Hi,
I do u/s the criticality of the situation.. You as a HR guy are very much right not to be so rigid with people who are the asset to the organistion. More so when they are productive, the situation needs to be dealt with due deligence and empathy...pl make a close study of the common cause for the delay cd be personal & family reasons, old parents, ailing siblings, etc.etc... these have to be analysed on case-to-case basis... If the root cause is identified as lethargy,calousness abt the rules, then you need to evolve some strategy which makes the violators realize the rigidity of the rules... you can give them some kind of feedback abt their habitual late without concrete reason and hence, the situation may worse should he/she continues to reach office late with lame excuses.
Coming to finishing the tasks by late sitting should never be encouraged as a thumb rule.. Yeah... we do all work hard & late sitting becomes envitable should there be a real contingency of finishing tasks time-bound... Hence, make the employees u/s the impact of late-coming while maintaining empathy with the deserving cases. After all dealing with humans does not need some many jorgans unless we fail to have systems in its place.
I shall be glad if somebody thorws further light on the issue.
Regards
Srinivaskvmk