Whether it’s bad traffic, oversleeping or caring for a sick pet, employees offer up lots of different excuses when they show up late for work. As the manager, you may overlook it the first time. But what if it becomes a pattern?
One day, it’s 10 minutes late. The next, it’s 30 or 50 minutes.
Employee lateness is a widespread problem that managers and business owners often have to deal with. A survey by CareerBuilder found that one in four employees admits to showing up late for work once a month, whereas 13% of employees say it’s a weekly occurrence. Managers say they hear all sorts of excuses: “A black bear entered my carport and decided to take a nap on the hood of my car.” “I was detained by Homeland Security.” “My hair caught on fire from my blow dryer.”
Employees who rarely arrive late to work should probably be given the benefit of the doubt—as there are valid reasons for being late. (Tires really do go flat!) But it’s generally in a manager’s best interest to confront employees who are frequently or always late.
Late employees can reduce business productivity, especially if they aren’t making up for lost work time at the end of their shifts. Moreover, employee tardiness hurts the morale and work ethic of other employees who might resent that the late arrivers aren’t getting called out or disciplined for their lateness. It might even encourage other employees to start showing up late to work if they see no consequence for the bad behavior.
But don’t despair. Businesses have many opportunities to boost the odds that employees will show up when they’re supposed to. So if you want to learn more about how to deal with employee tardiness in the workplace and discourage employees from arriving late, keep reading.
Use a time clock.
Wondering how to motivate employees to come to work on time? It may seem old-fashioned or like you’re micromanaging, but a time clock holds people accountable. Employees will feel more compelled to show up on time if they know they’re being monitored with a time-tracking system or time clock. Time-tracking with a time clock or virtual program can help serve as a tool to record when employees check in and out for the workday. Time clocks can also help inform your employees about when they come and go.
Companies can buy a physical time clock that requires employees to punch in and out each day or, if the employees work at computers, time-tracking software can be installed that records when employees log in and out of their workstation.
Schedule a staff meeting first thing in the day.
Even if it’s a quick five-minute “check-in,” if employees know they are required to attend an all-hands-on-deck meeting with the boss first thing in the workday, they will have good reason to show up on time—or face questions about why they were absent.
Be clear and consistent about the rules.
If you’re not actively communicating that you expect employees to show up on time, they may think you don’t care if they’re late.
Make sure your employee handbook spells out the expectations about work hours and arriving on time and remind employees of those expectations on a regular basis, such as in staff meetings. Also, make sure the time expectations are enforced consistently across all employees—or you could be accused of favoritism or unfair treatment.
Require phone calls.
Make it a requirement that employees who are more than 15 minutes late must call into the office. Employees are less likely to show up late if they know they have to discuss it with someone.
Institute penalties for being late to work.
Depending on your workplace culture and Federal and state employment laws, you may want to create penalties for employees who show up late to work more than, say, once per month. If you’re wondering how to write up an employee for being late, start with a warning letter or email. But if that doesn’t work, you might require them to make up for missed work time at the end of their shifts.
You might consider docking employees’ pay for tardiness but you’ll want to consider labor laws on being late for work. Many states allow employers to dock the pay of employees classified as nonexempt—those who qualify for overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours per week—as long as those employees are given advance written notice of penalties. Salaried employees classified as exempt—meaning they do not qualify for overtime pay—cannot generally have their pay docked under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act rules.
Also, an employee’s paycheck cannot generally be docked if their hourly wage would effectively drop below their state’s minimum wage by doing so.
Of course, any time you create penalties, there can be concerns of unfair treatment. Make sure the consequences of tardiness are spelled out clearly in advance in writing, such as in the employee handbook. Then carefully and consistently enforce those rules as required by law.
Make punctuality part of the employee performance review and compensation.
If you’re not sure how to reprimand an employee for tardiness, you may want to consider discussing it in their annual performance review. Perhaps even make it a performance goal for employees who frequently have trouble showing up on time.
By formalizing it as part of the review process, there should be no question that it’s an important part of their performance evaluation.
Timeliness can also be factored into their compensation. Consider tying punctuality to the raises or bonuses. For example, employees who are never late may receive an extra bonus amount, whereas those who are late more than once per month or week receive little or no bonus.
Create a reward program for punctual employees.
Offer rewards—whether an extra day off or a $50 gift certificate to a popular restaurant—for employees who show up on time to work every day for, say, six months straight. Those who are chronically late will not be rewarded in this program. This could help reinforce that being punctual is a key workplace goal.
However, you will need to track punctuality carefully if you’re offering such rewards to avoid being accused of errors or favoritism.
Talk directly to the chronically late employee.
Wondering how to handle tardy employees? Once you’ve tried hands-off approaches to encouraging punctuality, you may still have an employee or two who pushes the envelope on punctuality. In these situations, you’ll need a more direct approach.
Sit down privately with the employee. Let them know you’ve noticed they’ve been regularly late to work and ask them to explain why. (It’s possible they have a personal reason, such as caring for a child before the school day—in which case it may make sense to discuss setting a different work schedule for that employee or creating another workaround.)
Stress to the employee the importance of punctuality to the business’ success and to being part of the team. Remind them that employees are required to arrive to work on time.
Ask them to come up with an action plan for arriving to work on time. Rather than enforcing penalties, it can be more effective to make the employee responsible for correcting their behaviors. They know better than you do why they are persistently late to work, so they are better positioned to find a solution.
Ultimately—if all other strategies fail—you may have to consider taking more severe measures with a chronically late employee who doesn’t respect your punctuality rules. If the employee underperforms due to their lateness and continues to show up late, you might consider whether that employee is worth keeping around altogether.
Remember that a manager’s job is keeping employees motivated to work hard—and an employee who consistently breaks the rules is only going to hurt morale.
View Comments (114)
As someone who struggles with chronic lateness, I wanted to share my perspective and experiences, which might add another dimension to the discussion.
My situation is unique in that my boss is aware of the personal reasons behind my tardiness. He doesn't support it but doesnt condone it. However, I recognize that this has caused some concern regarding how my behavior might be perceived by other employees who are unaware of my circumstances.
One potential solution I’ve considered is formalizing a change in my work hours. By officially adjusting my start time, it could help mitigate any negative perceptions and provide a clear framework for my work schedule.
I often work well over 40 hours a week, including taking calls and responding to emails outside of regular office hours. This commitment to my job goes beyond the typical 9-to-5 schedule, and I believe it highlights my dedication and productivity, despite my late arrivals. Unfortunately, this extra effort isn’t always documented, which means my boss and colleagues might not fully realize the extent of my contributions.
Your article’s emphasis on recognizing and rewarding punctuality and dedication could be expanded to include acknowledging employees who go above and beyond, regardless of their start times. By appreciating the overall value an employee brings, employers can foster a more holistic understanding of productivity and commitment.
I think each individuals lateness should be discussed personally. My boss once told me that you look at the strengths of individuals and compare it to their workness and put them where there will be strong suit for the business. Yes I am late daily but I would work for him 7 days a week or I can work equal to 3 other workers. What best benefits the business or is it a complete hardship? That is the bottom answer.
IMO the answer to most workplace problems is to pay your employees a living wage and create an environment which encourages them to actually care. Sure, implementing time/task tracking modules is a great way to help people with time-blindness, but it can't solve overall terrible management and negative work environment. If a person is struggling to make ends meet, struggling with mental health, and also in an unbearable work environment, getting out of bed might be the hardest part of the day.
I'm not saying people should just get away with being late, but please be considerate and create real solutions instead of micromanaging and piling on even more issues until the employee mentally cracks, becomes burnt out, or resigns.
It's really no wonder employees no longer feel any type of pride or loyalty towards their employers.
Thank you for posting this, it came at just the right time. We have a few employees that get here 1-5 min. late at least once a week. Other employees get frustrated and have even said rude comments to the employees. I am trying to figure out the best way to go about handling this. We live in Southern Ca and the traffic can be very unpredictable so at one point I want to say its just 2 min late its understandable. The other point I want to ask for them to leave earlier to account for traffic. Do you find other business have a policy for 1-5 min late or is generally acceptable and policy's should be set for anything more then 15 min late like mentioned in the other comments?
In my experience, 1-5 minutes tardy is generally overlooked (unless it is a frequent thing). That could be due to hitting every intersection with the light showing red on your way in, or getting behind somebody that is going super slow in an area that does not have a passing lane. If somebody is just trying to game the system and get paid for 5 minutes on not working, and you come down on them for being tardy, they will often find other ways to accomplish the same thing, ie surfing the internet, chatting with a co-worker, taking a personal phone call, etc. Still, if it is a legitimate tardiness or a recurring one, you could recommend the employee leave home 5 minutes earlier each day to avoid being late.
As a supervisor, I do expect my employees to work what they say they work. I am fortunate in that I can allow most of my employees flexibility in their start time. If they get here 10 minutes late, they are expected to be here 10 minutes later than normal to make up for that time, or they need to reflect the missed time on their daily time card.
Suggest that their pay check arrive as late as they do. "you know how we always pay you on time . . . we're going to modify that to mirror your lateness. When you return to being on time, we'll pay you on time. If you're unable to learn how to be on time, we'll likely end your paycheck and employment. Do we understand each other?"
I've done this as a leader. It works.
Tardiness is a tough issue, especially if it’s your best retail sales person that took you 3 months to train, and finding quaiified replacements is extremely difficult. I like the attendance award gift cards, but I also read that gift cards should be considered taxable income. Is there a way to get around that?
If you work in retail I can see why being punctual is important. In small businesses, good finance and accounting professionals are hard to find. They all want to work for large companies with nice benefits. Good luck in being strict, no one will want to work for you. Even large companies are looking the other way when it comes to being punctual.
This old mentality is not a good fit if employee retention is important for your biz.
I do not have set hours, but I have my own set goals regarding when I should arrive at work. I'm a part-time employee and have budgeted hours each week. Trying to not go over my hours and show up "bright and early" conflict. However, if I'm not in the office by 9/9:30 each morning, this overwhelming guilt rides over me. The majority of my coworkers are full-time employees, so I do feel as I am slacking when I show up at noon as to not go over my hours. C'est la vie.
Enjoy reading some of the comments. One below however really hits home as a problem with so many young workers today. When you have a job, working for me or anyone, you make a commitment to that job. Yes; when you are on the clock your #1 priority is the work you were hired to do. Or at least it should be if you expect gainful employment. Clearly if there's an emergency with a family member...a broken down vehicle....bad weather...we all understand that happens. We drive and commute like the employee too! And taken further we really do expect you to enjoy personal time and not make work your life: that's my job. An attitude that it's a place to park your butt after being late with seemingly no care at all? It's All About You. No. When you work for someone its all about doing the best you can for the company.
In the words of Red Forman: Work is work. That's why its called Work. If it wasn't they'd call it...skippedy-do- fun-time.
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You're welcome, Stacey!
I am an employee who always shows up late. I have most of my life. Here's the thing. Owners of companies don't really think about anyone else's lives but themselves. I understand they have an important life and they need to get their work done, But did you know that every single employee they have has a life too? That's right. Outside of work employees have lives. They do things like raise a family, or maybe have some important side projects going on. The point I'm trying to make is that, me working for someone else will never be #1 on my list. You hire me to do a job. I do it. I do it well. It shouldn't matter if I do it at 10a.m. or 5p.m. When you take your car to a mechanic, Do you tell them I want my car ready by 9:00am. No you don't, because you know what they would say.
When you consider that some people are never late, and others are almost always late, it becomes obvious that all the blah, blah, blah is just excuses.
Raising a family includes feeding, sheltering and clothing too.
And if there's no welfare, getting to work on time might become important.
Timeliness is important to the customer who waits for the store to open. And it's important to the boss who spends $$ advertising that the store will be open certain times/days. Whether it's 10am or 5pm matters a whole lot in almost all jobs. If it doesn't matter to the employee, I'm thinking he's probably unemployed, or doesn't keep a job for long, or is quite the expert at what he does.
There are some jobs where the daily time doesn't matter.
That doesn't mean all timing goes out the window, but it would be important, for someone who doesn't find timeliness in a job to be important, to find one of those jobs.
Yes, I let my mechanic know if I need my car by a certain time. And he lets me know if he can accommodate that or not. What does NOT happen is I tell him I need it by 9am, he says ok, and then it isn't ready until 2pm without notice. That's called losing customers. Business owners would probably appreciate their employees not doing that, maybe.
You are right about one thing - company owners think about themselves, i.e., their business, all the time. They take out loans to make the business prosper, work 18-hour days, take all of the risk of failure, generally don't make a profit for about half a decade, and shoulder all of the cost. Most wonder why an employee can't simply show up on time. Especially if they manage to clock out on time, for lunch and the end of the day. ;-) It's all about attitude.
An owner of a small business ABSOLUTELY cares about their employee's lives. Without a good staff, the business will fail! Good employee morale can seriously affect the success of a business. If you cannot carry out the responsibilities in the job description, then don't apply for that job. Don't be THAT employee who makes a work environment toxic. Get a position with more flexibility. Flexible jobs do exist. But to take on the mentality of "so what", you hurt a small business that will then hurt your community and your local economy. This sense of entitlement is crushing our country.
If you're hired for a position that's 8am to 5pm, this is not negotiable most of the time. Yes, companies do realize that their employees have a life, however, when someone accepts a position, they have obligated themselves to follow the employer rules, including working the correct hours.
As a former "always late" person, I can say that it's not about the job hours, but about priorities and sometimes laziness on the part of the “always late” person. As a responsible adult (which I'm assuming you are), making a point to make sure you are honoring the position and company you've been hired for. Part of that responsibility is getting up with plenty of time. If someone has a family, they have the obligation to ensure they are getting up with plenty of time to get their family up and off for their day and that you also have plenty of time to get out the door on time. With a family, there will be legitimate times that one would have to be late, but “always late” it not it – that’s a behavioral problem.
One final point – if the job is 8-5 (or 9-4, 10-7, etc), make it a point to be 10-15 minutes early so you are ready to work when the starting time rolls around. Taking the first 10-15 minutes of the day to get settled is unacceptable (unless of course, the company has said this is okay).
RE:
The point I’m trying to make is that, me working for someone else will never be #1 on my list = this attitude will make sure an “always late” person will be an “unemployed” person.
Of course. We all have things that are important to us. Working is high on the list. When we interview, we discuss things like: what the job entails, what we expect from our staff, what times we expect them to be there, dress code, long hair put up if long (food related), breaks... Once the applicant agrees to all that, we expect them to work as we have asked them to do. If the applicant has kids or has no car or has to walk to work from 5 miles away, I have to know that before making a decision about hiring. If the applicant understands and agrees to work as we need, then that's what we expect. I can't hire someone and not have talked about these things. If the applicant did not disclose this when interviewing and was late all the time when I needed him to open at 6:00, well, he might not work for me very long.
Also, this idea that everyone who owns their own business is rich and sitting behind a desk counting minutes is just absurd. I've been in business for over 10 yrs now and live paycheck to paycheck. I own a single location cafe and it is TOUGH! I need and expect my employees to be at work, and to work as directed or they don't work for me. I agree to pay them for the work I described and as I schedule. Child is sick, call me well before time to open so I can find someone who is not scheduled to work to come in and take that spot. Car won't start, call me and I'll come and get you. Have an appointment to go see the doctor, tell me in advance and we'll work around it.