Your absence from work often creates trouble for your employer and also those who work with you as they have to bear the workload. Therefore, special arrangements have to be made when a person does not come to work. Some people remain absent without taking a leave from their boss and this shows a very non-professional attitude. In this situation, they are asked to write an explanation letter.
What is a letter explaining the absence from work?
This is a type of letter that a person writes to his boss to give him an explanation of why he was absent from work.
Why write an explanation letter over absence?
An employee must inform his employer or take permission from him whenever he cannot attend the workshop. Sometimes, the worker fails to do so because of some accidental situations. When this happens, the employee is asked to write the letter of explanation and provide the reason for absence. In some cases, people choose to write an explanation letter without having been asked because they feel it is important to clarify.
The explanation letter is a great opportunity for the employee to clear his position and let his boss know that he was never intended to do that. The explanation letter is also useful for the boss he comes to know after reading it whether the employee was wrong or not.
How to write a letter with an explanation of the absence?
Add your details to the letter:
At the start of the letter, mention your name, your address, contact details for identification and add the name of the company you are writing to.
Add the subject to the letter:
The subject makes it easy for the recipient to read and comprehend what you have written in the letter. However, the length of the subject should not exceed one line.
Tell why you are writing:
Although you mention the subject in the letter, as soon as you start the letter let the employer know that you are writing to express your regret for disappearing from work without informing everyone. This is where you can also apologize. This is no doubt, a good gesture that lets the employer know that you are remorseful about what has happened.
Give reason for your uninformed absence:
Since the purpose of the explanation letter is to provide the reason to the manager for your uninformed absence, you should never miss out on this information. Most employers are interested in knowing whether the reason provided by you is genuine and sensible enough to understand or not.
Show willingness to compensate:
It is important to make it clear that you are well aware of the problems the company must have gone through and you also know the policy of the company to deal with people who don’t inform before going absent from work and you don’t need any kind of exception. Tell the employer that you are ready to compensate for the loss the company must have incurred.
Common mistakes to avoid:
While writing an explanation letter, employees should not make the following mistakes:
- Long description of the reason:
Some employees believe that writing a long explanation of the reason will make them come off as truthful and honest people. However, this is not true. Usually, the employer loses interest in the letter after a few minutes of reading as he has no interest in the long story. In this situation, he often gets annoyed.
- Justification of uninformed leave:
Some employees write the explanation letter with the clear purpose of giving the justification of remaining absent from work without taking permission or informing anyone. However, this is something that no manager wants to see in an explanation letter. No matter how urgent or sudden it was for you to go on leave, always be ready to admit that you should have informed your manager about your absence.
- Not following the right format:
Unfortunately, people don’t try to learn tactics to write professional letters. Therefore, when they have to write a letter, Due to not following the right format, they often forget to add several details and submit an incomplete piece of writing.
Sample Letter
Dear Mr. [name]
I [name] from [department name] am writing to you to explain my absence from work on [date]. Sir on the night of [date] my father had a heart attack we took him to the hospital where the doctor suggested an emergency angiography. My entire day was spent running around arranging medicines and consulting doctors. I was so stressed out that I didn’t even remember to inform the office about the whole situation.
I want to apologize for the inconvenience my absence caused everyone but the situation that arose was so unpredictable that I was caught unaware. However, in the future, I would duly inform the office in case of any family emergency and hopefully, there wouldn’t be any trouble at work.
Looking forward to your understanding and cooperation in a difficult time,
Yours sincerely,
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