As a business owner, you depend upon your employees to help you run your business effectively and efficiently. In order for this to be the case, you have to give them a certain amount of trust and responsibility that they’ll be there when you need them. So when this agreement is broken, it can be hard to know how to handle it.
While no one wants to have to fire someone from their staff, there are some instances when this just has to happen. But to help you avoid this if at all possible, here are three tips to help you in dealing with employees who have punctuality or attendance issues.
Make It Known That You’ve Noticed
If someone shows up a few minutes after their scheduled shift starts on a very rare basis, this likely isn’t an issue that you really need to address. However, to ensure that this occasion slip up doesn’t come something more habitual, it’s worth taking a moment or two to inform your employee that you’ve noticed their behavior.
According to Jennifer Winter, a contributor to The Muse, if you don’t nip something like this in the bud, it can quickly become more of an issue than it initially was. So although you don’t necessarily have to make being a few minutes late into a big ordeal, it can be helpful to everyone involved if you simply say something that lets you employee know that you noticed they were late, be it inquiring about their day or simply remarking that you missed them at something earlier on.
Address The Issues As Soon As They Happen
In most professions, it’s not a big deal if someone is just a few minutes late on occasion. But if these few minutes become 15 or 30 minutes, or if they completely don’t show up altogether, then actions should be taken by you as their boss.
As soon as the issue has happened, Dummies.com advises that you have a conversation with this employee about what’s going on. At the very least, you should let the employee know that this type of behavior is unacceptable. And if you’re comfortable with this particular employee, you might ask why this behavior is taking place and it there’s something going on in their life that you can help with.
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Have Clear Consequences For Their Actions
Following the conversation with your employee about their actions, it’s important that you lay out some clear consequences for what will happen if this behavior isn’t stopped.
Some of the most common consequences that will come about as a result of being late or not showing up, according to Jacqueline Whitmore, a contributor to Entrepreneur.com, is for the employee to be written up, to be asked to make the time up, or to dock their pay.
If you have one or more employees who have had issues with punctuality or absenteeism, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you address these issues.