I had this horrid situation at work yesterday and it’s still running through my mind like a bad dream, and just wanted to know if this is unusual and what you would do.
One of my stores has a staff member who is regularly late. The manager has addressed this verbally many times and has documented it twice. She (staff member) this week arrived late on 4 different occassions this week, and it had to be addressed. Twice she left another person to open up the store on her own, which is strictly prohibited (we’re only talking 10 minutes, but late is late), and on the other 2 occassions she kept clients waiting.
So this time it was addressed as a formal warning. The last 2 times it was documented it was as a training to bring it to her attention and to try and find a way to help her be more punctual.
But this time it was more serious.
Anyway, she lost it when it was delivered to her. Saying this was unfair, and the company should be ‘more human’. Her reasons for being late (she has admitted each time she was late) vary from
I walk to work and it was raining.
I had blisters on my feet and couldn’t walk as quickly
I locked myself out of the house (more than once)
My watch stopped
My clock is different to the one at work
I decided to walk a different way to work and it took longer
I knew I didn’t have any clients waiting so it didn’t matter
etc… etc… etc
So what’s the deal here. Should do you think I am justified in my strict adherence to policies/expectations, or should I feel like a schmuck?
How many time would you let someone be late before you came down heavy?
Who thinks I have been too easy on her?
What would you do? I’d love to hear from both managers/bosses & staff.
Staff here. Well, former staff. I hate the consistently late ones. Not only do they annoy you, the manager, they annoyed ME, the worker. Why? Well, I was waiting to go off shift and couldn’t. Or we had too many customers and not enough floor people.
Look, you don’t bring down the hammer if someone is late every now and then. Or is late for a very good reason. But you know there’s a problem, I can tell.
For me, her excuses would not matter and I would refrain from even listening to them. Bottom line, she’s a big girl and, as such, she should be able to find a way to get herself to work on time. Period.
If it is against your policy, and she continues to violate this policy, then I would document the warnings and inform her that she has x amount (1, 2?) more warnings before she is terminated. If she’s a good employee otherwise, she may shape up. If not, I’d give her the boot.
P.S. - Of course, I realize that once in a while there are emergencies or things that can simply not be avoided but this doesn’t sound like it’s in that category.
I don’t have a problem with emergencies. We have a protocol in place for that. She knows she is supposed to call her manager if she knows she is going to be late… she has her mobile number.
I don’t know anyone who has emergencies 10 times a month.
I am not making any connection to her work or results. This is purely based on her lateness. For your information she has many other issues at work where she is not meeting expectation. But I would discipline even the most amazing employee for lateness in exactly the same way.
I agree that you are not in the wrong for wanting to take action here. It’s a pretty simple concept to grasp - you know when you are supposed to be at work, get there on time. There are some people at my office like this - they consistently get there 10-15 minutes late every day. I can never understand why they don’t just leave 10-15 minutes earlier everyday, it’s not that difficult.
The fact of the matter is that she knows the rules, but doesn’t feel they should apply to her. Let her know that they do apply to her and that she has no more right to violate them than any of the other employees who are never late.
Yea, c’mon, if it’s 10 minutes every day, set your alarm 10 minutes earlier. I used to have to get to work by 7am, which required getting up around 5, trudging a half mile to the bus stop in the dark, catching the bus to a station, riding the train to another station and catching a bus there, and then trudging across the huge parking lot and working a 10 hour shift on my feet (and getting home was the same way). 4 days a week. And I was late maybe twice. It’s feasible. It’s obnoxious and a PITA, but getting to work on time is doable.
You have been more than reasonable. Let her know in writing that the choice is hers. If she wants the job, she will be on time every day without exception. Therefore, she should plan on arriving fifteen minutes early just in case there is an emergency. Of course, if she doesn’t want the job, she doesn’t have to come in at all.
If she comes to work late one more time in my opinion she wants to lose her job. She knows the consequences. Now it’s up to her. I’m trying to not feel responsible for her actions.
But I will probably still feel like a bitch, and I’m sure the staff who will only hear her side of the story (as I will not disguss someone elses confidential disciplining with other staff), will see me as the bitch who fires anyone for no good reason. Which I hope will not affect the respect I have spend a long time developing.
I’m a supervisor at my job, but luckily this hasn’t been a problem. I only supervise two people, one of which starts work two hours before I do so I only know about her attendance at review time. (It’s never been bad).
But this is the reason why companies have policies in place. If you stick by policy you’ve done nothing wrong.
Would she be so forgiving if her check showed up two, three, four days late on a consistant basis? My guess is no.
Being late once in a great while because something came up is fine. Chronic lateness and pathetic excuses are not. I’d say you’ve more than given her a chance. I’d give her one more chance, but after that, forget it.
You are not the schmuck here. She is. People who are chronicly late, who offer measly excuses for their chronic lateness, and who act pissy when they are given appropriate reprimands for their chronic lateness are schmucks. Schmucks who don’t deserve good jobs. If I were you I would greet her pitiful excuses and accusations of unfairness very sternly indeed: “The person who is being unfair here is you. Is it fair of you to inconvenience your coworkers and our clients because of your inability to get to work on time?” “No. I don’t want to hear any more excuses. None of them are pertinent here. If this were a rare occurance it would be different. You are chronicly late for reasons that are entirely within your control.” And so on. Then put her butt on probation. If she is late more often than X amount of times in a period of X amount of days, then she is terminated with x amount of notice. Personally I would make it 3 tardies in 6 months with 2 weeks notice, but whatever. In any case, don’t let her make you feel bad for doing your job. I reiterate: she is the schmuck here, not you.
I’m sure they’ll know she was late all the time if it affected them in any way. I knew who was chronically late because I was always standing around waiting for them to come in so I could go off my shift.
Your good staff (people like me) will applaud you (silently) for getting rid of the dead wood and hiring someone who will help them handle the load. I’m in a situation at work right now where I have a co-worker who is having temper tantrums at work every week, and my supervisor is doing nothing about it. That’s the way to lose respect from employees. As it is now, I’m looking for another job because I can’t be around this constant anger.
You are far too easy on her.
Why do you feel that adhering to policy makes you a schmuck?
Why does your staff’s feeling that your company should be more human give you an instant’s pause in firing her?
In what way is this policy unfair?
Chronic lateness is a valid reason for firing even a star employee and shouldn’t cause other staff to disrespect you. Allowing one staff special dispensation to be late without reprecussions will most likely cause much more discontent in your whole crew and will be seen as much more unfair than following policy.
I’d be wondering who that girl had been sleeping with to get away with her lame excuses for so long…