How to Deal With Late Employees
You depend on employees to keep the organisation running smoothly; when they fail to show up on time, that means lost money, lost time and lower overall morale. The problem ranges from the noncritical clerk who occasionally but habitually shows up a few minutes late, to the receptionist or store manager whose daily lateness means lost time and sales every morning. While the direct impact on your business varies, allowing tardy behavior to continue can cause other employees to follow suit, eventually creating chaos.
Step 1
Assess the seriousness of the lateness problem and determine how critical the offending employee is. Consider overlooking occasional lateness from good employees whose tardiness does not affect your company, provided other employees do not complain.
Step 2
Assess your tardy employee's habits and determine whether his lateness is a change from normal on-time behavior or an established pattern.
Step 3
Call the employee to a private informal meeting and ask what is causing her lateness. Determine whether there is a simple answer to any immediate problem caused by the tardiness; for example, if a secretary and a manager are both in at 8:30 but the manager must unlock the office, give both a key while you are addressing the issue.
Step 4
Document every instance of lateness and the employee's reason for it. Look for a pattern.
Action
Step 1
Make adjustments to schedules if the situation seems to demand it, particularly for good employees. For instance, your top salesman may be working with a new schedule requiring him to drop his daughter off at school, causing him to be late; allowing him to start fifteen minutes later may fix the problem.
Step 2
Use financial punishments if the tardiness continues. Dock the employee's pay for the time she is absent and do not allow her to work late to make up the difference.
Step 3
Use a mentor or training, especially for younger and new employees. Request a trusted and reliable employee to keep an eye on the tardy employee's behavior. Use this intervention with care, however, as both employees may resent having to do this.
Step 4
Use peer pressure. Especially if lateness has become endemic, offer rewards like bonuses, casual days, parties or going home early on Friday to an entire team if everyone is on time for a whole work-week. When you find a reward that works, stick with it and let the other employees maintain discipline.
Step 5
Decide in advance how far you're willing to go to get this employee straightened out. You may not want to fire a key employee for lateness, even if it can't be corrected. In these cases, you must clearly justify your decision or lack of it to other employees, or you risk decreased morale and bad attitudes.
