Maybe not, but if your timesheets also form part of your billing system (as with the government contractors above), recording time on a day it wasn't worked would be considered timesheet fraud. It doesn't matter if they are salaried or hourly it will result in a billing for time not worked. Timesheets don't just feed payroll, they feed cost accounting, billing, etc. Even if you have the best intentions of making it up the next day, it's still something that can cause a lot of legal trouble for you and your company. What heppens if the employee quits and never "makes up" the time? And if the client looks at the bill and says "I called for John that day and was told he was off"?

Sorry, pet peeve here. People need to look beyond just the timekeeping aspects to how the entire company system works.

1) You can swap with a co-worker who would otherwise be off that day. You work for them, they work for you.

… this seems to be the most plausible — and least open to abuse.

2) Swaps can only be made for 'sick day' reasons… doctor's appointments for yourself or family, or actual illness reasons. Not for childcare reasons or to extend vacation time.

3) No more than one swap every three weeks — or, you can't swap more than two weeks in a row.

I'd also permit people to do permanent exchanges of days off.. if it works better for me to have the first and third Fridays off, and a co-worker wants to change with me, why not?

To the original point: What accounting people don't know won't hurt them. One assumes your company isn't doing anything as crazy as making exempt people clock in and out, so it's likely that they'd never have to know about swapped days, unless you tell them. I do agree about staffing control issue, though, dealing with unintended consequences of making exceptions for one person can be brutal at times.

And yes, irregardless is not a word…that was actually a question on the GMAT test.

nonstandard : regardless
usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

Although employees are supposed to work the expected work hours over the year, it’s easier to (micro)manage on a payperiod-by-payperiod basis. Should the employee work less than the expected work hours (which are generally around 1972 annual productive hours out of a possible 2080 hours) upon which a billing rate is based, the company takes a hit in profitability…and that’s where accounting comes in.

In my experience, accountants like predictability and like hard-and-fast, predictable schedules and expenses (and, yes, some of my best friends are accountants).

There’s also an issue of fairness that can be missing when supervisors allow some exempt employees to change schedules and not others; having a tight payperiod control over such changes helps with perceptions of fairness in scheduling for all employees.