An employee who is consistently late for work affects the level of patient care/service and the practice generally.  Here are our tips to help you deal with persistent employee tardiness.

(1) Clarity  

Make sure that your employees are clear about when they have to arrive and be ready to work. Even if an employee is not actually late in arriving that 15 minutes spent gossiping over coffee can cause issues too.

Also make sure that all employees are clear about:

• How you monitor time keeping
• How employees report being late
• Any requirement for “lost” time to be made up and guidelines for implementing this
• What disciplinary action you will take because of time keeping issues, including persistent lateness

You should also assess whether you have any practices which could cause lateness. For example, if one employee has to “open up” what happens if that employee is unwell?

(2) Keeping Records

Keep a record of the instances that the employee is late. You must be specific about the problem and you may also need to rely on your records as part of disciplinary proceedings if the situation does not improve.

(3) Deal with it

Tackle any issues as soon as you are aware of them – employees do have an obligation to arrive on time. In addition, persistent lateness causes resentment to build up, particularly if, for example, other employees are expected to cover for their colleague.

(4) Organise a meeting with the persistently late employee

Until you have asked you won’t know the reasons why the employee is persistently late. This could be, for example, because of personal issues such as medical problems or family/caring responsibilities.

By organising a private meeting you are providing the opportunity to explore the issue with your employee. Once you understand the reasons for the lateness you will be able to provide any necessary support and consider potential solutions together. For example, you could look at flexible working hours for an employee who has childcare issues.

(5) If things don’t improve

Make sure that you have a plan to monitor the employee’s behaviour and to provide feedback.

However, if things don’t improve after your intervention, do be prepared to follow up using your disciplinary policy.