When I first began teaching college classes I did not have an attendance policy. I believed that students were paying for my course, and therefore would be motivated to attend class. However, as my teaching career progressed, I realized that many students used non-attendance policies as an excuse to skip their classes. As a result, I changed my attendance policy. I believe that students benefit from regular attendance.
Experience leads to the conclusion that higher grades correlate with regular attendance.
More important, attendance is central to the assessment process. At least part of the value of a degree emanates from a professor being able to tell prospective employers, Student A took my class, attended regularly, and fulfilled all the course requirements. In the absence of regular attendance, my ability to make that assessment is at best incomplete. At present, my attendance policy is that I encourage regular attendance, but I will not call roll. I reserve the right to confront students when it comes to my attention that their grades are suffering because they are not in class.