To nag about constantly late employee???

[Dollygirl2008]

AIBU - a member of my staff is ALWAYS 5 or 10 minutes late and it's driving me mad! I have no problem with staff being late when something has happened, traffic etc, this happens to everyone. But this is everyday and no word or apology etc. We are a small team and I don't think its fair on the others. However, because it's a small team, its quite difficult to bring it up without causing an atmosphere. I think I will do it as part of a team meeting and apply it to everyone.

Or AIBU?!

To be honest peggyundercrackers, unless you have anything helpful to say, it might be best to crawl back under your rock. You have absolutely no idea, or know anything about me. If your aim is to belittle and make people feel dreadful, or more than I already do, please carry on.

To the rest of you - thank you so much for your help and advice in a role that I'm extremely new to. Its a learning curve - however minor people think it might be.

How did your talk with the employee go, OP?

Speak to them.

Say you have noticed they have often been arriving after 9am.
Ask if there is a problem that is making getting in for 9am difficult. There might be something like school run or train times or something that makes it tricky.

Next step depends on how the employee is - do they stay late to make it up, do they work through their lunch break?

Either agree on adjusted hours, or tell them to sort their shit out and come in on time.

So what happened when you talked to them? Don't leave us all hanging!

It is very annoying for other members of staff when someone is consistently late. Obviously, occassionally things crop up that you have no control over but it just shows a lack of giving a toss if someone is regularly late.

Hi
yes, I had a chat - they were quite obnoxious to be honest which made it easier!! I did feel a bit like a teacher/pupil as they are quite young, but hey, they might thank me in years to come for showing them what's acceptable and not.

No fun excuses such as the cat was sick in my work bag or I couldn't find my pants, or an old lady fell off the bus - just a shrug of the shoulders and a "yeah, sorry".

Looking forward to tomorrow now to see if it's made a difference - if not, so help me!!!!!!!

Well done Dolly!
This person sounds like a pain in the arse. Good luck.

"Does this person make up the time at lunch/leave later? If so, I don't see he problem - it's only 5/10 mins."

That would be totally unacceptable in my office. We are all expected to arrive ten minutes before our starting time of 8am. At 8am we are being paid and should be at our desks working.

Well done Doll, did you put a plan in place?
Arrange to meet them again in 4 weeks to discuss progress, and chart down their arrival times until then. When you go front someone with the actual information, it can often surprise them at how much they've taken the piss

Thank you all.

I do expect people to be at their desk, ready to work by 9am. This means that they've made their cuppa, had their chat, done their make up and are logged in and ready to go when the phones start ringing at 9am. I also explained that I don't like them sitting in their coat from 4.50pm until 5.00pm....

I have worked in offices before where flexi time was in place, but its not appropriate here -its a call centre!!!

Thanks for the words of encouragement - life is not going to plan in other areas and so my confidence has been knocked. Each little step is like climbing a mountain - I will get back on top!!!!

Making a cuppa and having a chat is reasonable to expect them to do before hand. But logging in and anything that is required by the company is work and you shouldn't be expecting them to do that before hand.

Well done in tackling it head on though. That is by far the best (and the easiest in the long run) way to handle issues like that.

Well done OP. I hope you see the change in behaviour you want, but don't be afraid to tackle it again with this individual if not.

I did feel a bit like a teacher/pupil as they are quite young, but hey, they might thank me in years to come for showing them what's acceptable and not.

Well done. And you are quite right if this is their first job or something they might not have twigged that this sot of thing matters.

I remember once walking in to work and a young lad was walking behind me having a conversation on his mobile phone in which he was clearly whinging to a friend about having been reprimanded at work for constant lateness. It sounded as though a manager had commented to his supervisor that he had been 5 minutes late three days in a row and he had apparently said "Yeah but does he know I have a 40 minute walk to work?"

To which my first thought was, no you don't it sounds like you have a 45 minute walk to work but you are only allowing yourself 40 minutes for it!

Well done OP..It would annoy me as a an employee..If I have to come to work on time would expect everyone else to do the same...

Well done! Now, make sure you follow it up if he doesn't change his ways from now on.

Because it's s small team it's difficult to address? Anywhere private you can take the employee for an informal warning. Any one to one time?

If you are her manager you need to act like a manager and tell her it is not acceptable. Bringing it up in a staff meeting will just make you look bad for not dealing with it properly.

Never raise a single employee issue as a group thing.

This is a 5 minute quiet chat. Keep a record for a week - longer if needed - and just have a low key conversation to start. Something like 'I've noticed you've been late 3 days this week - is there anything I should be aware of?'

This drives me crazy where I work... If yo start at 8.30 you should be working at 8.30.. Not pulling into the car park!