Attendance Policy

Purpose: To ensure meetings are well-attended; to make sure members stay top of mind with each other; to give presenters the advantage of being heard by as many members and guests as possible at EVERY meeting.

Scope: To be applied to all members for each chapter they are members.

Responsible Persons: Enforcement to be carried out by the Founder or Regional Director; all members agree to this attendance policy.

Policy: SHE Leads Group meets only twice a month. A great deal of work is put into each meeting, not only by the volunteer positions, but also those supplying the free training and the Member in the Spotlight. To be respectful of other people’s time investment, and to stay top of mind with membership in a group that only meets twice a month, attendance is very important. SHE Leads Group requires members to attend and be present* two meetings a month. Excessive absence will result in forfeiture of your business category spot. Excessive absence is defined as two unexcused absences in a three month period, three excused absences in a three month period, or two excused absences and one unexcused absence in a three month period. The member’s business category(s) officially opens up when any of these are met and the membership fee is non-refundable. If a member is missing half the meetings of the quarter, this is not beneficial to the member, or the other members and guests of the chapter. It is not required to remind member of the attendance policy, although the Founder or Regional Director may want to reach out to a member nearing the maximum allowed absences.

An excused absence is one which cannot be avoided and has been communicated to the Chapter President and Chapter Secretary no less than two full business days prior to the meeting. Advance prior notice is required. Prior notice is considered an email sent to the Chapter President and Secretary no less than two business days before the meeting, but preferably as soon as the member knows they will be absent.

Examples of excused absences:

• Family emergency or illness of self or someone whom you take care
• Unavoidable appointments in which the only time said appointment could be done is during a meeting time (ex. client meeting, doctor appointment)
• Road travel conditions (We follow the county school district closures and late starts. If there is a late start or school closure, we Zoom. If someone feels unsafe with the weather despite there not being official closures, we accept those absences)
• Funeral
• Vacations and business trips
• Approved leave of absence (ex. maternity leave, medical reasons specific to member)
• Car broke down

Example of an unexcused absences:

• Just don’t have the time with work load/poor planning
• Forgot and scheduled another appointment at the same time
• Did not communicate absence two business days prior to meeting, or simply forgot to attend meeting
• Arriving to a meeting 30 minutes late, or leaving a meeting 30 minutes or more early without notifying the Chapter President and Secretary prior to the meeting
• *Being present on Zoom meetings means your camera is on and you are participating in the meeting, not visibly multi-tasking. Simply logging in and not participating and/or arriving late or leaving early will be counted as an unexcused absence.

How to avoid receiving an absence:

• Have a substitute come in your place.
• If we schedule SHE Leads Group meetings on our reoccurring calendar as a standing meeting, unexcused absences should not occur.

Additionally, when SHE Leads Group has a guest trainer who is supplying free business development training to the chapter, members should try their hardest to make these special meetings. These special meetings are scheduled far enough in advance, so there is typically plenty of notice. These guest trainers often get paid for their talks, and we are securing them at no charge. These meetings should also be considered member recruitment meetings, so having good attendance at these meetings is imperative.

Member Hiatus/Approved Leave of Absence:

To be supportive of heart and enterprise, a member in good-standing (history of good attendance, dues paid on time, and participating in SHE events) can request a hiatus due to family, medical, or business emergency. A hiatus is for a fixed period of time (maximum of 2 months/4 meetings) and only one hiatus per year may be granted to members in good standing, with current dues paid.

Taking a hiatus does not extend the member's membership for the two months. For example, if a member takes a two month hiatus and their membership regularly renews in September, it will continue to renew in September. Even though the member is not coming to the meetings during this two month period, they can still access all their other SHE Leads Group member benefits. During the hiatus, to keep meetings well attended, a guest in that same business category may visit, but not become a member. In the event the member on hiatus decides not to come back after the hiatus, they forfeit their membership and the guests who may have attended as visitors will have already attended the required two meetings to join as a member and can submit an application.