Tardy Employee

Several years ago while managing a bank; we had an employee who was consistently late. At the time, I was working at a place with a set opening time and – while the employee was always there before we opened – they were usually just beating the clock.

While I emphasize getting the job done over specific times, it was brought to my attention that the other staff members opening with this person were then stuck doing all of the chores required to open the bank by themselves.

I decided to implement quick “stand up meetings” that would allow enough time after them for the team to get ready to open. The meetings would not start until EVERYONE was there, and I emphasized how important I found them. These quick meetings also gave me an opportunity to pass along information from upper management or to discuss current issues facing the staff. And yes, being just late enough to get out of doing the pre-opening work was one of the topics.

Having quietly called this person’s bad behavior out, I found that it also alerted them to a bit of peer pressure from their colleagues to pull their weight.

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