Struggling with Team Punctuality and Leave Misuse: How Can I Address This Professionally?

Hello All,

I am struggling with a situation where some of my teammates are not following office timings. Please suggest a polite and professional way to address this issue. Additionally, some team members are misusing casual leaves without providing any reason.

Kindly provide guidance.

Thanks!

Addressing Office Punctuality Issues

If there is a lack of punctuality in your office, it can be considered part of your company's culture. Changing culture is always challenging. As a first step, you may issue a circular to express your concern about the lack of timeliness. Simultaneously, start monitoring attendance records. For those who are habitual offenders, arrange one-on-one sessions to explain the importance of maintaining a culture of discipline. You may find that a few individuals remain intractable. For them, consider deducting half a day's salary for every three late arrivals. Even after salary deductions, if some remain stubborn, continue with the deductions and, after 2-3 instances, issue a show-cause notice explaining why stern action should not be taken against them. Terminating 1-2 individuals may send the right signal to everyone.

By the way, what is your designation? Before taking action, ensure you have the leadership's confidence. If the leadership itself is lenient on office discipline, it might be better to allow things to continue as they are.

About Casual Leave

Assigning a reason for "casual" leave may not be mandatory. Casual leave is granted to allow employees to meet unforeseen and immediate requirements. As long as an employee avails of casual leave within the authorized number of days, it should not be a problem.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Involving Department Heads for Accountability

Good suggestion by Dinesh Divekar. One more focus point is to involve the Heads of Departments in the process. Without their involvement, they may shift all the responsibility onto the HR department. Organize a meeting with the HODs, present the data and the proposed course of action, and initiate the plan.

Attendance Record System Implementation

I expect that you have an attendance record system. If it is manual, ensure that after the actual reporting time, everyone writes down the time they reported in a register specifically placed for that purpose. The security personnel should sign at the end of the shift. Display a general notice with at least one week's notice before implementation. Habitual latecomers should be penalized. Once this system is enforced, every employee will comply.

Regards

Dear Friends,

I am working with an IT company. Can you help me with an issue I am facing? Many employees are arriving late despite numerous reminders. What actions can I take to address this situation effectively?

Thanks,
Neha Patel

You have not mentioned the system of recording attendance in your office. Let it be assumed that attendance is recorded in the register, and as a team leader, the custody of the register is with you. For a few days, just put a red dot against the name of a person who is coming late with respect to office timing, not as you perceive they are late. Do it uniformly for all employees of your team. Please also ensure you are coming on time before doing that. In a month's time, results may be visible.