Board Meeting Attendance Policy
The following policy is intended to clarify expectations regarding board meeting attendance, as well as provide guidance on how the board should handle non-attendance.
Attendance expectations
Directors are expected to attend board meetings. If directors are unable to attend a meeting, they must inform the board at the earliest opportunity. Directors must provide notice when they know that they will not able to attend a meeting.
Directors must ensure that they are available for the regular board meeting time, and that this regular time is available for board business in their schedule. If they have an ongoing conflict for the regular meeting time, they must inform the president/chair.
For discussions of any sensitive issues relating to meeting attendance, directors should approach the chair/president.
Ongoing absence
Directors must notify the board if they will be unavailable for board activity for an ongoing period (over a week).
Record keeping
Director attendance at each board meeting must be recorded in the minutes. Records must indicate when notice has been given of non-attendance. If no notice has been received of a director's absence, the director must be recorded as missing.
Partial attendance must also be recorded in the attendance section of the minutes (defined as less than three-quarters of the meeting time).
Non-attendance
The president/chair should proactively work to resolve attendance issues. Directors should be contacted after any unnotified absence, or if there are multiple notified absences in succession.
In the following circumstances, the director's absence should be recorded in the minutes (partial attendance should be treated as a notified absence in this guide):
- Two un-notified absences in a row
- Three notified absences in a row
- One third of all meetings missed in a 12 month period
(These criteria assume regular meetings which happen on a monthly basis. If the regular meeting frequency changes, they will need to be updated.)
Minuting director absence ensures that the board tracks ongoing absence and provides an opportunity for the board to take ameliorative steps.
This policy was approved by the board on 14 July 2021.