Being late to work often happens for a good reason. But if this happens regularly, employers should discuss it with the employee to find a solution for consistently arriving late for work.
This article offers tips on dealing with an employee who consistently arrives late for work. In addition, we also give helpful ideas on how you can avoid being late.
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Of course, most employees arrive to work on time to fulfill their professional responsibilities. But unforeseen situations, personal problems, and other factors cause people to be late. These events are often one-time and do not cause much trouble for the whole team, co-workers, or boss.
For example, suppose an employee is late because they have a flat tire or the car doesn’t start, but the boss was aware of it in a phone call. In that case, the management can be pretty flexible about it and pay little attention to the lateness if it happened only once and has not become a habit.
However, if running late becomes a regular habit, you must recognize this is a real problem. The Company will have to pay for it – a wage bill, a decrease in productivity, and showing a negative example to colleagues.
If an employee arrives 5 minutes late to work throughout the week, that amounts to almost 30 minutes of lost work time. The Company will pay employees for those minutes, gradually turning into hours, while the business will get nothing in return.
If they ignore the constant delay, other employees may begin to do the same because one can get away with such actions. They will feel disrespected and become more negligent about their business.
We all understand that there can be certain reasons for being late – everyone can have an emergency, their car can break down, or they can be in traffic, etc. Note that the most popular reason for workers being late in 2022 is traffic – 41%. We suggest you explore other valid reasons for unpunctuality:
Unforeseen circumstances can happen to anyone; it often occurs at the most inopportune moment. But do not panic: take a deep breath and try to solve the problem, warning the employer you will be late. Contingencies can include a child’s illness, car trouble, difficulty with public transport traffic, family circumstances, family illness, problems with the house, and many others.
Lack of motivation leads to the fact that the employee himself does not show the proper desire to get to work on time. Lack of organization is another popular reason for being late. In this situation, arriving late is most often expressed when the employee misses the time of rising.
Often this is provoked by employees logging in late at night to finish a work project. But such actions, caused by a lack of skill to organize the correct working time, lead to the fact that the person sleeps through the rise time in the morning. In this situation, one of the causes of delay is more time-management skills.
Work-life balance is a balance that prioritizes professional development and personal life demands equally for an employee. Several reasons can trigger poor balance:
Many people try to succeed at everything, constantly combining a variety of circumstances. Because of this, most people arrive late for work or are constantly late. It makes it very difficult to achieve an optimal balance between personal life and work.
Late Work is not a crime, but this habit can lead to big problems for the Company. A qualified manager will be sympathetic to the fact that an employee may be late to work if it is a one-time event. The employee should send the notice with the reason (apologies). If the lateness becomes chronic, there are several negative consequences.
Lateness causes work efficiency to drop substantially. It is often the case that if an employee is late, they will leave Work as needed in the evening. Understanding does not apply to the situation where work efficiency falls. There are more dissatisfied customers, the employee needs to be on time, and many other problems ultimately lead to losses.
A late employee can shake up a team that has already started work, negatively affecting productivity. If an employee is on time, the rest of the staff will be focused, preventing them from adequately concentrating on their work processes until the tardy employee returns.
In addition, the manager may experience a productivity disruption while explaining to the delinquent employee how to catch up and start telling them what they missed. Also, the delinquent employee may be responsible for a particular process that only they can handle. Until they came, work may simply stand down.
Tardiness is undoubtedly not a good example. If one employee is late, the rest of the work schedule may get disrupted (notably if the work is shifted). Some employees will have to do so so that the absence of one will not affect the quality of results. Waiting for 10 minutes is not much of a concern. But in reality, chronic delays can harm the work environment, creating a tense atmosphere in the team.
If an employee is late, an excuse may come from them that on-time attendance is not that important, provoking other workers to be late. Therefore, mutual respect must reign in the team.
Arriving on time morning can be a problem for some people. But to avoid serious negative consequences, delay must be dealt with. An Employer or team leader should inform all employees of the obligations they have to meet, such as arriving at earlier times or other deadlines. Latecomers must be dealt with to ensure staff has valuable time.
When the boss talks with an employee who is regularly late, it is best not to listen to his stranger excuses but to state clearly and precisely that such conduct does not conform to company policy. Employees should be held accountable for adhering to the schedule responsibly, so they should change their behaviour in the future.
Informing the employee is worth words explaining how vital time is to the boss and the Company. During the speech, it is necessary to provide the facts, time, and date to confirm your position.
To clearly define the rules of coming to work, it is worth using company policy or management, in particular, to outline the generally accepted rules of the Company about the schedule, the start time of the day, how many times an employee can be late (if such rules exist) before it becomes a misdemeanor.
The same open mind should be observed regarding the disciplinary measures that can be imposed for delinquency. You can explain this verbally and send this information to the employee in an email or give them another document confirming the conversation.
Regular communicating will ensure timely delivery. Showing support and concern on the part of management will avoid further incidents. The supervisor should remain attentive and supportive of the employee while at the same time emphasizing the importance of coming to work at the agreed-upon time and what kind of work progress will be achieved by doing so.
If you notice the expected result of the employee coming to work on time more and more frequently, it is worth praising them. It is best to do this privately so that other employees do not hear it.
It often happens that the employee wants to avoid drawing the attention of his colleagues to what is going on in his life and what kind of improvements have led to his being on time.
Suppose a company’s policy provides for a flexible work schedule. In that case, it is worth seriously considering applying it to employees who are always late. For example, if an employee is late by 20 minutes. They will also be late by 20 minutes in the evening after the end of the working day. But other employees may also be interested in this flexible schedule.
Planning ahead of time to go to work is only possible for some. In addition, there may be unforeseen situations that prevent the employee from coming to Work at the right time. Employees may well be late. If it is an isolated incident, he may have the understanding from the employer.
If it consistently happens more than 3 times a week, something should be done about it immediately. Regular tardiness brings a lot of problems to the Company – the work tasks to be done on time, productivity and efficiency fall, the business incurs costs, and other team members are served with a bad example, which violates the working atmosphere.
It is worth doing something about it. Support a certain policy regarding delays at work and establish a proper schedule, especially in times of remote jobs.
