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And folks wonder why military vets are sought-after employees!

Reno, As a former Air Force vet, I agree with that statement. But, I must add the following:

I too am very much a night person. So much so that during my first tour of active duty, I was fortunate enough to work for a branch chief who understood and took care of his personnel. He saw within my first month of duty that I was not suitable for day shift (0700-1600) and transferred me over to swing shift (1600-2400).

End result? My productivity went way up, I earned several high ratings on my performance evals and everyone was happy. Oh, BTW, I was a bomb loader. [Linked Image]

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Would you rather have a punctual employee who screws things up, causes your jobs to fall behind, and refuses to work late? Or a mildly tardy employee who does outstanding work, ensures your jobs run ahead of schedule, and will work late without any problem, and does the best he can for you and your business? I think the answer is a no-brainer.

......and......

The Industrial Revolution has long been over, and so to should be its antiquated thinking. Besides, life is too short to worry over insignificant details. And what about the ensuing aggrivation you might encounter with his replacment?

I agree with Joe. A person's work performance and productivity is of far greater importance to me than whether or not they get to a job site slightly late. (15 minutes or less.)

Generally speaking though, in my line of work being punctual is not usually a problem. The examples in Fred's post are valid ones and in that case I would agree with him.

I currently contract with a gentlemean who used to ride me about being to the job precisely at 8am. I told him in no uncertain terms that as a contractor, unless he's willing to stipulate in writing a requirement to be at the site at a given time, and any penalties for being tardy, then he hasn't any cause to complain. (Besides, HE was rarely on time either.) As long as the job is done to specifications, meeting the deadlines and performing up to standards, then I would work hours as I saw fit, but I did ensure that we agreed on a general timeframe.

Guess what? Once he adapted to this, we not only get along great but our jobs go quite smoothly and we meet our deadlines.

I was going to continue to directly answer some of the other comments made here, but instead I will summarize my input this way:

Look, one thing I hope we can agree on is that people are different, jobs and working situations are different, and the ultimate goal is to ensure that the job gets done right, on time and within budgeted costs, right?

The true marks of a great leader and well-run business are pretty much the same: adapt to the changes, in the "times", new ideas, and people management. Then you will be truly successful. [Linked Image]

In short, there is no one size fits all answer to this dilemma. But I would tend to overlook even "chronic" tardiness of 15 mins. or less, if that person's job performance was otherwise exemplary.

Stupid should be painful.