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Do you care if employees are on time?

Strostkovy

Titanium
Joined
Oct 29, 2017
Title says it.

I have sleeping issues and am certainly not a morning person. I have enough of a diagnosis for various mental issues to get away with it, but I don't think I'm going to share any of them with my employer.

Anyway, starting time is at 8 but I tend to roll in around 8:10 to 8:30. I get away with it because I am the only employee willing to stay late to finish anything, and the only one to setup, maintain, or repair machinery.


So if an employee of yours consistently gets their 80 hours per pay period (or whatever you expect) and does consistently good work, and goes above and beyond where needed, do you care if they show up on time?
 
I consider being late on a frequent basis to be one of the huge red flags of an idiot.

More accurately, there have been dozens of books written on the topic and they usually include a mention of "passive aggression". All I know is it's a sure sign of disrespect.

If you can get there at 8:30, there is no reason on Earth you can't get there by 8:00. The clock discriminates against us all equally.

Being late is kinda like smoking cigarettes - it's legal, but a person sure pays the price for doing it.
 
Its different when a job takes 2 or more but if you are working on your own what should it matter
Bosses who like to dictate startingtime are !!!! Well BOSSES
They have nothing better to do than trying to dictate your life
The above comment is totaly nonsence
Just opinions without proof

Do customers dictate when to starts and finishe their jobs ? ?

Peter
 
When I've worked for others, having some flexibility for start time has been one of the greatest "perks" I've gotten. I'd always confirm acceptability first, but being able to stop at a store or miss the morning traffic is priceless, and working late into the evening was fine with me anyway.

Ultimately it's the boss that decides - what does yours say?
 
There are jobs that require it

Working for me has never been one of them

If you are taking over for someone, need to interact with them, then it can be important. This bore is running under, don't like the sound this drill makes.

Or if you have morning meetings to establish what is going on

There are enough things to care about in this world.

Timliness is unrelated to competence
 
I always saw it as a sign of disrespect. For the employer, the job and the other employees. Set your clock ahead 30 minutes. If you can consistently be 15 minutes late, you can consistently be be on time.
 
It all depends on the job and people around. As an employee I certainly wouldn’t assume the flexibility, but I’ve always had it pretty clearly flexible and if I were in charge would be the same unless there was a specific reason not to. I’m also not a morning person but I have had much less excuse than others (mainly no kids at home and not much traffic to deal with) but I can see how the same alarm time every morning only gets you on time 80% of the time. For the OP I’d verify with those in charge before you get there one morning and they’ve had enough.
 
If you really, really want to be there, you'll doo what ever you have to, to be there on time.
 
a while ago, when I was working for someone, office job, I had to cross a river to get into the city center where the office was, it was congested 80% of time to get to the desk at 8:45 (work starts at 9:00, ends at 17:00), congestion was varying randomly no matter the time you arrive at the bridge, 15% of time it may take even extra 30min to cross the bridge, other times it was nearly empty with no traffic at all, so sometimes I'd arrive 8:15, mostly 8:45, but sometimes 9:15, couple times I had got an earful about being late, never a praise for being early, and you still had to stay till 17:00 - which is when the same bridge is congested again on the way out of the city

we worked it out so that I started at 8:00, left at 16:00, no traffic on the bridge at all, always lots of free parking spaces, everyone happy, if they needed me to stay till 17:00 or later, it was overtime pay, I actually got up at 5:30 to be at a gym by 6:45, leave at 7:45 to be at the office right on time, gym also helped to solve the issue of falling asleep earlier to be able to get up at 5:30

I'm also not a morning person, but no one cares, and no one should, you're not 15 any more, be a grown up person, act like it, respect the rules or find another place which allows such behavior, don't be a problem for your employer, be a problem solver and you'll see things suddenly improve around you (which may cause issues with some other lazy employees, but that is another subject)
 
When I first started my business, I temped for 2 years so that I could continue to eat and live indoors.

One place I worked, my supervisor called me into the office to tell me they were renewing my contract.

'You get along with everyone, your work is good'
'I would like you to work on getting in on time'

I explained that I worked well past when everyone else stopped to make up the time[we were only talking about 5 minutes or so, in a place with no timeclock]

I replied, and I quote

'If it is a real problem for you, I'm a temp, fire me'

Look on his face was priceless


He did not fire me


Things are either important or not important


Because you got yelled at when you were starting out is no reason to continue the practice.
 
On time. No excuses.
Where I work attendance and being on time is huge. Its one of the few things i have seen people get fired for. When guys get fired for attendance it is cut and dried. The numbers are the numbers....you punched in or you didnt.....there is no interpretation needed. Actually if there is an attendance policy there is no interpretation ALLOWED from a legal aspect I would think. I have heard guys bitching that they got fired for being 20 minutes late, traffic, school bus, waited for the train to pass ...blah blah blah....no, they got fired for being 20 minutes late 15 times in 6 months and even after being warned repeatedly they still didnt make it on time. If you want those hours you should go into business for yourself and do it.
I have seen my employer make reasonable accomodations on a temporary and permenant basis.....meaning....daycare, school, health and/or home life issues. I dont think it is out of line to make an agreement with an employee as to what hours they are expected to work. But as often as not if the chronically late employee gets their hours adjusted from a 7 am start to an 8 am start they show up at 810 instead of 710.
 
crazy you talk about this, there is a local place, the owner basically said they could come in any time they needed( as it was online sales on the internet)

only thing was you had to get the work done that was needed. he is happy how it works out, and somehow working out better with this covid stuff.
 
I used to be really against it, because I see it as a sign of laziness and lack of respect for the job. Recently I've started to just roll with it with my guys, as long as it's not more than 15min and they're making up the time. To me it's not worth the added effort on my part and if it makes them happier, I can be flexible with that.
 
The opposite problem ,guys starting too early .....I used to start at 5am ,and some of the guys were starting at 4 am .....this worked in with an employer provided 15 minute break ,which was used as a lunch break ,allowing the 8 hours to be put in by midday....this then allowed some of the guys to hold down a second job doing afternoon shift at the dry dock.....When the new management took over ,they enforced a 6am start,with a compulsory 1 hr lunch break at 12pm,knock off at 3pm............most of the best guys just quit ,throwing the operation into chaos with inexperienced workers......How management can stuff up everything in one easy lesson.
 
Its different when a job takes 2 or more but if you are working on your own what should it matter
Bosses who like to dictate startingtime are !!!! Well BOSSES
They have nothing better to do than trying to dictate your life
The above comment is totaly nonsence
Just opinions without proof

Do customers dictate when to starts and finishe their jobs ? ?

Peter

I think this is a good point along with some others. It just really depends on each situation. In my current one I have some flexibility with start and stop times (as was discussed and agreed upon as part of my terms of employment). Now the people on our shop floor however have a dedicated time that they're supposed to start work and end the day. And that is mainly because the workflow through our shop depends on it. Certain jobs are dependent on a previous operation to be done before they can do theirs.

Edit: I will say that if you said you will be at work by a certain time you should absolutely be there by that time if at all possible.
 
One of the reasons I am self employed is the flexible schedule. I cannot stand time clock nannies. One of the benefits of a small shop. I realize this is much more difficult with more employees, and you have to have a standard start/stop time. But let's get real.

Common sense and reason need to prevail. Life happens. I live and work in a town with unpredictable, long trains, and sometimes you can get stuck at a RR crossing for more than 15 minutes. I've seen it go as long as 1/2 hour at the switching yard with no way across town except one. Illegal, yes, but CSX gives no fucks. I am also human. I occasionally oversleep, or the dog gets out and runs next door, or there is construction, or whatever.

I don't have or keep "official hours". I try to get to work by 8:30 ish. I encourage my employee and part timers to shoot for about 8:30 as well. Some days I'm in at 7. Some days I roll in at 9. But we stay as late as needed to get our work done. My employee has a key. Some day's he's in at 7 and out at 3:30. Some days he has a rough morning and comes in at 8:30. Some days he needs to run a bank errand or hit up a store at lunch and he stays late to make up the time. I don't care as long as we ship work on time and it all gets done.

If we have to meet a customer or a vendor or something, yeah. Punctuality is important. There are times it matters and times it doesn't. Most of the time, probably 95% of the time, it makes zero difference if you show up to work in a hour window.

All that to say, there is a limit. Go too far one direction and it causes a problem. Too early and you leave in the middle of the day or rack up crazy overtime. Too late and you're staying late for no good reason. Keep it reasonable, don't abuse it, and we all benefit.
 
I am not much of a morning person either but our work day starts at 7am, much of the industrial working world starts at 7am. We have employees that drive an hour or more to get to work and they are 6:45am at the job site every day, where the 7:00am employees at the earliest are far closer and ironically are usually the ones watching the clock to make sure they are ready to bolt at 3:30pm.. I would not consider any to be bad employees just lacking in the effort to get to work on time.

My working day plans for each employee on my jobs starts at 7am not when they feel its time to come to work. One employee being late can foul an entire day up especially if they are needed for a multiple employee project. Many times the next days work of importance can change due to customer needs, reliability and punctuality to be at work and on time is is really a success issue as if we can't deliver and continue to deliver for a customer we have no gripe if they choose to go with a competitor who offers those qualities.
I have yet to ever see a time sheet that has "employee XXXXXX drive to work decompression time, finish coffee to satisfaction time, employee personal info chit chat update time, cell phone plug in and adjust so can be seen and heard at all times time".. I could go on and on but when the competition in the area does not put up with that type crap at all and you expect us to stay in business, it is in the companies best interest to see you find employment that more meets your lack of responsibility.

The best thing to tell a person who can't get to work on time, is that their replacement has yet to ever be late.
 
I used to not sleep good. I needed to lose some weight and when I investigated my diet I found I was getting way too much sugar. When I fixed my diet (got rid of all that sugar) I now sleep like a baby. I don't get up in the middle of the night, and am well rested in the morning. You might take a look at what you are eating. If you eat right you might be astounded at the results.
 








 
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