Tackling Employee Lateness: What Strategies Have Worked for You in HR?

Dear Folks,

I have an employee who is always reporting late to the office. I have tried my best to fix the problem by sending him a cautionary email and also speaking to the employee personally. It did pay off, and he is making it early these days, but I was wondering what other methods as HR we can adopt to address the problem of lateness.

Awaiting your suggestions!

Dear Sunita,

It is great on our part to boost employee morale and address problems of such kinds. The issue that we are talking about is Industrial Relations. However, it is also the duty of HR to sort out such problems within its scope, power, effectiveness, and efficiency.

Now, there are certain things that as an HR professional we can handle:-

1) Develop a card-swapping mechanism wherein the margin of time can be pre-programmed and fed to the system, leading to a deduction of half-day salary if not followed.
2) As an HR professional in an organization, if it is found that only one employee is consistently late or unable to arrive on time, the approach you have adopted is effective.
3) Another approach is to be strict enough to inform the security guard about the time expectations and then strictly prohibit the entry of any employee to the workplace.
4) Lastly, follow a more liberal and easy-going approach (known as the Google Way) which can help boost employee morale and facilitate meeting growth targets within the specified time frame.

I hope this information might help us in achieving our goals. However, as HR professionals, we may not be able to fully address the issue; we may need Industrial Relations Personnel to provide a comprehensive solution.

Dear Sunita,

As I don't have any knowledge about the nature of the organization, still I would like to suggest you to consider implementing an incentive plan for timely reporting. Please email me back if you want by mentioning your company's nature.

Aparajita

Dear Sunita,

As Zalak suggested, consider implementing attendance software such as a showcard or punch card. Additionally, you can mark half-day attendance for employees who arrive late to the office and ask them to fill out leave requests for those days.

Thank you.

If your organization is small, then keep a register for signatures in your office. After a set time, say 10 minutes before the office closes, hand over this register to the head of your company for their final signature. Once the boss signs, no one else can sign it without direct approval from the boss or by following some other formal procedure for late signatures.

If your organization is large, implement a fingerprint machine, and that should suffice.

Naeem
Email: mnaeem81@mol.com :-P

Give him repeated warnings 2-3 times. If he is still coming late, throw him out of the organization. Don't tolerate indiscipline in the office.

Dear Sunita,

In my last organization, there were several habitual latecomers. To curb this, HR followed the policy of deducting one day's leave when an employee arrived late to the office for more than three days in a month. If the employee didn't have any leaves left, one day's pay was deducted.

Regards,
Swati Verma

Sunitha,

As an HR professional, we can do the following:

01. Counsel him and try to understand the reason for his late arrivals.
02. Address the issue with his boss and attempt to seek support from his manager.
03. Deduct the leaves from his account if he arrives late more than three times in a month.
04. Create a circular and post it on the notice board regarding tardiness in the office.
05. Lastly, the option of taking disciplinary action by issuing a warning letter as per our standing orders for being late more than three days in a month and possibly suspending him for one day (for not attending duty).

Regards,
Suraj Varma

Hi, what's your problem? Is he putting enough amount of work? Is he productive? The problem with us is that we want a person to be on time but not necessarily productive. And if he is productive, we cannot give him the leverage of coming late, you know why? Tomorrow everyone will do it. In fact, you can use his late coming as a great tool to get things done from him, even things like going against any union directive. Just think of the infinite possibilities. You have a dedicated soul who knows it's because of you he is safe. Let him be your ears, eyes, and hands for all the dirty work.

Well, all I could say is that if the person is productive and doing justice to his assignments and finishing up the tasks on or before time, then late coming can be well ignored. If not, then with the help of the Attendance Software, he can be subjected to strict statutory actions.

Hi dear Sunita,

I feel that this is not the only issue you are mentioning. I sense some dissatisfaction or an unfavorable office environment. Please investigate the working style and the type of work the person is doing. You may observe an employee who becomes more confident after arriving late; perhaps they are the oldest employee or have more direct interaction with higher authorities, which may make them feel superior to others. One solution may not fit all situations.

Regarding office size and reporting culture, I am not aware, but I believe several factors may affect managing office timing.

Dear Sunita,

In the absence of much information, just going on the content which you have posted, I have certain points to make.

1. Do you allow a grace period? For example, if the office starts at 9:00 a.m., then allowing people to reach the office by 9:10 a.m.

2. Do you have a policy for late arrivals? If not, then it's time for you to create one. For instance, clearly specifying slabs of late arrivals and the resulting consequences.

You could decide on or fix the number of late arrivals permissible, after which it could be adjusted either against salary or paid leaves. For example, allowing an employee to report to duty 15 minutes late twice in a month. Depending on your organization, this time limit could range from 30 minutes to 1 hour. For these late arrivals (though permitted), the employee will have to fill in a late arrival Permission Slip on that very day, get it approved from the immediate Head or Manager, and then submit it to HR for their approval too.

It's a personal experience that such methods do work. There is a very rare possibility that you will have to remind them again. Employees themselves will take care, and even the approving authority will be in the loop.

If the staff size isn't big enough, then please try to find out the possible reasons, followed by counseling. If still nothing changes, then verbal and written warnings should follow. Please make it a point to elaborate on everything step by step very precisely in the policy. This might help you. The most desirable action would be finding the root cause, whether this late coming is just out of habit or if there are other underlying reasons.

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I have corrected the spelling, grammar, and formatting errors in the text.

Thank you, members, for all your responses. Some of the members have asked me about the size of the org, so let me tell you it's a mid-sized organization with a headcount of less than 100.

I agree with most of the members that if an employee is productive and dedicated to their work (working late hours on their given projects/assignments), some relaxation can be considered. However, if he/she is idling away without much work and then reporting late to the office, it warrants serious action.

If the guy is productive enough, then it is better to ignore his late coming. Alternatively, he can be directed to be in the office in the evening till late in the evening.

Hi all,

I personally agree with the suggestion given by Ms. Shalini. We are also practicing the same policy in our organization.

Sunita, our company is also of medium size. What we have done is that our office starts at 9:00 am, but we have given a grace period of 30 minutes. Besides that, we have divided time slots for leave deduction. For example, if a person comes after 11:00 am, then 0.25 is deducted from their CL/PL. Furthermore, if by coming late they are compensating by sitting late and completing their work, they need to email the HR department through their immediate supervisor for a waiver in leave deduction. This adjustment does not impact the productivity of the employee.

Similarly, implementing something along these lines can help resolve the issue of employees arriving late.

Regards,
Sheetal Sahasrabudhe

Dear Sunita,

I guess it is enough of efforts you have already put up on this guy. It will be better to move from thought to action. Do deduct his salary with reference to the late marks. For example, 3 late marks = Deduction of half day salary. If he is smarter with his work assignments, be cautious before implementing this action. Otherwise, you may lose your potential employee.

Hi,

Our office time is 10 am, and a grace period of 5 minutes will be given. If you arrive after 10:05, it will be considered late until 11 am. Each employee is allowed to utilize 2 late arrivals in a month, and on their 3rd late arrival, they will lose a day's salary.

If you arrive after 11 am, you will be considered absent, even if you work on that day.

Employees are allowed 30 leaves per year. If this limit is exceeded, management will issue a warning, and it may also impact yearly increments. This principle applies to all senior and junior employees.

I am not sure whether this policy is right or wrong, but it is effective.

Regards,
Uma.

If the problem lies where his relatives may be hospitalized and need serious attention, I feel you have to excuse. If he is consistently coming late, you can warn him and take necessary action after issuing a memo.

Hi Sunitha,

One simple solution: make those guys work late, and they will surely come on time. If somebody is coming 30 minutes late, make them work one hour. Simply warn them to work double time if they come late. This will surely fix the problem, as I have practically used this and it worked out for me.

Thanks,
Kumar

Hello Kumar,

I believe that making them work for 1 hour every day after their usual work hours will not serve the purpose because they may not actually work, but instead chat with colleagues or browse the internet and waste time.

Thank you.

Hi Sunitha,

Here in my office, I coordinate with the Team Leads, which is helping me to check if the employee is spending this extra hour only to complete his daily targets. I am not expecting the latecomer to really work an extra hour, but it may prompt them to consider why it is happening and potentially lead to a change in their behavior, making them come to the office at the regular time.

Kumar

Hi Everyone,

Could someone please forward me a sample of a warning letter for being late to the office (attachment: in Word format)?

For the record:
- The concerned person has been warned many times by HR and the reporting manager.

Thanks & Regards,
Cliford Thomas.