How Can I Address Late Arrivals Without Cutting Salaries in My IT Company?

Hello,

I'm working in an IT company. Here, employees have to work late in the evening, so they give excuses when they come late in the morning, stating that they used to work late. Other employees who are not working late are also taking advantage of this situation. The employees have a mindset that they have to stay for 8 hours in the company to mark their full-day attendance. They come late, stay for long hours, and thus, get a full day's attendance.

How could I solve this problem without deducting their salaries?

Regards,
Urvashi

Hello,

I am working in an IT company. Here, employees have to work late in the evening, so they give excuses when they come late in the morning, stating that they worked late. Other employees who are not working late are also taking advantage of this. The employees have a mindset that they have to stay for 8 hours in the company to mark their full-day attendance. They come late, stay for long hours, and thus get a full-day attendance.

How could I solve this problem without deducting their salaries?

Regards,
Urvashi

Hi,

It's a uniform internal problem. You may take nominal disciplinary action against them, like a verbal warning followed by some stern actions such as a memo, first written warning, second/last written warning, or a show cause notice.

Secondly, I think 8 hours are sufficient for routine official work if the work is well organized. Staff must be trained for time management.

Regards,
Raj

Hi,

I agree 8 hours is sufficient for work, but they used to start their work after the lunch break. When I come to the office in the morning at 9 am, I find only 3-4 people working, and most of them come after 11 am. This situation demoralizes those employees who are used to coming on time in the morning.

Regards,
Urvashi

I'm facing almost the same environment except that they come in around 9:00 am (Our working hours are 8:30 am - 5:45 pm). Same excuses since it's an IT environment.

Thus, what we can do is to remind them about the working hours. If they have to come in late, justify why and get clarifications from their bosses if such need arises. Habitually latecomers will be issued warning letters.

Hi Urvashi,

Those who are all coming late deduct 25% of daily salary and give 15 or 30 minutes before those who are coming within 9:30 don't deduct, and those who are all coming after 9:30, you can deduct 25% of the daily salary. If you follow these rules for 1 week, everyone will arrive before 9:30.

Please try this method, and let me know.

Regards,
Hemanth

Dear Urvashi,

Yes, I do agree with Rajendra that it's a uniform internal problem. You can try another method by giving some relaxation on the number of times in a month. For example, his/her (X) number of latecomings can be condoned, and beyond that, you can start debiting their leaves for their latecoming under intimation to the employee. But before doing that, you can frame a policy on the late coming, taking the TOP Management in confidence.

Hello,

I am working in an IT company. Here, employees have to work late in the evening, so they give excuses when they come late in the morning, stating that they work late. Other employees who are not working late are also taking advantage of this situation. The employees have a mindset that they have to stay for 8 hours in the company to mark their full-day attendance. They arrive late, stay for long hours, and thus, get a full day's attendance. How could I solve this problem without deducting their salaries?

Regards,
Urvashi

Yes, Urvashi, it is really a problem when employees start coming late. Why don't you apply a time check such as employees arriving after 10:00 am will be marked late, and three late marks should result in CL deduction or salary deduction. You can give them the flexibility of one hour (i.e., from 9:00 am to 10:00 am).

Hi,

I think the employees are staying in the office for 8 hours as per your email. Many companies have flexi timings in their office, and if the employees stay in the office for 8 hours and complete the work given, it is acceptable. However, wherever flexi timings are not applicable, I think we will have to implement this through policy and some controls through the employees' managers.

Just for instance, we can say that any person who needs to work beyond a stipulated time should produce the HOD's approval, while also completing 8 hours in the office. I think this will lead to more disciplined work timings. This will also provide flexibility to employees who might need to come in late to the office due to genuine reasons.

This is just my suggestion, and I stand corrected if I am wrong.

Stop their pay for the time they are late. They are taking the mickey! Working late has nothing to do with coming in late, unless you are offering flexi-time. I would also instigate a system whereby if they are late more than 3 times in a month, they would be dismissed.

Thank you for all your suggestions. I believe some of them will be suitable for my organization. If any of you know any other ways, please share with me.

Regards,
Urvashi

I faced the same problem a few years back. I analyzed it in a different manner and tried to find out why they were sitting for long hours. The reasons I found were astonishing. Two to three guys were staying back for client interactions, three more who were going along with them were staying back, three more to make any changes as per client requirements, and a few more who were going along with them. Additionally, a few more were staying back just to take advantage of coming late and enjoy the internet and long chats. You won't believe it, but the amount of productive work was very low.

Then, I discussed the same with my management and scheduled two guys for the night shift and asked everyone else to come on time and leave on time. I think it worked out. The company grew to 500 staff now. Well, try it, who knows. But first, analyze the problem, not the employees. Solve their issues; deducting their salaries will only increase the problems.

Good luck

Hello,

It is a nice conversation, but I have a few more queries regarding this:

1. What about the security issue? Since these people are staying back, in case of an accident, will the organization be responsible?

2. If the organization has flexible working hours, can they deduct latecoming from the salary?

Kindly clarify the same.

Thank you.

Regards,
Smita