ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Always late...

Thank you Scott you expressed it well.

Did you hear a collage near us has moved the first class start time from 8 AM to 8:30 AM. The students where not getting enough sleep.

And then there is always the noise about having the public schools start later because teenagers are going to school tired.

Oh yeah move the school start time up, that will prepare them for the real world.

I often pick up the guys working with me in the company truck, they know to be there or miss the ride.

[This message has been edited by iwire (edited 04-20-2004).]

Electricmanscott, I agree. I don't advocate changing the start time, it only reinforces the bad habit. Tell the guy that he's making a decision with his behavior and it's time for him to see the facts and make his choice. The world revolves around people who get stuff done early, those who don't may get left behind even if their work is a higher quality.

"Either you accept it and get over it or tell him be on time or beat it. I'd go with the latter. "Change his start time" Please you have to be joking. Whats next warm his bottle for him. Good god."
Scott,
I don't know how it is in your state, but here in NJ if we did that, we would take on heavy UI payments. If he changes his work time, and then he shows up late, then the employer can inforce the rules, and avoid the added UI expense.
We found this out the hard way, we let a guy go for this reason, he went to UI and his claim stuck because we din't inforce the rules, and let it go for a year.
We paid and paid and paid.

This is a problem I've had with a few guys once-in-a-while. Some people just have to be 10 minutes late no matter what start time is.

I'll mention it the first few times and it gets better for a week. But after a few reminders, I suspend for a few days. After being warned fairly, if you show up the next day 10 minutes late, I tell you to go back home, take a few days off and we'll talk about it on Friday (or whatever day is 4 days away)...at 8:00!

It either works or I end up getting rid of them but constant tardiness usually comes with a bunch of other problems too.

I think Buggaboo's right about it being an indication of something.

No offense meant all, but maybe it's not that his heart isn't in the work, but maybe his heart's not in working for you. Maybe he sees himself as self-employed someday or doesn't think your company is where he wants to work until retirement.

I think tardiness is rooted in respect. When he's late he's being disrespectful, whether it is due to absent-mindedness or lack of motivation.

Don't want to bum you out, just throwing possibilities out there.

The problem comes in when his actions start to affect the overall work ethic or attitudes within the company. I can understand wanting to keep a skilled craftsman with great potential, but if it starts to cause others' morale to suffer, the worst scenerio would be if the damage was done, and then this guy up leaves anyway.

I was only half kidding about finding the kid a wife. To me it seems you're describing a young fella with no major personal or financial obligations yet. He most likely goes out during the week on occasion with his buddies and stays out too late. IMHO, if he had a serious drug or alcohol problem he'd most likely be borrowing money from everyone and would be regularly broke long before payday. His grandmother would die once every other month and his debt collectors would be calling your office once a week looking for him. But, I don't think this is the case here.

In the past I had a standing rule for everyone which is if you don't call when you don't come in you must take the next day off too. Repeated tardiness gets you a week off, then two, and so on. Hopefully, he'll find a nice gal to set him straight before you have to resort to all this.

Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be with a good worker.
Andy

Next time he is late send the guys off without him. When he shows up say the train left and see you tommorow. He will get the point. Most will get the hint when it hits them in the wallet.

I used to be that kid you are talking about,there wasn,t much but time that would cure me and to this day i am still sometimes that kid.i usually got kept because i could outproduce most guys and would stay late if needed.
if it is really hurting you you have to get rid of him ,but if its just a personal; thing with you i would think about it.

If I was an electrician I would be the kid you are talking about, I seem to have issues dealing with morning, but if I come in late then I stay late, or work thru lunch if there are other guys with me. My boss doesn't bust on me too much because I am the #2 tech in the company as far as knowledge base goes and I can outproduce any of the other guys I work with. I take it more as a perk, I can leave the company, go somewhere else and get 5 or 10 dollars an hour more but I am comfertable where I am and I have the perk of taking a late start if I need it. There may also be a problem with him as far as sleep patterns go, for some reason younger people produce better when they start later, it doesn't matter when they go to sleep, could be 21:00 could be 1:00am, still can't get out of bed before 7:00. I worked the best I ever have when I was working in a school, we couldn't work during the school day so we worked 14:00-22:00, that was the best three months of my work life. Just my $0.02

Jim

I hate to be so crass, but I had a crew of travellers that wanted to sit at the coffee table 'till 7:20 - 7:30, so I told 'em not to start work untill 8:00 because that was when their time started.

No more problems.