How Do You Handle Employee Tardiness and Record Verbal Notifications Effectively?

Addressing Employee Tardiness

Please note that some of our employees are frequently arriving late to the office. Our management has asked them for reasons, but their explanations are not deemed valid. As a result, management has decided to address this issue. In some cases, employees have genuine reasons such as a parent's illness, a punctured vehicle, heavy traffic, etc. I believe that if the reason is truly valid, the individual should not be penalized. However, how can I determine whether the explanation provided is valid?

Maintaining Records of Verbal Notifications

Additionally, some employees directly inform me via phone, but by the end of the month, I have no record of these communications as they are only verbal. Could you please advise on how to maintain a record of such verbal notifications?

I kindly request guidance on a policy for dealing with latecomers and how to document verbal notifications.

Regards,
Sujata

Verbal intimation cannot be tracked. You can create an HRIS for attendance time. Whoever is coming after the stipulated time, mark them late. You can allow a late occurrence for, say, 3 or 4 times in a month, after which you should have the freedom to tackle the situation. If nothing else, you can ask the latecomers to draft a mail and inform the reason for their late arrival. The possibility is that when they get to know that now things are becoming official and they'd have to give the reason in writing, they may reduce the practice.

All the best 

Ankita has given a good suggestion, and it will surely help you control the late coming.

In some organizations, you see managers firing their staff, but I personally feel that in order to stop the behavior, instead of firing the staff member, you will have to be patient.

In fact, typically, the best way to transform habitual tardiness into consistent promptness is by being completely honest with the staff member. Don't let anger get the best of you as you explain that when they arrive behind schedule, it causes major problems for the entire business. Let the late employee share their reasons for the habitual lateness. Ask them to come up with a way to break the pattern. By involving staff in the process, you'll see much better results than if you just told them what to do.

Always remember to keep your cool. Screaming and yelling will just cause the employee to become defensive and possibly make them revolt. Staying calm will actually work quickly to resolve this problem.

Hope this will help you resolve your problem.

Regards,
Anita

Ms. Ankita and Ms. Anita have given very valuable suggestions to control the latecoming in your organization. In addition, creating and maintaining discipline is not the responsibility of the HR Department only. Let other individuals also share the responsibility.

1. Identify the habitual latecomers and discuss with their HODs. Let them also share the burden.

2. Counsel the respective employees regularly and help them understand the adverse consequences of tardiness, i.e., other employees may also take advantage of the late arrivals.

3. If the problem persists, put the names of latecomers on the notice board with the management's confidence. Also, generate and maintain daily latecoming reports and send them for respective HODs' signatures.

Note: As suggested by Ankita and Anita, always have patience and maturity in dealing with the situation.

"Regular counseling and addressing the latecomers yield positive results. It is my practical experience."

With Best Wishes

Apart from what Ankita and Anita said, my thoughts on this provocative behavior are:

1) Late coming is an annoying habit and needs to be curtailed, if not nipped totally. The sight of latecomers gets on your nerves and makes your blood boil because when the whole office is plunged into work, they walk into the office with a gait and style that may tempt even the most stylish film star to copy them. They cast glances of pity at others who are punctual and wear the 'how smart I am' look. They are the 'Tapori' type.

2) There is another kind. They come to the office late, running, sweating, and gasping for breath to give the impression that but for some problem, they would have been on time. They keep a story ready to narrate if asked for the reason for being late. In fact, they will be eager to be questioned since they will be enthusiastic to reel off the story for the next hour until lunchtime, adding a lot of spice (masala) to it in such a way that it may give the best scriptwriters of films a run for their money. Every time, they have a different story, and that is original, to be fair to them. They are the storytellers.

3) There is the third kind. You should only see them to believe. He will come to the office, walking slowly, apparently soaking in pain (not in sweat) with drooping looks, sorrow-filled eyes, and a grief-stricken face. He will try to impress that they are in great trouble to preempt any questioning or at least to douse the initial burst of fire from the departmental head. Nobody ventures to ask him what happened for fear of breaching a dam brimming with gushing water. If someone commits that mistake, he will burst into buckets full of tears, wailing at GOD as to why He singled him out on this planet for heaping all the sorrows on him, making the mood in the office melancholic. They act so convincingly that they give a complex to the most veteran film actors who enact scenes of a weeping 'Babul' (father) at his daughter's 'Bidai' or such other tear-jerking scenes. They are 'I am always the victim' type.

Sujatha, no wonder, I am not surprised at your predicament as to how to find out, in the midst of such fine acting talent, whose case is genuine and whose case is fake. You can try the following:

Steps to Address Late Coming

1) It is difficult to curb late coming unless it is firmly driven down the throats of employees that this organization, as a matter of policy, does not condone late coming. Therefore, frame a policy and put the employees on notice of it.

2) It is not possible for everyone to be punctual all 30 days in a month. Therefore, you need to consider genuine cases. As Ankita suggested, you may allow three occasions in a month in practice, but you need not spell it out in your policy since the employees may take it for granted that they can be late at least on three occasions. They may come late, though there is no reason for them to be late. As a matter of policy, late coming shall not be permitted. That shall be the message to the employees.

3) You need to classify latecomers into habitual ones and occasional ones to adopt different strategies of action. As Ankita suggested, you can adopt an attendance tracking system for this purpose.

4) This classification makes your task easy to find out who is genuine and who is faking a reason.

5) Another way to catch them on the wrong foot is to ask a few questions about the reason they offer. For example, if someone cites illness in the family and going to the hospital as the reason for being late, ask what the illness is, which doctor he visited, and what medicines the doctor prescribed. If the reason is false, he will be uncomfortable and stumble for answers. The discomfort will dissuade him from being late next time since he may not like to be grilled every time. Be tactful in questioning. You should not make him feel that he is grilled.

6) Anita cautioned to be patient with latecomers. But my advice is to be selectively patient with latecomers depending upon the number of occasions or habitual character, etc. In the right cases, you need not hide your displeasure over such behavior.

7) Take action as per your rules in case of persistent and unrelenting cases.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labor Law Advisor
Mumbai

Sai sir, though I really get irritated when people walk in late, the way you characterized them actually made me laugh. Surprisingly, I found your post so true and have all three characters at my workplace.

And Sujata, indeed, Sai sir pointed out a big thing - do not suggest to them or communicate to them that being late three times would be tolerated; otherwise, you'd notice them being late all three times. This will help them by not making up reasons for those three instances, thinking, "three times it's allowed."

Another Suggestion

I have informed all my staff members as well:

1. If an employee calls up or informs his/her HOD, supervisor, or HR about coming in late (no matter how genuine the case may be), they would still receive a late remark. Informing the office about late arrival is our moral duty, and we can't expect a reward (in terms of lateness allowance) for it.

2. If a person is going for a meeting and will be arriving late, this will be considered only if:

a. The person informs HR via email, keeping the concerned supervisor/HOD in the loop.

b. The supervisor also approves the same.

Point 2 was introduced by me so that the marketing team cannot misuse the "revoke late mark for meeting" scheme.

Hope this helps you. 

This late coming is a practice in all the manufacturing industries as well as offices. I suggest the following to implement immediately:

1. Give a grace period of 10 minutes every day to allow employees to reach the office.
2. If anybody arrives late, ask them to seek permission from the concerned Head of Department (HOD) and the Personnel & Administration (P&A) HOD.
3. Permission for tardiness should be granted only twice a month.
4. Those exceeding the limit of two instances will face Loss of Pay (LOP) to prevent recurrence in the future.

Regards,
GANESH

I hope you will give answers to my concerns below:

1. Does late coming bother you or your Head/Plant Head?
2. Is the Head/Plant Head ignorant about late coming, or are they ignoring the subject matter?
3. Are the employees who leave late among the latecomers?
4. If possible, can you plan a flexi-time policy for latecomers (who generally leave late)?
5. Is the work nature of your establishment such that you need all people inside the establishment on time?

Thank you.

Understanding Employee Punctuality Issues

If employees genuinely want to come but are always late, there might be a mechanical reason for their tardiness, such as their commute (e.g., taking children to school or limited train availability). This could potentially be resolved by rescheduling. Alternatively, it might be due to their work practices, such as checking emails before meetings and getting distracted. This too could be addressed by encouraging them to have coffee away from the computer in the meeting room before the meeting starts.

On the other hand, some developers might not find the meetings useful. This presents an opportunity to reconsider the agenda and the necessity of the meetings. Determine what information they need to perform their job effectively, what they find useful, and what they find boring. If the meeting benefits the manager but not the developers, consider switching to short daily one-on-one meetings. If they want to stay informed but resent the time taken, explore alternative methods of communication.

Strategies based on token punishment or humiliation for lateness may ensure physical presence but not engagement, unless the entire team, including the "offenders," supports the idea.

Regards,
Shubha

Fb Id: [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Special Permission Policy for Late Arrivals

Find the attachment of the sample format for Special Permission required during office hours. If an employee comes late, he or she has to get approval from their HOD. Let's inform all the HODs not to give more than 2 permissions in a month and not more than 2 hours at a time.

Policy for Exceeding Limits

Prepare a policy for employees exceeding the above limits; their late minutes are calculated. For employees whose late minutes reach 30 minutes, half a day can be deducted, or half a day leave can be canceled from their leave balances. This process repeats for every 30-minute count.

For 30 minutes = 1/2 day leave deduction. For 1 hour = 1 day leave deduction. Similarly, in a total month, calculate the total late minutes and deduct the same from their leave balance or make LOP. Prepare a policy and inform all employees before deductions.

Regards,
K. SAIKISHORE

I am not sure whether it affects employees' productivity if they come late, as I do not know the nature of their job. Regardless, they have signed that they will report to work at a stipulated time. Non-adherence to any contractual clause should be followed by consequential management. You will have to ascertain how many instances/data points of non-adherence your management will agree to within 3 months. For example, if an employee comes late 9 times in 3 months, will your management consider that a behavioral issue and ask the employee to leave? In fact, on the 6th instance, he should be issued a verbal warning, on the 7th instance a written warning letter, and on the 8th instance, he should be given a final warning letter stating that he will be terminated from the services. This can be made part of the attendance policy, and proper sign-offs should be taken from all employees.

Regards,
Prafull Pawar
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

I suggest implementing the following policies to address the issue of tardiness in the office. If your office starts at 10:00 am, consider setting a policy where late arrivals will be considered after 10:05 am. For every three instances of being late, a deduction of one day's salary will be applied. Additionally, establish a policy that any employee arriving after 10:30 am will be marked as half a day absent.

Implementing these policies should help in resolving the problem effectively.

Regards,
Alpana

The Challenge of Late Coming in Various Industries

Late coming or late reporting for work is a perennial problem across several industries and establishments. It has been going on for years without any sure-fire solution being discovered for its prevention.

The problem is less or non-existent in industries or professions where punctuality is not just the norm but the very basis of operations: like a pilot, train driver, bus driver; or booking-window clerks in railway stations, cinema theatres, or any hospitality-driven industry like waiters or cooks in a restaurant; commercial or financial institutions like banks, etc.

To relate to certain examples already given in this thread:

Has anyone ever seen a pilot who is late, walking coolly along the tarmac to board the plane after every passenger has already been seated?

Has anyone seen a late-coming engine driver, running on the platform, huffing and puffing, to catch the train to enter the engine driver's cabin?

Has anyone seen a late-coming booking clerk, crying about his problems instead of being seated at the window?

However, it is very much prevalent in normal offices, where coming late would not affect the operations or functioning of the office or establishment. Why is it so? Is it because the bosses or HRs in banks, hotels, hospitals, railways, airports, bus services & roadways, etc., are more efficient or strict?

Even in plants working in all three shifts, the attendance and punctuality are always satisfactory if not almost perfect. Why is it so? Can we find some answers to these questions?

Questions About Latecomers in Office Settings

What kind of jobs or assignments are these people handling, who come late to the office? Does it make any difference to their output or deliverables? What are they actually responsible for?

Moreover, has anyone ever noticed what they do during the whole day? What time do some of them leave the office?

I have heard the phrase several times that "management pays you for being in the office on time." Does the same management even pay (if not very honestly) for overstaying for hours in the office every day and being called even on holidays?

I am certain that the answers to these questions will unlock the mysteries behind late-coming, and then it might be easier to find solutions. For the time being, I am not suggesting anything; merely pointing out some questions that come to one's mind.

Warm regards.

Hello Sir,
A distinguishing behavior, well pointed out.

Whilst most of us complain about our staff walking in late, seldom do we acknowledge the fact that there are people who absolutely walk in on time or much before time in our own firm or in many service industries.

One of the reasons, I think, is the kind of accountability we have for and towards our work. If we think that we are a part of a big picture, we hold ourselves accountable for our small tasks, perhaps the attitude we have towards casual behavior might change.

I was reading this book "Leadership Wisdom" by Robin Sharma when I was completely in awe of a certain description (a cited example) -

There was the leader of some airlines (SouthWest, I guess) who motivated the employees and engaged them by connecting its crew and their task to the bigger picture. The leader showed how their small task can help an old man/woman meet his/her family and grandchildren who have settled long distance.

A perfect example of how we motivate our people to contribute better at work. It said, connect their activities to a bigger picture, make them realize how their small efforts actually help someone.

Finally, I would like to conclude with a relevant quote I read in the morning:

"If you don't have a good attitude, we don't want you, no matter how skilled you are. We can change skill levels through training. We can't change attitude."
Herb Kelleher, Founder, Southwest Airlines

Exactly! You have hit the nail on the head! But that is just the beginning of understanding a very complex situation. In fact, isn't it surprising that employees in a small roadways company, with no HR or any HRD activities, are punctual and report on time, whereas staff of big companies in city offices report late for work?

The fact is, people are not morons! They are constantly evaluating their job, job roles, job responsibilities, as well as others, including their bosses and HRs. They observe when others are coming and leaving, what others are getting (J. Stacy Adams' Equity Theory in particular), what the company culture is, and how management is treating them. They also have a clear picture of how important their work is and how their contributions fit into the larger picture.

Validated... I know of a firm where there are people who would stay back late to accomplish tasks, achieve targets, and complete their work. They are really nice people, but the problem arises when they arrive late. The question is, should they be allowed such liberty especially when they stay back and complete their tasks on time? (without getting any OT for it)

When I actually probed the issue further, I realized that the staff is not arriving late because they willingly stay back and complete their work but because they are not allowed to leave on time. If one arrives on time and while leaving on time, if the management asks "Why are you leaving? It's only 6," this is really not going to engage the people.

In fact, to share an incident, one person arrived late. He belongs to a category that is seldom late. He was late because he had to go to the bank for some personal work. The CEO of the firm advised him not to go to the bank on working days. Now the firm has a 6-day work culture (all Saturdays as well working), when would a person go to the bank or other offices for any personal work??

So while we wonder why people are not arriving on time or conclude the note on "They're habituated to come in late" or related, why not first check our practices? Why not practice what we preach? Why not motivate or lead by example? Why not give a human touch to the so-called "HR policies" of our firms.

I wonder at times if the "Human" in HR is soon to vanish or has it already vanished. If so, I fail to understand why Personnel Management has transitioned to Human Resource Management. Rather we should rename it to Robotic Management because if we see the policies of most companies, I wonder if they employ robots who are programmed to be always punctual and always righteous.

I also face a similar problem, but the issue is that we have an online attendance module. They come late but tend to mark their attendance from home or on the road using their systems. What should we do in this case?

Hi Imok, this is actually one disadvantage of allowing a flexible culture. One never knows if the person has marked from the office, on the way, or from home. In such a situation, put your attendance module on the intranet and not on the internet. Talk to your module provider; I am sure this is just a minor hiccup that can be solved. But I guess this would depend on the policy and industry.

For example, if you cater to the service industry like, let's say, creative writing, and your employee can draft you an article no matter where he/she is, it should theoretically not matter if they sign in through a public computer outside your intranet. But in most other cases, it would.

We can simply put a track on the people who work from home by:
1. Asking for an authority letter that authorizes the person to work from home for a particular time frame.
2. Giving them attendance for only those days based on the work report submitted.

All the best.

Thank you for your input. I fully agree that such is indeed the case.

The Issue of Late Coming

'Late coming' is a serious problem for some companies, especially where the purpose has nothing to do with operational requirements, but simply for the ego-satisfaction of some or to make discrimination on the grounds of "disciplined" and "non-disciplined" employees. Moreover, in companies where the boss sits late, and thus all other employees are forced to do 'late-sitting' for no reason other than that the seniors have still not left, the employees too find ways to compensate for their unwilling bondage.

Employee Engagement and Work Environment

There are many more factors that come into play. Why, in some top companies where employee engagement gets top priority, is it a joy for the employees to rush in for the day? Where late-coming is a problem, is there any worthwhile work that the employees are required to do immediately upon reporting?

It is possible to make work life more engaging, but through creative, purposeful, and resourceful manners rather than just employing a firm hand and a stick.

Warm regards.

Applying the 90/10 Principle to Address Tardiness

You must have heard about the 90/10 principle. Just apply this for latecomers, and you will find that 10% of your staff members are contributing to 90% of your instances of tardiness. We will be spending all our time and effort tackling these 10%. Have rules as suggested by members here. Frame rules suitable for your organization.

Analyzing Consistently Late Individuals

Analyze the individuals who are consistently late. If your analysis indicates that 10% of the people are responsible for 90% of instances, then address these employees through counseling, advising, warnings, etc. However, if your analysis shows that a larger percentage of people, for example, 30 to 40%, are in the habit of arriving late, focus on identifying and addressing the root causes rather than singling out individuals.

I think the best way to deal with latecomers and those who really don't care for attendance is to link up the attendance to performance appraisals by giving some weightage (5% or 10% weightage). Automatically, the problem of late coming/absenteeism will come under your control, and people will feel responsible for coming on time and not taking too many unnecessary leaves.

Regards,
Aditya Iduri

Hello Sir,

It is indeed a practice in many organizations where they track such records—attendance (the in and out time, absenteeism, etc.) and also the timely submission of projects. Surely, this would make them realize that attendance is now seriously taken, and if you come on time, you shall get due credit for it as we are allocating a certain percentage of weightage in the appraisal process. This may help us reduce late arrivals, but does this motivate people to come on time?

Example: The Late-Coming Habit

Suppose the late-coming habit is like a weed; every day it just grows (either the number of people walking in late increases or the time frame to walk in late increases). Now, methods like introducing rewards or aligning attendance records to appraisals are just temporary solutions—a cut on the weed. While we all know that it would be back the next time, and we would have to use our scissors again. One fine day, the blades of scissors are not very sharp, and we can't cut this plant anymore. People will get bored of those rewards or start taking them for granted or would have many other reasons or disturbances that allow them to sidetrack their on-time coming habit. You'd bring in a new scissor (a new reward program), and the cycle goes on.

Instead, what we should do is find the root of this weed and uproot it so that it would never grow back (considerably for a longer period it won't bother us). I believe instead of curbing the late-coming practice, why not find methods to motivate and engage our people so much that they look forward to coming to our place?

Personal Example: Engagement and Motivation

During my internship with a renowned firm, I was so motivated and engaged by the firm that I used to be the first person every single day (no matter what) to reach the office. And it was not a next-door thing; it took me at least 2 hours to reach the place. The office time was 10-6, and I used to be there by 9 at the latest.

Engagement and Motivational Strategies

- They trusted their employees and never micromanaged.
- Once a quarter, there was a meeting with HR so that employees could share concerns that should be brought to the department.
- Special female meetings where all the female staff met the HR (again only females) to share particular concerns if they had any.
- In R&D, it was normal for engineers to wait back (both males and females). Although the office didn't have a transport or pick-drop service, it ensured that if someone waited back, they could book a car/cab and charge the expense to the company. They actually showed they care.
- The canteen facility offered good quality food.
- An employee engagement survey was conducted, anonymity was maintained, and results were shared with the whole staff. Solutions were taken from them to increase engagement.
- Exceptional retention strategies like giving around 35-38 leaves per annum, which can all be carried forward till 100 days leave, and anything above can be encashed.

My current organization cannot do so because of its scalability and it being a private firm. But showing you care is all that matters at the end of the day. If we always remind ourselves that our colleagues are humans too, and we should treat them the way we would like others to treat us, perhaps we would be able to gel well with them and make the best of them.

[I am not that experienced in the industry, and perhaps my views may be more theoretical than practical. Kindly correct me if I am wrong.]

Regards,
Aditya Iduri

I feel that installing a Biometric Time and Attendance Machine can help ensure employees are punctual and disciplined within the organization. In our organization, we have informed the staff that arriving half an hour to 60 minutes late for 3-4 days will be considered as half-day leave.

Regards,
Kusum

Implementing a Biometric Attendance System

Please implement the biometric attendance system in your office. Whenever employees enter, they will have to register their attendance (IN & OUT Time). Use the data for preparing the salary sheet. Obviously, you will get the correct data. You can declare a 100% attendance bonus, and early in and late out incentives.

Regards

A few more suggestions apart from what has been well said so far:

1. How far is the management really concerned with late coming? Is late coming a phenomenon that is an irritation only for you, or does the management also share your view?

2. How important is the 100% on-time arrival of employees at their desks/factory critical to your business? What could be the consequences to the business if, for example, one person from each department has reported late in a day in terms of loss of business, revenue loss, etc.? If the loss is significant, then management intervention is merited; otherwise, we should follow the Pareto principle, i.e., to address much more serious issues than breaking our heads over issues like late coming.

3. Considering your business, if the management thinks that timekeeping is critical to your company, why can't the company provide bus facilities to employees so that everybody comes on time and leaves on time?

4. I do not agree with the grace period concept wherever it is practiced. In our great country, the grace period becomes a right and habitual, and a time comes when people start asking for increasing the grace period from, say, 10 minutes to 15 minutes and so on!

I follow a simple trick in my own department. I have ten people working under me, and I have informed them that anybody coming late will have to give a reason for coming late in the daily meeting we conduct. I have seen that due to the prospect of humiliation of giving some excuse every time for coming late in front of the other nine colleagues, everybody comes on time!

Implementing an Attendance System

Change your system so that employees can record their attendance upon entering office premises only, unless you have a telecommuting facility.

Addressing Late Arrival at Work

Late coming to work is a problem everywhere. The issue here is that those who are genuinely late sometimes suffer because of a few who purposely come late. Additionally, being late at work also depends on the industry.

Nowadays, it has become a trend to stay late in the evenings, but staff doesn't know whether this is absolutely necessary or not. What motivates employees to stay late at night, and what do they hope to achieve when the entire day was available for work?

Employees might come in late because they worked late the previous day, for whatever reason. You can implement standard guidelines, such as allowing flexible timings and requiring employees to complete assignments or tasks within a set timeframe, or mandating punctuality.

Consider implementing penalties, for example, deducting half a day's pay after accumulating three instances of lateness, based on discussions and approval from management. Instead of resorting to shouting or policing employees, focus on setting clear expectations, as the latter can always be manipulated.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Regards

I just have a small suggestion. I am a student, and during one of the seminars held, the speaker gave this solution. He faced the same problem of his employees coming in late, so one day he placed a money collection box with the title of charity on it. Any employee coming in late by 5 minutes would have to put 10 rupees in that box, which would go for a noble cause. Initially, people would put in money accordingly, i.e., 20 rupees if they were 10 minutes late. But eventually, the late coming reduced since the money was going out of the pockets of the employees.

Regards,
Dolly