Late Arrival Dilemma: Should an Uncommunicated Latecomer Be Marked Absent or Half-Day Present?

I am currently working in the IT industry as an HR professional, and we have a total of 20 employees. My concern is that yesterday one of our employees arrived at the office at 5 pm, whereas his shift is scheduled from 11 am to 8 pm. His late arrival was not communicated to me. In this case, should he be considered as half-day present or absent?

Thank you.

You can deduct the salary for latecomers only if you have mentioned this clause in your company policy. However, you can warn the employee. You cannot deduct their salary if there is no clause for latecomers in your company policy.

Best Regards

Employee Late Arrival Policy

First of all, you must know whether you have informed employees about the organization's late coming policy or not. If you have informed them, please deduct half a day. Otherwise, establish a short leave policy, half-day policy, and leave policy, and provide them with an Employee Handbook Policy during their joining.

Thanks & Regards,
Sandeep Rathi
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Your organization is still small. It wouldn't be good to lose the personal touch. Just to set an example for others, you do not have to push the employee over the edge. Instead, give them the feeling that you are trying to understand the reason for their late arrival. Salary deduction would be too harsh. However, you can bring it to their attention that such behavior is being monitored by HR and cannot be tolerated by a professional organization. Such incidents may harm personal relations within the company and may compel HR to take formal action.

Considerations for Late Arrivals

In this case, you can consider deducting an "Earned Leave" of half a day (if the employee has worked for 4 hours after the late arrival), or even a full day (if the work outcome was not worth half a day). This decision would be at the discretion of HR/management. If you do not have any policies in this regard, then this can be a good starting point to consider drafting them.

Best Regards,
Amod

Addressing Late Arrivals in the Workplace

Late coming has become a universal issue. It needs to be addressed with a careful combination of both personal touch and organizational rules, which should be communicated well to the staff. One instance of late coming should not be viewed seriously. Only habitual late coming should be officially handled. On the other hand, incentivize on-time arrivals. Be guided accordingly.

Appreciating your effort to put this in an expert forum like CiteHR and seeking opinions. Here is my suggestion:

1. First of all, put some basic rules in place and communicate them to all employees.
2. Try to see how employees are behaving, and there may be a couple of distractors.
3. Observe closely, talk to them, and try to guide them in the right direction.
4. Please don't jump to conclusions like half-day leave, loss of pay, etc.

Dear Thinpc Technology,

All the above suggestions are very good. Before taking any action, please check the real reason from the employee for coming late. Second, check the records of the frequency of his/her tardiness. Thirdly, if the employee is a frequent latecomer, then investigate the reasons he/she gives. It may happen that he/she is facing some personal issue which is hindering adherence to the official timings.

If this is the first instance and the reason is genuine, then please be considerate and allow the employee to work, asking him/her to complete urgent tasks. HR should be empathetic towards their employees. Please establish a Late Coming Policy and promptly share it with your employees so that no one attempts to exploit the situation.

Thanks & Regards,
Supriya

Ways to Address Late Arrivals

There are two ways to deal with this issue. One is to deduct a half-day salary. The other way is to display and make the employees aware of the timing and the permissible limit of late coming. In some companies, they allow employees to come late or leave early twice a month, up to a maximum limit of 1 hour. This again differs from company to company.

It is better to call the particular employee, counsel him, and inform him that if he repeats coming late without information, he will be marked absent, or leave will be deducted.

Regards,
Rameshbala