Struggling with Late Arrivals and Complaints: How Can HR Handle Indiscipline Effectively?

Steps to Address Indiscipline

Dear Seniors, please advise me on the steps to be taken regarding indiscipline.

• Workers and staff employees are not coming on time even when they are assigned a shift and time schedule.

• If we take action against them, they always try to find a problem and directly complain to higher authority that the HR Department has not taken any action even after numerous complaints. This means that if we take any action against them, they find small individual problems and complain directly to higher authority, leading to the higher authority also reprimanding the HR Department.

Now, what can we do?

We request the super moderator and HR experts like Madhu T.K. to please give your suggestions on this topic.

Regards

I sense you don't have an effective mechanism to tackle this problem. There is no information on whether you have a biometric/punching system to record the attendance of the employees. The advantage of such a system is to monitor the in-out timings of the employees and link it to the policy of late comings and permissions existing in your company.

I would advise you to seek help from your management to install a biometric system and record the fingerprints of all the employees. They should be directed to record their attendance upon entering and exiting the shift.

Once the above process is completed and streamlined, you can discuss with your management and initiate a policy on late comings and permission limits for employees in a month. Any deviations in the form of exceeded late comings and permissions should either be treated as LOP or deductions from existing leave. Clear definitions on the grace period allowed, late time, and permission duration & limits should be specified.

Before implementing the above, a clear intimation should be given to the employees through mail or notices on the public board.

Regarding employees countering the HR Department with small problems, I would put the blame on your department. This can happen only if there is some discrepancy or lag from the HR Department. When you are planning to introduce a new policy which might attract a lot of opposition from employees, always ensure perfection in your other work and the service delivery of HR activities.

Hope the info is clear. Do revert if any help is desired.

Dear Hardik, In the present situation, you have two options: firstly, either be strict or convince the concerned authority to support the initiators to change the culture of late coming.

Addressing Late Arrival Culture

Once we were facing the same issue, where the culture was to come late in the morning and work until late evenings to show that they were working long hours. We started monitoring their log-in and log-out timings first manually and later introduced a biometric system. We released a circular to emphasize the importance of arriving on time. The circular was distributed every 15 days on a trial basis to inform employees of the management's intentions.

Even after two months, we had not fully succeeded, although a few employees had started to arrive on time. Subsequently, we began imposing penalties on employees arriving late for three consecutive days, with a 10-minute grace period. Within the next two months, most of the employees started to arrive on time, except for C-suite executives and GMs.

It took time, but eventually, we succeeded.

Dear Hardik, Firstly, you should install a sufficient number of Bio Matrix Attendance Capturing Machines at the entrance of the respective departments/workplaces. It is important that workers report to their workplace on time (not at the main gate).

Implementing Attendance Systems

Secondly, issue a circular stating that late coming is not allowed effective immediately, and the main gate will be closed five minutes after the beginning of each shift. You may allow a five-minute grace period for entry. However, a proportionate deduction of wages should be incorporated into the software based on the late attendance marked by the Bio Matrix System. No relaxation should be given afterward, even for genuine reasons for late coming. Allowing someone late even once may set a precedent for other latecomers to take advantage. Enforcing this system will help in maintaining discipline for latecomers. It is crucial to mention that workers are responsible for production, making their punctuality extremely imperative.

Different Systems for White-Collar Employees

In many progressive companies, a flexi-timing system is followed for white-collar employees. Therefore, you should not enforce the same system for white-collar employees as you would for blue-collar employees. White-collar employees often work beyond their designated hours due to business demands without any additional monetary benefits. Implementing the above practice for white-collar employees would be unjust. Instead, sending a late-coming report to the HODs followed by counseling by their respective HODs will discourage habitual latecomers.

Regards, Rakesh Pd Srivastav