“Punctuality is the soul of a business” and for any organization or venture to grow it becomes mandatory that the people working in the organization get on time to the work place. It is rather shocking but tardiness costs U.S. businesses more than $3 billion each year in lost productivity. An employee who is late for ten minutes in a day is taking an equivalent of one weeks paid vacation, this is because tardiness does not affect only the employee’s productivity but reeks into the entire system. The delayed board meetings and the delay in booting a particular system because of no password are just some of the ways where the tardiness of one individual is affecting the productivity of the entire organization. Tardiness, according to recent survey has also been on the rise since the past four decades, the reason being cited as lower employee morale and increased work responsibilities. As an employer there is only a limit to the losses you can bear, here are some ways you can counter tardiness at your workplace.
How to Counter Workplace Tardiness
-
The first step in checking tardiness is to make sure that the person coming in late is made aware of the fact that he/she is noticed. As an employer you could have a casual chat with the employee, asking why he/she is late. If the reason seems genuine enough, you could let the incident pass a couple of times.
-
However if you notice that the tardiness has become a habit, you could ask the employee how he/ she is planning to improve her record. You could both collectively figure out a solution and see if it gets implemented. Give the employee an opportunity to improve, if you don’t see any improvement take more severe steps.
-
At this point of time after you are done with the gentler approach, give the employee a severe verbal warning. Make sure you get across the point that he being unable to manage time is not your problem, and he should take responsibility. Give him a time, and ask him to report at that time without fail.
-
If verbal warnings also fall on a deaf ear then it is time to make drastic measures. Give him a written warning, Give a copy of the memo to him and keep a record of the acknowledgment of his receiving.
-
If even written warnings don’t work, and he could use the memo to wipe his hands for all you care then start fining him. For every hour he is late deduct a certain amount. Monetary losses might force him to reconsider coming late.
-
Another way of dealing with it is to slowly stop giving him any responsibility. If he loves his work it might affect him, other wise the condition is only going to get worse.
-
You could enroll him to time management workshops, if you think the reason he is late is a very genuine one in nature. However it is important to ascertain the fact before taking on this step of compassion.
-
Punctuality incentives is a nice way of making sure people are motivated enough to come on time. The incentives could be made lucrative by giving them either cash benefits or holiday packages. You could also have awards like “ the most punctual employee of the month”.
-
If the reason isn’t genuine and the employee is late because on principal he sees nothing wrong in being late. Then you could just fire him. This would be an example to people tending towards callousness and make sure the message directly hits home. The message being “Tardiness is one of the most important ethics of a workplace”. A drastic measure like this is bound to reduce tardiness in a workplace entirely.
