Long-time Employees Struggling with New Office Hours: How Can We Address Their Concerns?

Dear Seniors, Greetings to all. I have a problem with applying the changes. With the support of the management, we formulate policies, norms, etc. There are a few employees who have been working in the company for the last 15 years. They are resisting coming to the office on time and leaving on time as well. They have mentioned that they are not comfortable with the timings. The working hours for females are from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and for males, it is from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Lunchtime is from 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM with a 15-minute tea break twice a day.

They are considering resigning because they believe they are handling a substantial workload for the company that no one else can manage presently. Kindly suggest to me what to do?

Thank you.

From what you narrated, it appears they are of value to your company. Retaining talent is now becoming a challenge for companies. You need to be patient with them and try to solve the problem through mutual discussion. First, have a one-to-one discussion with them and ascertain why they are not sticking to punctuality. There may be many reasons, and the reasons may vary from individual to individual. Some may have domestic problems, some have issues with immediate reporting bosses and may not feel motivated, while others may have compensation dissatisfaction. For others, it may be an inconvenient location or simply a habit. After ascertaining the reasons, you may need to explore solutions, some of which are stated below for your guidance.

1. Change their working hours.
2. Stagger their working hours.
3. Transfer an employee to a place convenient to them.
4. Try for an increase in their salaries or explore the possibility of a reward scheme for them.
5. Conduct a one-day reorientation workshop with the help of a behavioral specialist to correct behavior in persistent cases.
6. If everything fails, invoke the disciplinary process in cases of adamant and willful insubordination.

Regards,
B. Saikumar

HR & Labor Law Consultant
Chipinbiz Consultancy Pvt. Ltd
Mumbai
Mob: [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Thank you for the query. Saikumar has given you a sound reply. Let me ask a few questions: How long have you been with the company? You say that "we formulate...". Who are we? Were the employees consulted before formulating policies about the working hours? What were the working practices before? When you say they are doing lots of work, what is their total contribution as a percentage of the company's income, and are their customers satisfied?

Have a nice day.

Regards,
Simhan
Learning and Teaching Fellow (Retd)
The University of Bolton, UK
Chief Advisor, Promentor-consulting
[About Us](http://www.promentor-consulting.com/about-us.html)

Good suggestion by Mr. Simhan and Mr. Saikumar.

Kishan, as you mentioned that you have formulated the policies with the full support of your management or that your management is ready to apply these norms, I don't think you need to reconsider this issue. Before applying these changes in your organization, you do not need approval from any employee, whether they are old or new.

One must not question the efficiency of management or the people who are part of it. Making or formulating policies for the organization is part of the management's official work. If these employees do not agree with these changes, they are directly opposing management.

If I'm not mistaken, you have changed your office timing to 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM/6:00 PM from the old timing of 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM/7:00 PM. Change in morning time, right? I hope you are not enforcing unconditional timing on them or disobeying the rules laid down in the section of employee/worker timing under the Act, because it seems you forgot to mention the change you made in office timing.

I understand that these employees have been working for your organization for a long time and have certainly contributed much to your company, but they must not forget that they are just employees, not part of management. They must respect and accept the decision of management because they know their management better, being very old employees.

I agree with Mr. Simhan that one must take care of employee benefits while making policies, but I don't think that management would take any step in this regard without considering the effect or impact of these changes on their employees and organization. Certainly, these things would have been considered and discussed with all heads of departments and directly concerned parties before applying these changes.

Not every single employee can be consulted before making these changes, whether they are old or new employees.

Second, management is not there for a few employees but for all, and they have their own style and have to run accordingly. If management has granted you permission to implement these changes or formulate the policies, you can go ahead and inform all employees by "Circular."

Third, I have never seen in my career that an employee has left the job just because they were not comfortable with office timing if they were never forced to work unconditionally.

Regards,

I agree, Sir, but I have given the same information that I have experienced in my career. I have also gone through the same process and been responsible for formulating policies in the past. Therefore, I understand this situation better and can empathize with what he is currently going through.

Fantastic views and knowledge shared by Sai, Simhan, and Arora with their real-time experience being placed behind the words. I would like to share my views on the same.

Dealing with Veteran Employees

Dealing with veteran employees is a very common problem that we all face in companies today. This is one of the major challenges acknowledged by the industry.

I would give you a very simple suggestion: "If you have to catch the big fish, sometimes it is best to let go of the small fish." Understand the concept, and you will win many battles in the future.

Regards,
Chaitanya

Thank you to all for your valuable suggestions.

Answers to Your Questions

How long have you been with the company? I joined this company 3 months ago. Before me, there was no HR department.

You say that "we formulate...". Who are "we"? (HR department and Owner of the company)

Were the employees consulted before formulating policies about the working hours? Since the beginning of the company, working hours were 10 to 6 for females and 7 for males. Due to a new project and business expansion, the owner was unable to monitor all employees' timings. For safety reasons in winter, female employees were allowed to leave at 5:30 in the evening, but only during winter. Therefore, we are not increasing working hours; they remain the same as before. Some old employees are taking advantage of this change.

What were the working practices before?

When you mention that they are doing a lot of work, what is their total contribution as a percentage of the company's income, and are the customers satisfied?

The individuals resisting the change are not involved in dealing with the customers. They are part of the operations and admin departments.

Please review the corrected text for any further adjustments.

Regards

I am rather surprised to note that there are inequalities between the times expected of male and female workers. Even if people are not dealing directly with external customers, what is their total contribution to the organization's operation? If you can replace them, then you can follow whatever the law permits if they do not conform. Put yourself in their position and see. If people have been allowed to go scot-free, by custom and practice, they have established new patterns of working. The question is, are they producing what is expected of them per day?

I remember a case when we all had to work a 3.5-day week when there was a power shortage due to a miners' strike. Organizations found that productivity increased. So, in an FMCG industry, the company reduced the working hours without any reduction in the output.

Have a nice day.

Regards,
Simhan

Management's Flexibility and Employee Attitudes

Management is very flexible with employees to make them comfortable in their personal lives because management understands that employees are handling many responsibilities. Now, management wants to reduce their workload and make them more comfortable in their work environment. However, these employees now have a negative attitude towards their work. They are meeting the work requirements but are not following management's rules.

Regards

Change is painful, and resistance is obvious. The change process needs to be administered very carefully. One way to tackle such situations is to engage in a constructive discussion. Give them the problem (for which you have changed timings) and ask them for probable solutions. Maybe they will be able to provide some alternate solutions, and the most suitable and acceptable one can be selected. This new solution will be acceptable to them, and they will abide by it as the decision is made by them. There will be ownership from their side. This is a corrective action. I have used this method a couple of times, and it has given me favorable results.

In the long run, try to have multi-skilling and an alternative for every person so that nobody is in a position to blackmail the organization.

Regards,
Lokender

Dear Krishnan, you have given yourself a problem with the solution in your last message. As business increases, does your management intend to recruit more people? If so, your problem is solved. I would suggest you start doing the following in case the management has plans to recruit:

- Understand the critical roles played by each of the veteran employees.
- Educate your boss to have backup plans and maybe suggest slowly passing on certain roles to new employees.
- This would, in fact, cut down the workload on the team, ensure operations run more efficiently, and reduce dependency.

I hope you understand it by now. Given the situation where you are only 3 months old in this role and your boss is willing to bring in more changes, it should work wonders.

Do you have a system to record the employees' in and out timings (say manual or electronic)? If you do not have one at present, impress upon the CEO the need for such an arrangement in view of the current issue. Installing such a system will send a strong signal to habitual latecomers.

If you already have such a system, please collect data for a month or so and present the data to the CEO. Let him address the employees to enforce discipline, especially since you are currently a junior in the organization.

I have observed that taking strong action against an individual for gross misconduct sends a clear message to others. While such action may temporarily disrupt work, it will lead to long-term improvement of the situation.

Regards, Sambasi