Attendance Policy Ideas

kt8319 · #1 01-16-2011, 10:41 PM

Hey everyone,
Our small chapter is having problems with our weekly meeting attendance. Some girls don't give excuses 24 hours in advance (our chapter policy), some over-use their absences, and some just give excuses that are obviously bogus. Right now our consequence for too many absences is that your aren't allowed to attend the next social, but at this point we're not having many, so it's not much of a punishment. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for more strict attendance policies and consequences? We're really trying to stay away from fining as some of our girls are not able to spare any extra money. Any ideas?

victoriana · #2 01-17-2011, 12:00 AM

Hey sister! Our chapter has a points system in place for attendance. Weekly meetings are required and can only be excused for things like class, severe illness, unavoidable work conflicts, family emergencies, ect. It's very rare for a person to get excused for any other reason than this. If they do not attend and are not excused, it counts against them. If a sister falls below 80% attendance of required events (meetings, sisterhood circles, recruitment events, ect), she is automatically placed in poor standing. This is a pretty good incentive for sisters to attend meetings. It's a good system because there is a margin for sisters if they have something come up and aren't able to get excused, or if they're spending a weekend at home, ect. I hope things get better, KT!

DeltaBetaBaby · #3 01-17-2011, 12:35 AM

Why aren't women attending meetings? Are the meetings long and boring? Are all the issues pre-decided by exec the night before? Are they held at an inconvenient time or place?

kt8319 · #4 01-17-2011, 01:31 AM

The meetings are scheduled at the same time each week and same place on campus. We just have a couple of girls who get lazy or just don't care enough to put the effort into coming to a one hour meeting every week. The e-board has decided that the only way we can encourage these ladies more strongly is to put a stronger attendance system with stronger consequences in place.

Alumiyum · #5 01-17-2011, 09:55 AM

We used fines (too much, IMO), but extremely poor attendance could also result in losing all social privileges for the next semester IIRC. It might mean you don't see drastic results until next semester, but as soon as a rule like that is enforced I guarantee it'll make a difference. Missing one event isn't the end of the world, but missing the entire semester can make people think twice.

You could also try doing what schools do and define what is an excused absence and what isn't. Genuine illness (with a doctor's note), university function, legal obligations, funerals...those are all some I can think of that my university considers excused. But what it doesn't include is "I have to study for my midterm tomorrow" or "my boyfriend is in town for 3 days". Possibly decide on the number of excused absences that are acceptable (like 3) and the number of unexcused (like 1) and then institute a punishment for failure to abide by the rules, including getting excuses in on time. Remind them that they are college women and neither school nor work puts up with wishy-washy attendance, so they should treat the sorority the same in that respect. If your excuse isn't covered or received in time, you get an unexcused absence and suffer the consequences.

It also is important to make sure it's just laziness that's responsible for the attendance problems. (Not that I don't believe you because my chapter had the same problem several semester and IMO 95% of it was laziness.) Ask sisters if there are things about the meetings or required events they would like to change (not including, of course, not having them).

DeltaBetaBaby · #6 01-17-2011, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kt8319

The meetings are scheduled at the same time each week and same place on campus. We just have a couple of girls who get lazy or just don't care enough to put the effort into coming to a one hour meeting every week. The e-board has decided that the only way we can encourage these ladies more strongly is to put a stronger attendance system with stronger consequences in place.

Okay, and why do you need those girls to be at meetings?

AOII Angel · #7 01-17-2011, 10:45 AM

I think having the 80% rule with rigid requirements for excuses is a good idea. Check you bylaws, but in AOII, members NOT in good standing don't get a voice or vote in membership selection. This is a huge reason to get your butt to meeting!

victoriana · #8 01-17-2011, 11:32 AM

KT, I just looked this up: National rules say a member in poor standing can't hold a position, be in committee, attend socials, and can't vote. I agree with what all the other ladies said.

33girl · #9 01-17-2011, 01:40 PM

Bring them in front of standards board, ask them why they're missing so many meetings and tell them it has to stop. If they don't change their tune, terminate them.

Dead weight drags a small chapter down a zillion times more than it does a larger chapter. I know you may be thinking you need every body you can get and worrying about total and quota and such, but the last thing you need is for slackers like this to be around and be a bad influence on new members who may get the idea that this sort of behavior is acceptable.

No, meetings are not fun, but there are many things in life that you have to do to get to fun things that are not fun. If they can't sit through a one hour meeting, they're showing that they really don't care about the sorority or what's going on with it...so why should the sorority care about them?

ThetaPrincess24 · #10 01-17-2011, 02:02 PM

Do you have present/active advisors?

My chapter has both a points and a fine system (not everything is fineable but meetings are).

We have rules on how many excuses you can turn in per semester for mandatory events. If excuses are not turned in on time, they are unexcused and consequences occur as a result. Extreme circumstances are the only exception, and that is by advisor approval. Class excuses must be accompanied by a class schedule/appropriate documentation.

When I was active we had trouble with meeting attendance. It was being held on Monday nights at 8pm. Rumor has it people started purposely scheduling Monday night classes to get out of coming to meeting. We fixed that problem by moving meeting to Sunday nights at 8pm, thus class was no longer an acceptable excuse.

This really can go back to chapter climate/culture. Do you have a climate/culture within the chapter that promotes personal accountability & responsibility? This is something that should be strived for across the board in all chapter areas, not just attendance.

excelblue · #11 01-19-2011, 12:20 AM

In terms of fines, is it really that much of an issue to fine your girls a token amount such as $1 for each missed meeting? If you have meetings weekly, this translates to $15/semester -- easily under the cost of a social.

Plus, I second the thing about termination if they miss way too much meetings. I'd imagine that true sisters not only have fun and love their sorority, but they also have to hold up their part in being a responsible member.

In my fraternity, the idea is: if you don't have a solid excuse within 24hr of the meeting and you miss it, it's $5 if you miss it, $1 if you're late. People who miss too many meetings go to the standards board and may be expelled. It sounds harsh, but member apathy must not be taken lightly.

arrow13 · #12 01-19-2011, 04:01 AM

I remember we had a similar problem with overall event attendance and I think we discussed having those members with low attendance plan an (appropriate) event for the chapter to attend together. That way they would (ideally) understand all the work it took to plan an event, get them involved in the chapter more, and if not many people showed up they would feel how the executive officers feel when there is low attendance. We didn't actually try it though so I couldn't tell you how it turned out. :P

We also rewarded those who were above 95% at the end of the semester (although only 80% or something was required). That way you're focusing on the positive with incentives instead of the negative with consequences (carrot/stick concept)

FleurGirl · #13 01-21-2011, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I think having the 80% rule with rigid requirements for excuses is a good idea. Check you bylaws, but in AOII, members NOT in good standing don't get a voice or vote in membership selection. This is a huge reason to get your butt to meeting!

This! ^
And it's also very important to clearly define what's excuseable and what's not. In my opinion, it's obviously not fair to penalize girls who miss events for school, family deaths, school-required events, etc.; but I think it IS fair to count absences that were not submitted in advance or are for casual reasons (going home for a weekend, other personal reasons). If you're going to excuse absences maybe bump the percentage up to 90% or 95%. I know personally I felt very strongly that girls who had to miss events for class shouldn't have that held against them.
What about organizing a conversation night or discussing attendance at chapter? Maybe talking to the girls as a group would lead to more ideas of what would work for your chapter. Maybe you could come up with some incentives too, like prizes for perfect attendance for the semester or something!

33girl · #14 01-21-2011, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FleurGirl

This! ^
And it's also very important to clearly define what's excuseable and what's not. In my opinion, it's obviously not fair to penalize girls who miss events for school, family deaths, school-required events, etc.; but I think it IS fair to count absences that were not submitted in advance or are for casual reasons (going home for a weekend, other personal reasons).

Well, "school related" can get stretched out to a ridiculous degree. "My prof rescheduled the midterm to Thursday night" is one thing. "I need to study for the midterm I've known about all semester" is another.

Alumiyum · #15 01-21-2011, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

Well, "school related" can get stretched out to a ridiculous degree. "My prof rescheduled the midterm to Thursday night" is one thing. "I need to study for the midterm I've known about all semester" is another.

"I need to study" is not an excused absence at my chapter, and I recommend that it not be for any chapter. We were eventually given one "study pass" a semester, which could be used only for chapter, and couldn't be carried over until the next semester. I found that reasonable, but except for extenuating circumstances (like the rescheduled midterm example) IMO studying shouldn't be an excuse to miss something that has been planned weeks or months in advance. It is important to learn how to manage time correctly, and this is one way to learn it. Especially since chapter meetings don't generally last for more than an hour.