How Should HR Handle an Employee Who Frequently Arrives Late and Leaves Early?

Hello everyone,

I am Manasa, working in an IT company and recently joined as an HR. I have an issue regarding an employee who comes late every day and leaves early. Our organization has flexible timings as people often work late nights. People can manage their time even if they come late to the office; furthermore, they extend the time in the evening. If it happens once or twice, it is acceptable, but if it is happening frequently, can we address the issue? If yes, please suggest.

Thank you.

Please refer to your company's HR policy in the Employee Handbook, where all details are specified accordingly. You can suggest to your management that being late for 5-10 minutes once or twice is acceptable. If it happens three times, a deduction of one day's salary as LOP can be made, and for six times, it would be 2 days, and so on. By implementing this policy, people will adhere to the rules.

There may be arguments about working late hours; you need to explain to them that they must complete the assigned tasks on the same day within the given time. If for any reason they are unable to complete their tasks on the same day, they should be prepared to work extra hours to finish them.

Hope you understood.

Hello Reghunath,

I am also facing the issue of employees coming in late. Could you please clarify if deducting one day's salary is a fair practice under labor law for an employee who is 5 to 10 minutes late three times in a month?

If you have flexible timing, how can you penalize someone for coming late. Instead, check whether the person has worked the entire 8-hour shift each day (flexible time generally requires all employees to put in the total shift hours irrespective of what time they come in).

Further, check with their managers whether they are delivering the required work. If not, then you need to take approval of the management and issue warning letters, taking both factors into consideration.

Discipline starts with the attendance register. Despite flexible timing, we should encourage staff to arrive on time. We can develop a permission slip that latecomers need to get approved by their reporting authority for each late day. After 3-4 instances of lateness, it will be checked automatically. I have implemented this and have received positive results.

Regards, Jitendra Das

Policy on Short Hours:

A policy has been framed for short hours, where every second instance of taking a short leave will result in a deduction from earned leave. There will be a grace period of 15 minutes for lateness. Any shortfall in working hours will be deducted from earned leave.

Dear All,

My query is on whether deducting half or full day salary from an employee's earned leave (EL) or casual leave (CL) for late coming is a fair practice according to labor laws guidelines. Is it appropriate to penalize the employee in this manner?

Fair Labor Practices for Late Arrivals

Your question is not very clear. If you are deducting half or a full day's salary every time an employee is a few minutes late for work, it is definitely not a fair labor practice. However, deducting half a day for coming late beyond a particular time is acceptable. This practice originally stemmed from the factory gates being locked after half an hour, and the worker being denied entry until lunchtime.

Deducting a full day is meaningless. The worker will then simply go home instead of reporting to work, which hardly helps the employer. The practice of deducting half a day's salary for being late more than three days in a month is generally an acceptable policy at offices.

In any case, the rules need to be in the standing orders and clearly communicated to the employees in advance.

Policy on Flexible Timings and Punctuality

I took the initiative to frame a policy, and the rules are as follows:

We observed that team members often work with clients, and as a result, their working hours get adjusted. Please note that only those who work with clients after business hours can avail of this flexible timing.

Team members who are onboard or in training are required to follow the standard time (10:00 AM to 7:00 PM). No flexible timings are allowed for trainees.

Team members who work general shifts must strictly adhere to the timing, which usually starts from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM. If there is client service, then we are expected to be in the office. No flexible timing is allowed for these team members. Please do not use the excuse of managing 8 hours a day, as punctuality reflects the quality of work.

It is understandable if you are 5-10 minutes late, and that is acceptable. However, please do not make it a habit to reach the office too late.

If this becomes a habit, then half a day's salary will be deducted for those who are late more than six times per month. Team members who reach the office at 11:00 AM instead of being there by 10:00 AM will have half a day's salary deducted for every instance of lateness.

Working Late

Finally, schedule the given tasks on time and complete them. If for any reason they are not completed, you will have to contribute extra hours to finish them.

Be on time, be productive.

This is the draft email I created. If any modifications are needed, please suggest.

Thank you for your time.

Good day.

Regards, Manasa

Options for Addressing Employee Attendance Issues

You have two options:

Option 1: Define a Weekly Work Hours Policy

Define a policy requiring employees to work 45 hours a week. If any employee is unable to complete these hours, their salary will be reduced proportionally.

Option 2: Implement Shift Schedules with Grace Period

Implement 3-4 shifts with a 30-minute grace period. If employees arrive late even after this grace period, establish a policy allowing two instances of being late per month. On the third late occurrence, their salary will be reduced by 0.5 days.

You can incorporate an additional aspect as follows: If an employee, let's say "A," is late four times in a month and requests HR not to cut their salary, you can streamline their attendance. If the Team Leader (TL) approves, no deduction will be made. However, if the TL disapproves of the late arrivals, a pay cut is necessary.

I hope this helps clarify the options. Let me know if you need further information or assistance. Regards

Mansa,

Your policy and approach seem correct and fair. However, you will need to write it in a manner that is easy to understand (which part applies to whom), clear, and unambiguous (people know what exactly they are eligible for). So, you probably need to take the help of a senior in the organization to reword the policy.

One point - half-day for 6 late days can, if you wish, be changed to half-day for every 3 days later in a month. The impact on punctuality will be greater.

Thank you.

Introducing a Lateness Policy

One can introduce a scale of lateness by 10 or 30 minutes. Any lateness between 1 to 10 minutes must be approved by a superior officer. The maximum permissible lateness within 10 minutes can be set at two instances per month. Beyond two instances, deduct salary for 30 minutes each.

For lateness between 11 to 30 minutes, the first instance results in a salary deduction for 1 hour, the second instance results in a deduction for 2 hours, and so on. This approach will likely decrease late arrivals.

Different practices are followed by different organizations. Never give time allowances selectively, irrespective of distances, location, and mode of transport used by employees.

Regards

Policy on Late Arrival and Early Departure

There is a need to clearly define and display the policy on late arrival and early departure. Late arrival and early departure may be permitted for 15 minutes each on two occasions in a month. Thereafter, anyone arriving late should be marked as late by 30 minutes. Similarly, being 30 minutes late will be marked as 1 hour late, and one hour late means half a day. One loses pay for one day. This is an effective method to control late arrival and early departure.

Another method is to total up the time lost and penalize in terms of pay every month by subtracting the 30 minutes permitted. I applied this rule in my organization, and it worked very well.