Struggling with Employee Punctuality? Seeking Advice on Crafting a Strong Memo

Hi all,

I need to send a memo to the employees in my company as their punctuality is becoming worse. In this regard, can you send me a good, strong memo which I can send across to them?

Thanks,
Sandeep

Dear Sender,

You can issue a circular to all employees concerned stating that your office timings are from 9 am to 5 pm, and a grace period of 15 minutes will be allowed. Additionally, three late comings in a month are permitted.

For employees who are regularly late (late coming for more than three occasions), half a day of CL will be debited to their account.

I hope this will work for your organization. You may draft a letter based on the above wordings.

Regards,
L. Kumar

Dear Sanseli07,

This is the 21st century, please. You may send them a gentle circular, but not a strong one, please. Instead, work on developing an organizational culture where everybody looks forward to coming to the office - on time. Not easy... Yes... it is not easy. But whoever said human issues were easy.

Regards, Sunil Chandra

When I think of punctuality, I remember the lesson that I have learned from my boss. I was the manager at the Bangalore branch of our logistics company. The office would be opened every day at 9 AM. Normally, I never used to be late. One day, I was very late as I had left for home the previous day at 1 AM (midnight). However, my boss from Chennai came on a visit and was waiting at the premises of the office, seeing the door locked until 10:10 AM. I was surprised to see him all of a sudden. I opened the office. He was furious and asked whether the office is always opened only at 10 AM. When I explained to him the reasons, he was not convinced. He said that customers' handcarts, full of consignments for booking through our network, had reported at our office right from 9 AM. As there was no definite information on when our office would be opened, they had moved to other companies and dispatched the consignments. Thus, we lost business. He advised that it is the discipline of time management that could give us success in our endeavors. We should never be late for anything. If the office is scheduled to be opened at 9 AM, it should be that, and no excuse can be given. In the service industry, where our product is our personal service to our customers, time discipline is the essential tool for success.

Since then, I have never been late for anything. Ultimately, I earned a name for myself among my relatives and friends that SVK means punctuality.

S V Krishnan

Formerly of Commercial Goods Transports

Bangalore.

Hi Sandeep,

If you have already given any warning letter or general reminder to them regarding the timing, then you can proceed with a strong internal memo. If this is the first time, don't give a strong memo. It may spoil the internal relationship between you and employees. For the first time, give a gentle alert regarding the timing. For the second time, give a personal alert to the individual. On the third occurrence, issue a memo.

Regards,
Saran

Hi Sanseli,

Senior members have already pooled you with a lot of suggestions. Just to add on... I would like to suggest that instead of issuing a circular to come early, whether gentle or rude, why not plan for some appreciation for the staff who report on time and are punctual? You could give them an appreciation letter at the end of the month or allow them to leave early on the last day of the month.

I hope this will help you resolve the problem, and positive energy to report on time will come automatically.

Please comment on whether I put it right or not.

Thanks,
Pinkii 😊