We have heard some classic lateness excuses from our clients on the advice line. Here are some of the best… I couldn’t find my car keys. The train doors closed on me. One employees was even brazen enough to say they had to pick up a delivery from Winners. At least they were honest. Even thought it is amusing to hear some of these excuses, employer need to realize that employee lateness is a big problem. Staff lateness cost Canadian businesses more that $3 billion per year in lost productivity. How much has been lost in your business? Luckily there is something you can do about it.
Sometimes Lateness Cannot be Avoided
From time to time unforeseeable situations can stop your employees from getting to work on time – it can even happen to employers! It’s important to be clear and consistent is how you choose to treat lateness. What is the best way to do that? Have a policy in your contracts of employment for lateness. It’s good practice to have your employee inform you if they are running late—and that can be by your method of choice, phone calls, text or email. You may want to consider asking your staff to make up the lost time either on the day or later in the week. You will want to maker sure that you are keeping a record of every lateness. That way, you can see if there are any patterns with lateness with certain staff. This is when you should take action. Instead of having them jotted down in a notebook which can easily be lost you need to have smart HR software such as Peninsula’s BrightHR to track lateness online BrightHR helps you record lateness easily from your phone and you can instant spot when there is a pattern of lateness.
What to Do When it Becomes a Habit
When someone suddenly becomes a repeat offender of lateness, don’t assume that it’s down to laziness or that that they no longer care about their job. There could be something happening outside of work that is the cause. We recommend seeing if there is anything you can do to help. This could involve having an informal chat to find out if there is a bigger issue. For instance, they’re having trouble arranging childcare during office hours, you could look into offering flexible working. What to do if your employees is bad at time management? That is what your policy is for. Start by giving them a fair warning if required and escalate it if you need too. And here’s how to do that…
Following a Fair and Formal Process
Have a formal meeting with your employee to discuss their continuous lateness. Make sure to listen to their reasoning, if any, take notes and explain why the meeting is happening. You might want to highlight how lateness: – Harms productivity. – Is unprofessional. – Affects people who rely on them for work. – Impacts team morale. The goal at the end of the meeting is help your employee understand the importance of being on time.
Following the Meeting
Make sure to write a summary of your formal discussion based on your notes. Keep one copy on file and provide another to your employee for their record. What happens if their punctuality doesn’t improve? You may want to issue a verbal warning. If there is still no improvement, then a written warning is required. After that you need to issue a final warning. If nothing improves after that this could lead to dismissal for misconduct. You would hope that it wouldn’t lead to that but wit the right lateness policy and processes in place lateness in your workplace should become a rarity. But hopefully, it won’t get to that. With your lateness policy in place, people not showing up on time should become a rarity. Though there might still be some lateness excuses you can laugh about… eventually.
