5 Ways To Manage Employee Tardines with Biometric Clocking Solutions
Employees are the lifeblood of any company. Employers rely on their employees to help run the business efficiently.
Thus, employees are expected to come to work on time and be productive. That said, occasionally arriving a couple of minutes late due to excessive traffic, family issues, etc., isn’t a big issue. However, chronic lateness is different, and for employers, employees coming in late now and then can have high cost and time implications, affecting a business’s profitability and productivity.
A survey revealed that employee lateness costs about £9 billion a year. Not only is it costly, but chronic tardiness can also set a negative example for co-workers or cause friction and frustration within teams.
Thus, a delay should be dealt with firmly. Here are several tips and strategies for business owners to take charge of and manage lateness problems with biometric clocking Solution.
1. Establish A Tardiness Policy
The first step is to develop a solid tardiness policy. It would be best to establish a clear and comprehensive attendance policy in writing. In general, a lateness policy must include:
- The expected standard of employees, detailing working hours. Employees needed to be encouraged to initiate work as soon as their scheduled time started.
- Details on how working time will be recorded and tracked.
- Procedure for reporting lateness. If an employee thinks they’re going to be late, who should they say this?
- Lateness should be avoided as an expression since it’s disruptive for everyone and potential disciplinary actions for persistent lateness.
- If relevant, provide details on how an employee can compensate for the time lost from coming late.
Ensure policy and any updates or changes to the procedure are conveyed to all employees and implemented fairly throughout the business. Also, ensure that you include your tardiness policy during onboarding and set up regular punctuality training and workshops for all employees.
2. Track And Manage Employee Time
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. So, after setting the expectation and training employees, you also need to track their performance.
Gone are the days of time clocks and punch machines. Today, you have various innovative time tracking solutions to select. Using a digital time tracking system can provide an effective solution that saves time and hassle for employees and can be used to monitor and evaluate tardiness patterns.
In particular, using a biometric clocking solution can help eliminate buddy punching and time theft.
By identifying an individual by distinctive and measurable characteristics like facial recognition or fingerprints, a biometric can invalidate punches that don’t match the data in its database. It means that the only punch employees can make is for themselves.
Check here to learn more about biometric clocking solutions.
In addition, employees are more likely to come on time if they know that their attendance is monitored. Time-tracking solutions encourage punctuality by keeping track of when employees arrive or leave.
3. Talk To Tardy Employee
Often chronic lateness can be resolved informally. Once a pattern of lateness is identified, you need to remind the employee why it’s essential to be on time to work and make sure that he understands the difference between his actual behavior and the employer’s expectations.
Also, allow employees to explain themselves and encourage them to develop a solution to help them arrive at work on time.
Make sure to talk with the employee before the lateness becomes excessive. Helping employees uncover why they’re late and providing guidance and support can make a big difference. Plus, demonstrating a caring attitude can help in improving employee satisfaction and engagement.
4. Establish Formal Disciplinary Measures
If lateness continues, then it’s necessary to take formal disciplinary action. It’s important to signal to employees the importance of punctuality and clearly state the consequences of continuous tardiness.
Most employers choose to adopt the system of progressive discipline. It means implementing increasing disciplinary measures to correct the employee’s conduct. The developed measures will depend on the frequency and nature of the problem. In general, steps can typically range from counseling to employment termination.
If having an informal talk or counseling doesn’t achieve your desired results, then your employees should be made aware of the consequences of continued lateness.
For instance, in the first case of being late after counseling, you can remind the employee what they agreed during the counseling session.
The second instance of lateness would be a verbal warning. The third instance would mean having another counseling session with written notice. During this session, you need to clarify that more severe consequences may result if the situation continues.
5. Create A Reward System For Punctuality
If the employee has started coming to work on time, you reinforce the change through praise. Your simple acknowledgment can let them know that they’re on the right track and show them you appreciate their efforts. You’d be surprised how a few kind words can go a long way.
Also, to further shape a culture of punctuality, you can enforce a reward system for punctual employees.
It can help motivate your employees to come to work on time. It can be in the form of extra vacation, gift cards, or additional benefits, depending on your business type and ability.
You can also offer team rewards. It helps unital all employees towards a common goal and prevent internal conflicts due to lateness. For instance, if the whole team has reported working on time for a week or last month, you can treat your employees to have a free lunch, take them out for a team dinner, or other types of communal and social celebration.
Take Away
We can’t be punctual all the time. It’s a part of life. From being delayed in traffic or sleeping through an alarm, we’ve all been late from time to time.
That said, chronic tardiness at work is never okay. And employee lateness can impact the effectiveness and productivity of a business.
So, make sure to tackle employee tardiness with the above tips before this behavior becomes a more severe problem that will negatively impact your overall business.
