rights, such as antenatal appointments or job searches during redundancy

The difference matters because unauthorised absence causes sudden disruption, while authorised absence can be planned for. In large organisations, the impact grows quickly.

In a large organisation, one AWOL employee can affect more than their own team. Manufacturing may miss production targets. Retail stores can struggle with customer service. Care facilities risk safety issues if staffing levels drop. CIPD research shows unplanned absence costs UK employers about £554 per employee each year. In sectors with strict compliance rules, the cost can be much higher when you add overtime, temporary cover, and lost productivity.

As Zoe Wilson explains:

"To me, workforce management is about having the right people, at the right time, in the right place. You need to know their skills, their availability, keep them engaged, get them there, and get them skilled and ready to work. And it's mind-boggling."

When an employee goes AWOL, you suddenly don't have the right person in the right place at the right time and the knock-on effects ripple through your entire operation. The challenge for larger businesses is maintaining visibility across multiple departments, locations, and management layers whilst responding quickly enough to minimise disruption.

Knowing why employees go AWOL helps you plan solutions instead of reacting to each case. Common reasons include:

Feeling disconnected or undervalued

Employees who feel undervalued or unheard are more likely to disengage from workplace expectations, including basic communication protocols. This is particularly acute in organisations where rapid growth or restructuring has weakened the connection between employees and their immediate managers.

Confusion about absence reporting

Sometimes employees genuinely don't understand the absence reporting process. In organisations with multiple legacy systems or inconsistent policy enforcement across departments, confusion about "the right way" to report absence can lead to non-compliance.

Challenges with remote or hybrid work

The shift to flexible working has blurred traditional boundaries. CIPD research indicates that 60% of UK shift workers lack flexibility to change schedules for emergencies or childcare. Rigid systems harm retention, with 23% of employers citing unsocial hours as a top reason for quitting. When employees can't access legitimate flexibility, some resort to unauthorised absence rather than following processes they perceive as inflexible or unresponsive.

Personal emergencies

Life doesn't always allow time for proper notification. Family emergencies, mental health crises, or sudden illness can prevent someone from following standard procedures. In most cases, they'll make contact as soon as they're able.

Deliberate avoidance after leave was refused

A small percentage of AWOL cases involve employees who've requested leave that was declined and choose to take it anyway, or who are avoiding difficult conversations about performance or conduct.

Large organisations have an advantage here: volume of data. Roger Clements, discussing strategic workforce challenges, emphasises: 

"The big challenge for HR in the next two to three years is all around the productivity agenda. How does an organisation help drive productivity of the workforce, and how can you use workforce management tools to measure and optimise productivity?"

Track absence data to spot problems early. Watch for:

• Clusters of unauthorised absence in specific teams (potential management issue)
• Patterns around particular days of the week (Monday/Friday patterns suggest different issues than mid-week absences)
• Correlations with business events (restructures, system changes, busy periods)
• Individual escalation patterns (one-off incident versus repeat behaviour)

Modern workforce management systems can surface these insights automatically, allowing HR teams to intervene proactively rather than constantly firefighting.

Follow a clear process to reduce disruption and stay compliant. Here’s what to do from day one until the issue is resolved.

Immediate Actions: The First 24 Hours

Attempt contact through multiple channels

Start with a phone call to their mobile. If there's no answer, try their personal email address if you have it on file. Send a text message expressing concern and asking them to make contact urgently. Document every attempt by noting the time, method, and any response (or lack thereof).

Check with their emergency contact.

If you've had no response within a few hours and continue to have welfare concerns, contact their designated emergency contact. This step is particularly important if the absence is completely out of character or if the employee has previously mentioned health concerns.

Inform relevant stakeholders. 

Let the employee's immediate team know you're aware of the absence and working to resolve it. Brief senior management if the role is business-critical or if the absence creates compliance risks.

Maintain detailed records. 

Keep contemporaneous notes of all attempts to contact the employee, including times of calls, content of messages, and any voicemails left. These records protect you if the situation escalates to formal disciplinary action and demonstrate your duty of care if welfare concerns arise.

Communication Protocol: Days 2-3

Use your HR system to log the absence formally 

In larger organisations, this triggers automatic escalation processes and ensures absence is deducted from leave balances correctly. It also creates an audit trail that's essential for both compliance and consistency.

Leon Foster Hill, Senior HR Business Partner at Cineworld, describes their challenge before implementing an integrated system in PeopleXD Evo that efficiently deals with absence logging: 

"Staff just got on with the time-consuming manual HR processes, but the main issue was that we didn't have a global view of where we were and we were not able to report easily and share data. We had no audit trails, no single source of the truth and no robust security."

Without proper systems, you're managing AWOL situations blind with no clear record of who's contacted whom, when, or what was said. This creates risk in disciplinary proceedings and makes it impossible to identify patterns.

Escalate according to your absence management policy

If there's still no contact after two working days, it's time to move to formal written communication. Send a letter (or email with read receipt if your policy allows) to their home address inviting them to a disciplinary meeting. This letter must:

• State clearly that they've been absent without authorisation
• Express concern for their welfare
• Explain that unauthorised absence is a serious matter that could lead to disciplinary action
• Invite them to a formal meeting to discuss the situation
• Provide at least 48 hours' notice of the meeting date and time
• Inform them of their right to be accompanied

Hollow-Up Steps: Return to Work

Schedule a return-to-work interview

Whether the employee contacts you proactively or responds to your letter, don't let them simply slip back into work without discussion. A return-to-work conversation serves multiple purposes:

• Establishes facts about what happened and why
• Clarifies expectations going forward
• Identifies any underlying issues (personal, health-related, work-related)
• Reinforces absence reporting procedures
• Creates documentation for future reference

Conduct a fair investigation

Ask open questions: Why were they absent? Why didn't they make contact? What prevented them from following normal procedures? Listen carefully to their explanation and assess it objectively.

If they provide a reasonable explanation, particularly for a first offence, reiterate your absence reporting expectations and issue a written reminder that will be noted on their file. Make it clear that repeated unauthorised absence will result in formal disciplinary action.

If the explanation lacks credibility or if this is part of a pattern, you may need to progress to formal disciplinary procedures. However, avoid making assumptions without evidence. Unless you have proof that contradicts their account (such as social media posts showing they were engaged in leisure activities, or reports from colleagues who saw them), you must give them the benefit of reasonable 

Can you dismiss an employee for going AWOL? 

Yes, you can dismiss for AWOL, but it must be fair and follow the law. UK rules require you to:

• Follow the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary procedures
• Conduct a reasonable investigation
• Hold a fair disciplinary hearing
• Allow the employee to be accompanied
• Consider mitigating factors
• Offer a right of appeal

Dismissal should usually be reserved for serious cases. These include prolonged absence without contact, repeated offences after warnings, or clear evidence that the employee intends to leave their role.

What about employees' rights? 

Even in AWOL situations, employees retain their employment rights. You cannot withhold pay for hours worked prior to the absence, and any disciplinary action must be consistent with how you've handled similar cases previously. Inconsistent application of absence policies is a common source of successful employment tribunal claims.

It’s easier to prevent AWOL than to deal with it later. Here’s how to create strong absence management processes.

Create Clear Absence Policies

Your absence policy should remove all ambiguity about expectations. Specify:

• How employees should report different types of absence (sickness, emergency, planned leave)
• Who they need to contact and by when
• What information they need to provide
• Consequences of failing to follow procedures
• How the policy applies to remote and hybrid workers

Make these policies easily accessible. Modern HR platforms allow employees to access policies through mobile apps, exactly when they need them.

Train Managers Consistently

In large organisations, absence management often fails because of inconsistent application across different managers. Some are too lenient, others too rigid. Regular training ensures all people managers understand:

• How to apply absence policies fairly and consistently
• When to escalate concerns to HR
• How to have constructive conversations about absence
• The legal framework around disciplinary procedures
• How to use workforce management tools effectively

Bite-sized learning delivered through your HR platform means managers can refresh their knowledge exactly when they need it, rather than relying on annual training they've mostly forgotten.

Leverage Workforce Management Technology

Manual absence tracking simply doesn't scale in larger organisations. Spreadsheets, email chains, and disconnected systems create gaps where patterns go unnoticed and response times lag.

Tom Manning, Operations Project Manager at Cineworld, quantifies the transformation: 

"A task that took six hours to write a roster now takes less than 60 minutes. Holiday requests and shift swaps are automated, taking no management time. It's not very often we get the chance to hand back five hours to every senior manager every week."

Modern workforce management software provides:

• Automated absence recording that logs time, type, and duration without administrative burden
• Real-time dashboards showing absence trends across teams, departments, and locations
• Predictive analytics that highlight emerging patterns before they become problems
• Automated escalation when absence thresholds are breached
• Mobile accessibility so employees can report absence and managers can respond from anywhere

As Oli Quayle notes in Episode Five - Managing Complex Workforces of our Do the Best Work of Your Life series: 

"If you've got everything all in one platform, technology can support you by looking more predictively at the workforce you'll need and making sure you've got the right skills next month, next year. With AI and analytics, you can optimise step by step and make cost savings while getting better people with better skills at exactly the right time."

Encourage Proactive Communication

Create a culture where employees feel comfortable communicating about absence, even when they're struggling. This means:

• Making reporting processes simple and accessible (mobile apps, text options, multiple channels)
• Responding supportively to early notifications rather than punitively
• Providing employee assistance programmes for those facing personal difficulties
• Regular check-ins with team members to identify pressures before they escalate

Reducing absence overall boosts productivity, morale, and retention across your organisation.

Boost Employee Engagement

Engaged employees are significantly less likely to take unauthorised absence. Focus on:

• Regular one-to-ones where employees can raise concerns
• Recognition programmes that make people feel valued
• Career development opportunities that give employees something to work towards
• Team-building activities that strengthen workplace relationships

Offer Flexible Working Where Possible

The post-pandemic workforce expects flexibility. Where operational requirements allow, consider:

• Flexible start and finish times
• Hybrid working arrangements
• Compressed hours or four-day weeks
• Personal leave options for life's unexpected moments

When employees have legitimate flexibility, they're less likely to resort to unauthorised absence when they need time for personal matters.

Make Absence Reporting Effortless

Remove barriers to compliance. If reporting absence requires logging into a desktop system during business hours, employees in crisis won't do it. Mobile-first solutions that work 24/7 make it easier to do the right thing than to go AWOL.

Monitor Patterns and Intervene Early

Use your workforce management data to spot warning signs:

• Gradual increase in absence frequency
• Bradford Factor scores trending upwards
• Correlation between absence and specific work patterns or pressures
• Team-wide absence spikes that suggest management or culture issues

Research by People Management (CIPD) shows that only 31% of UK workers believe their employer prioritises productivity. Outdated workforce management leads to inefficiencies like understaffing during peaks and overstaffing during quiet periods, causing burnout and wasted costs. AWOL situations often emerge from this underlying dysfunction.

Early intervention, whether in the form of a supportive conversation, workload adjustment, or wellbeing check, can prevent an AWOL situation developing.

To manage AWOL well, you need clear policies, fair processes, and the right technology.

Manual absence tracking can be challenging for large organisations because it increases administrative workload and makes it harder to maintain consistency.

Modern workforce management technology transforms absence management from reactive firefighting to proactive workforce optimisation. Automated logging, real-time dashboards, predictive analytics, and mobile accessibility mean you can respond faster, identify patterns earlier, and support both managers and employees more effectively.

If you're struggling with unauthorised absence or simply want to strengthen your absence management processes, discover how PeopleXD Evo's absence management capabilities can help you build a more efficient, compliant, and supportive approach.

For more practical strategies, explore our guide on 7 ways to effectively reduce absenteeism in the workplace.