Employee Lateness

When running a business, it's important for employees to turn up for work on time. However, there will be times when they’re late, sometimes due to traffic or oversleeping.

However, if lateness becomes a regular issue, it can become a big problem for your business. As well as decreasing employee morale and productivity, it also costs you in time and money. As an employer, it's vital you do all you can to handle employee lateness correctly.

In this guide, we'll discuss why employees are late, how to manage it in your business, and how to hopefully avoid it in the future.

What is employee lateness?

Employee lateness is when a staff member doesn't turn up for work at the time they're supposed to. Also known as employee tardiness, it can cost your business in both time and money.

When you own your own business, every penny counts. So, it's important you understand the reasons why an employee may be late for work.

Why are employees late?

There are many reasons behind employee lateness, so it's important you become familiar with them. However, you should be empathetic with your employees regarding any personal circumstances behind their lateness.

Here are common reasons behind employee lateness or chronic tardiness:

• Public transport delays.
• Traffic jams.
• Bad weather.
• Forgetting something.
• Medical issues.
• Unforeseen circumstances (such as car or childcare issues).

How many minutes can an employee be late?

In many companies, there is a grace period for employees arriving late - however this isn’t a legal requirement. The length of the grace period should be included within your lateness policy.

Typically, this is anything up to 10 minutes. However, your employees should always report their lateness even if it's only going to be a few minutes.

Why is it important to deal with employee lateness?

It's important you manage employee lateness correctly. An employee's persistent lateness can lead to many issues.

The following are knock-on effects of chronic attendance problems:

• Cost your business time, money, and lost productivity.
• Late workers may lack motivation, engagement, and loyalty.
• Punctual employees may feel disheartened seeing the same person come in late each day.
• Other staff members might start to arrive late to work.

When to deal with a persistently late employee

If you start to notice a particular staff member is becoming persistently late, then you should take action. You should never let it become a problem or let other employees see you're not dealing with it.

There's no need to deal with lateness if an employee is late once out of character. But if it starts to become a regular occurrence, then action is required.

How to manage late employees

As an employer, there are many steps you can take to manage chronically late employees. Becoming familiar with them will help ensure the situation is handled correctly. This will help to avoid escalation of the lateness issue.

Let's discuss them in more detail:

Understand why they're consistently late

A good way to manage lateness is to understand the reasons behind it. You should invite the tardy employee for an informal conversation regarding their ongoing lateness issue.

Here, you can delve deep into the problem and why they're continually late. There may be a genuine reason behind it, such as personal problems. So it's important you remain calm in this meeting and try to resolve the issue.

Excessive tardiness may also be a sign of employee burnout, meaning you may need to work with them to resolve this issue. For example, lowering their workload.

Maintain records

It's important you keep records of an employee's tardiness after the conversation. This can prove to be evidence in the future, especially if you dismiss them and they raise a claim against you.

Having physical evidence will help strengthen your case if the problem continues and you have to take it further.

Set goals and outline consequences

Another way to manage employee lateness is to set achievable goals. If they have serious problems with time management but are showing a willingness to change, setting goals can help this. An example of this can be turning up on time for the whole of a working week.

On the other hand, you should also make it clear to the employee in question the consequences of lateness. Make them aware of your clear expectations surrounding lateness that must be adhered to.

In many cases, an informal warning will resolve the issue. But if it doesn't, then you may have to consider further disciplinary action.

Reward improvements 

If following previous conversations with the employee you see genuine improvements, make sure you reward them. Verbal praise can go a long way for an employee who is regularly late.

It's important you show your employees understand that you appreciate any effort made to curb lateness.

How to avoid employee lateness in your company

As well as dealing with an employee who is late, it's important you do all you can to avoid the lateness from happening. As an employer, there are many things you can do to stop employees from becoming habitually late.

Below are some common ways to do so:

Create a lateness policy

One way to avoid employee lateness is to create a lateness policy. This strict policy will prevent tardy employees from being regularly late and help them understand the consequences of doing so.

Included in your company policy should be:

• The standards expected of your employees, such as working hours and shift schedules.
• The allowed grace period.
• How attendance will be tracked, for example clocking in cards.
• Who employees should report lateness to.
• How employees can make up any time lost (if applicable).
• The disciplinary procedure for lateness.
• All possible disciplinary action.

This policy should be included in your employee handbook with all new starters reading it before starting employment with you.

Offer flexible work schedules

One way to hopefully avoid employee lateness is to introduce flexible working hours into your business. Flexible hours can help your employees when events occur that can make them late for work, such as childcare issues.

By offering these hours, you can help your staff make up any hours they would have lost under a more strict working schedule. Plus, it'll show your employees you're willing to help them if unexpected situations occur.

Use time-tracking software

The use of time-tracking software can help you to spot chronically late employees and take action. They are designed to tell you exactly when your employees arrived at work, allowing you to deal with the issue if required.

A clocking-in system can also aid you if you feel an employee is lying to you about the time they came into work. So it's advantageous to use time tracking software in your company to help avoid lateness.

Set a good example

To curb lateness from happening in your company, it's important you set a good example to your staff members. Ensuring you arrive early or on time to work will show them you take punctuality seriously, leading them to do the same.

You can't be frustrated when an employee is late if you're doing the same behaviour.

Can you dismiss an employee for lateness?

Yes, if you have a chronically late employee you can dismiss them under the . They can be dismissed for poor conduct and failure to meet the requirements of their contract.

However, if you choose to take this option it's important you follow a fair procedure. Not doing so can lead to claims of unfair dismissal being raised against you in the Workplace Relations Commission. In order to raise a claim, the employee must have 12 months' continuous service with you.

Get expert advice on employee lateness from Peninsula

From time-to-time, your employees will arrive late for work. Whether they've been stuck in traffic or missed their alarm, it's part of life.

But if an employee is late regularly, this can become a major issue for your business. It doesn't just cost or money, but it can also cost you in employee morale and productivity. So it's important you manage all instances of employee lateness correctly.

Peninsula offers 24/7 HR advice and employee lateness support which is available 365 days a year. Want to find out more? Contact us on 0818 923923 and book a free consultation with one of our HR consultants.