That rationale has always ticked me off; it basically says the people in your personal life aren’t worth the respect you show the people in your working life, and tons of people feel that way.
We had a clock at my previous job. One of the teachers was always late, and his excuse was that he lived 45 minutes away. During the school year, he moved to an apartment five minues away and he was still late.
It really depends on the job if people need to be there on time or not. I’ve had a number of teaching jobs where they didn’t require the teachers to be early, but you couldn’t be later than the start of class. (Presuming you were pepared.)
I can’t be late. It’s in my DNA or something. The anxiety I start to feel if I’m not going to be at least five minutes early is very unpleasant.
I’ve worked for employers who have a real hard on for exact punctuality and for employers who don’t really care, as long as you work hard. I’d rather work for the one’s who don’t care, they’re much more pleasant. But I must admit, I didn’t always feel the same. When I was in management and working for someone who was a stickler about it, I was a lot less sympathetic towards the chronically late.
Especially since it was my job to 'talk to them about it often with a write-up. ugh, I do not miss those days.
I’m thankfull that it’s been thirty years since I punched a clock.
My job is a bit flexible with hours. We track our own time and fill out a timesheet that records any leave taken.
I’m usually at work by 8:10 to 8:20 and leave at 5:30. Sometimrs 6:45 if I’m busy on a project. I like avoiding the highest traffic.
I remember working jobs based on shifts. It’s important to be a few minutes early and relieve the other person. I also remember leaving at the end of my shift without worrying about project deadlines.
After reading some of your feedback, I never worked a job where I had to fill out timesheets instead of punching in and out, even though some managers and bosses may or may not question how truthful your timesheets are (depending on how much work gets completed during your shift)
However, even though I understand that certain jobs may require employees to start right on time, some jobs usually schedule employees to start before their company/business opens, which means that if your workplace opens at a certain time, then a majority of the employees would arrive earlier, depending on how much work needs to be completed before opening (even though a majority of these jobs are usually retail or food service)
But since most white & pink collar companies & businesses require employees to arrive on time, it makes sense why office and educational careers are like that…
Decades back I worked several jobs where I punched a clock. Never thought it a big imposition. Never had problems being there on time - including when I needed to bike 10 miles to work. Had a couple of jobs as machine off-loaders. You literally could not leave before the next shift arrived: they’d either have to shut down the line, or the product would fall on the floor.
Then for a couple of decades I had to sign in and out on a time sheet. We only somewhat jokingly said the only fireable offense at that job (as lawyers) would have been to write down an incorrect time on the sheet. We could flex in any time between IIRC 630 and 930, and had to work for 8.5 hours. I believe “core hours” were from 930-3. The #2 guy used to daily draw a line on the sheet at 930, to prevent anyone from coming in at 931 and writing 930. As far as we could tell, that was pretty much the only thing the #2 guy did. If you were late, it was no big deal. You just needed to take leave - which you could do in 15 minute increments.
After a quarter century during which signing in/out as of the specific minute was just about the most important aspect of my job, the current system seems weird. I’m not complaining. I only have to report 80 hours every 2 week period. I can work up to 12 hrs a day, and can sign in and out as many times per day as I wish. But the system requires that certain things be reported in ways that don’t exactly reflect the specific hours worked. For example, say I work for 3 hrs and 52 minutes, take a break, and then work for 4 hrs and 8 minutes - I have to report those periods as though they occurred in 15 minute increments. After a decade of someone looking over my shoulder to make sure I used the exact time shown on the official time clock, such minimal “fudging” just seems weird.
And, after having to account for 8.5 hours each and every day through time worked or leave, I’m still getting used to the idea that I just report any number of hours throughout 2 weeks, and at the end, go back and add leave if needed to equal 80. Or, if the total exceeds 80, I have to designate some hours as “credit hours.” (We can amass 24 credit hours, which we can use as leave).
As a security guard who depends on the person relieving them to be on time, I think that anyone who constantly arrives 5 minutes late should be fired. As a matter of fact they should always arrive at least five minutes early.
I knew of someone with a job exactly like that. What happened was, this person came to understand the system/leeway. Then this person would clock in at 9:07am and clock out at 4:53pm. They would be paid as if they worked from 9am - 5pm.
With that said, the quality of the work was really good during the almost 8 hour shift - they just…preferred(?)…to arrive a few minutes late and leave a few minutes early.
My wife is this way with everything:
Is she needs to be somewhere at 9:00 AM, she shows up at 9:30 AM.
Is she needs to be somewhere at 9:30 AM, she shows up at 10:00 AM.
Is she needs to be somewhere at 10:00 AM, she shows up at 10:30 AM.
Is she needs to be somewhere at 10:30 AM, she shows up at 11:00 AM.
Is she needs to be somewhere at 11:00 AM, she shows up at 11:30 AM.
Is she needs to be somewhere at 11:30 AM, she shows up at 12:00 PM.
The situation is so bad that we set all of the clocks in our house ahead by 30 minutes. But it doesn’t work, because she knows they’re set ahead.
I used to think the root cause of the problem was poor time management. But that’s not it. The root cause of the problem is that she genuinely doesn’t care if she’s late, and doesn’t care if people are inconvenienced or burdened by it. (I’ve repeatedly explained to her that it’s rude and inconsiderate. She just shrugs her shoulders.)
Does she miss a lot of flights?
That’s what we call “Mexican time,” because this is the cultural norm in Mexico. Even in a professional environment, I’m afraid.
Japanese tend to be very prompt, especially for business. When I was doing sales, we would be there about two minutes before the appointment. Never too early or too late. We would arrive early and hang out outside.
I wish more of my suppliers were this self-aware. I enjoy when they’re on time, but when they call me 20 minutes early to let them into the building, it disrupts everything I’m doing 15 minutes before I expect to fetch them.
Best advice I ever received when I started my first job.
“Early is on time, on time you are late”.
In other words you need to be ready to work and at your work station at your scheduled start time, not 5 minutes later. Yeah, I know about “donning and doffing” but if you have no uniform to change into it really doesn’t apply.
There was a big controversy many years back when an NFL coach fined a couple of star players for being late. He said something like, “you need to be there five minutes early to not be late” and the dumbasses howled about how ridiculous that was.
I failed to see the problem with his statement. When the meeting starts at 9:00 it doesn’t mean that you walk in the door at 9:00 on the dot making noise and grab assing and then spend the next five minutes getting to your seat and pulling out your notebook and pen. It means that you are in your seat, ready and attentive, at 9:00 which means that you walk in the door five mintues early.
Therefore, by transitivity, to be early is to be late.