Struggling with Late Arrivals: How Can I Tell If Employees Are Truly Sick or Just Making Excuses?

Controlling Late Coming in the Office

I need your suggestions for controlling the late coming of employees in my office. I am the HR Manager at one of the IT companies and have recently joined here. The employees here have a very casual nature. Although I have implemented policies on attendance and late coming, some of them are still not following these policies seriously.

There are some employees who simply ping to inform that they are not well and will not be attending the office. In such cases, how should I determine whether the employee is genuinely unwell or just making an excuse? My director is asking me to address this issue. What should I do? If I sanction their leave, my director doesn't accept it.

Please suggest.

Collate statistics of late coming department-wise

First, collate statistics of late coming department-wise.

Incorporate Heads of Departments in policy-making

Secondly, incorporate Heads of Departments (HODs) of the concerned department in making the late coming policy.

Acceptable late coming policy

One day per week, up to 15 minutes late is acceptable.

Approval and awareness of the policy

The policy, which involves the whole company, should be made and approved at the director level. All details such as arrival, departure, log in/out, leaving premises during working hours, offs, etc., should be discussed and made aware to all employees before enforcement.

Handling sudden sickness and excuses

Employees can and do fall sick suddenly, and some may make false excuses for sickness. Whether a medical certificate is mandatory is a policy decision if someone is absent suddenly without notice. Discuss and incorporate this aspect as well.

Enforcement and group effort

Enforcement of timings is a group effort of HR, HODs, and employees together. Single-handed changes will not be effective.

Disciplinary actions for habitual latecomers

Disciplinary actions can be taken for habitual latecomers. After enforcing the late coming policy, consider marking 1/2 day Casual Leave (C/L) or 1 day C/L, etc.

Do you have a biometric attendance punching system? If not, try to convince your management and install the same. Instances of late coming/early going shall automatically reduce. Simultaneously, maintain a late coming/early going register and put the same on your table. Members who arrive at the office later than the stipulated time shall record their time of arrival and put their signature in the register. Make this a practice. Very soon, you will notice the difference.

All the best.

Dear P. Radhakrishnan Nair,

Yes, we do have the biometric system installed in our office. That definitely helps us to monitor latecoming and attendance.

Thank you a lot for suggesting.