Is employee lateness affecting productivity in your workplace? Most companies have that one employee who just seems to never get to work on time. They make excuses, but never really take the necessary steps to solve the problem.
The real problem occurs when you have multiple employees who keep arriving late. This can be problematic, as other workers need to cover for them during meetings, and the work stops getting done on time. Your best solution is to determine why your company has this employee lateness issue, and then find out how to deal with it.
Why Your Workers Are Late
There are several common reasons why your employees are frequently late to late. While none of these reasons are excuses, they are signs to look out for, particularly if you’re trying to develop a good solution to your lateness problem.
They Are Burned Out
Burn out is a real problem – to the point where it’s become an actual medical diagnosis.
Employees who are burned out essentially have a form of depression. They work too much, and have too little downtime, leading to a lack of care about the work. They find themselves unable to concentrate, not to mention get anything of consequence done. Employee lateness is a symptom of burn out.
They Aren’t Properly Rewarded
You need to reward your workers now and then, even if it’s something as simple as saying “thank you” and “good work”. If they aren’t receiving any signs that you enjoy the work that they’re doing, then their attitudes will sour and employee lateness will become a problem.
If this is allowed to escalate, your workers will continue to show up late, if at all.
They Hate Their Jobs
In some cases, your workers are late because they hate their jobs. While it’s normal to have bad days now and then, constant lateness can be blamed on just not caring anymore. Your workers come into work because they have to, not because they want to.
This can lead to poor productivity, lateness, and many other problems. You need to determine which of your employees hate their jobs before their attitudes end up annoying their co-workers.
They Need to be Challenged
If you aren’t challenging your workers, then be prepared for some employee lateness issues. Your workers need to know that they can learn new tasks and advance in the company. This is the best way to show that you care about them and their futures. Without the right kind of challenges, they’ll stop showing up on time. A major drop in their productivity will be apparent.
What You Can Do to Solve Employee Lateness
While these solutions won’t work for every employee – some will simply be late no matter what, it’s important to note that you can use some tactics to halt employee lateness as much as possible. It all comes down to know how to treat your workers in Ireland.
Reward Them
While you don’t need to pull out all stops rewarding every single employee for getting their work done on time, you should do some nice things for them once in a while.
For example, bring them doughnuts on a certain day of the week or treat your workers to special bonuses for meeting goals.
Develop Timekeeping Solutions
If you’re having a hard time tracking which of your employees are frequently late or just want them to notice their bad habits, then use a timekeeping software. This is a good way to track employee lateness that calls attention to their actions.
In some cases, your workers may not even realize how often they’re late to the job.
Let Them Set Their Own Hours
If you’re able to (and some Irish businesses can do this without breaking labor laws) let your workers develop their own shifts.
As long as the work gets done, it doesn’t matter when it actually gets completed. Some of your employees might be used to working a schedule that has them on the clock during the latter part of the day when they can better concentrate.
Allow them to Work from Home
Finally, if you can, let your workers do their jobs at home for part of the work week. It will solve your employee lateness issue, and thanks to certain programs, such as mobile workforce software that allows them to log in from anywhere they have access to a smartphone, your workers can still track their hours. This flexibility goes a long way towards employee happiness.
