employee- terminate or keep

In a situation like that, there should eb some sort of policy in place. If you are late 2 or 3 times within a certain amount of time, verbal warning. If it happens again withing a certain amount of time, then written warning. If it happens a third time, they get minimum 3 days off with no pay. If it occurs after that, then you let the person go. Usually in that type of system, once a person gets sent home for a few days with no pay, then they stop being late. If they do not, then they do not care about their position. HOWEVER, exceptions can be made. Is this person late because they are a single parent or not but they are responsible for taking their child to school, etc. If there are justifiable reasons for the lateness, then I can see overlooking it for a good employee. If it's just late because they woke up late quite often, then no exceptions.

When I had an employee with this problem I started to schedule them a half hour later. Instead of them coming in at 8 I would have them come in at 8:30. This seemed to help. I didn't want to fire the erson because of being a few minutes late but I also needed to know that I would have someone there to cover the shift. If that person showed up at 8 I would go ahead and allow them to start then but by ny changing the schedule by giving them the exta half hour helped whne they needed a few extra minutes.

I would give him a warning, if that didn't work, 3 days off with no pay. If that still did not work, then he would be fired. I would not want to fire a good employee, but you can't let one person get away with being late. If you did all the workers would think they can be late too.

I guess it all depends on what type of job the employee has. I was in a supervisory role for years and ran into this problem on quite a few occassions. My answer to it was to sit down with the employee, if indeed they are that valuable, and ask what I could do to accomodate them that couple days a month. Maybe they could start later on those days and stay a little later, or work a couple hours during the week to make up for what they're missing. Now if the employee is really not all that valuable I always used it as an opportunity to get rid of them, sarting with the verbal warning and then the write ups leading to termination. But a good employee is worth accomodating, and it makes them happy to know that their employer cares enough to help them out. Feeling like you're important to the team is a motivator.

I think if you give a person enough chances and he stills does not improve it is time to let them go. If you do not, the lunatics will start running the asylum and not you. At some point you have to set an example. Make sure you let everyone know why you let him go.

if i am an employer with an employee who is very loyal to the company,surely i will keep him even if he occasionaly late...im not after the length of time an employee should work but how he produce the product with quality and without delay..

keep them! you yourself said good workers are hard to come by. and besides, two-three times/month of tardiness isn't habitual. not in our laws, at least. here, in order to be charged with habitual tardiness, you have to be tardy for at least 10 times in a month for 2 (or more, i'm not sure) consecutive months. also, it is the quality of work that really matters, not the amount of time one puts in.

mrsbrian, being 15 minutes late, three times a month is not something gross. In my opinion its something venail though very irritating. I would make sure that I would bring this to the worker's attention. That you cannot leave this thing go unnoticed especially if there are workers who take bad example of him in the same company. But I would not fire him! Maybe I would deduct his wages accordingly

Being late once in a while is not too bad if they are hard workers and are beneficial to the company, but if they start slacking and missing more days then it would be a good idea to give them the boot before they ruin your business.

Unless their work requires them to be there at specific times, perhaps you can arrange flex time for that employee. They work the required number of hours/minutes in a day but it can be done around their schedule. They sound like valuable employees that just have trouble with promptness. If it doesn't interfere with getting the work done, be flexible. If they work less than the required amount for a day, deduct it from their paycheck. Most of the time, money is a strong motivator. You might also give employees incentives for being on time. Awards, some kind of little prize or honor for being on time for the entire month might motivate everyone to be on time. And if it really matters that each employee be at their work station at a certain time, then each must have the same consequences when they fail to do so. Begin with a warning, then pay deduction, and finally dismissal. But you have to be prepared to be firm, fair, and consistent for it to work.

I would keep them. Good employees are hard to find and if they are calling to let you know that they will be late then I say that even though they know it is wrong, they can't help it. I work with a lady who just can't seem to get to work on time. She is always a few minutes late and it just seems to be her nature as she is late for everything. Some people are like that and it is just life for them.

There has to be a policy in place for this type of thing. An employee is only as good as the example he sets for others but make sure you follow proceedure and don't fire him without giving a written warning or two documenting his errors. The written warnings are to cover you as the management in case the employee tries a wrongful dismissal suit.

as u specified that employee is very loyal and good workers are hard to find in this case u should give him maximum no of chances and be specific as he must know that how many chances is allready given by you. Most of the offices have there own rule and regulations so u can warn him many a time it happens if one worker is doing so other worker may duplicate and whole of the office discipline may suffer, if it seems to be happening then u should fired that emplooye so that others can take note of that

When you have a very good employee, who is good at all aspects, except for one such "coming late" problem, then I dont think its good to terminate him.. To err is human and no one is perfect. If he dont do his job because he is late , then he can be terminated. But when he dont create any problem because of coming late, then he shouldnt be terminated.

I am a big softy really ( well a wee one), I think I would tell them that when they are late that I am deducting this from their pay and then they might not be late as often , You might end up with someone who doesn't work and who takes full days of , xx

If I am an employer, I will view their jobs as boring because interesting jobs will keep employees having the drive to come in early and work smart. To terminate them, it is a bit cruel due to their royalty, good work ethics and others. So, I will opt for temporarily keep them until new development comes up.

It is well said that this employee is loyal and have good work ethics. He can do more task i ask her/him to do. This reason is enough for me to let him/her stay in my company. It just that due to her being late, her salary will be deducted and be exempted on the incentives for the month she has late. He/she can stay as long as it did not affect her duties to the companies say she/he able cope of with deadlines of reports. He/she do a job well done always. That's all

I guess I will issue a warning letter if talking is of no help. After that probably cut h/her salary for the days that s/he is late. After all that and still no improvement, I think the next step would be termination. It is no point hiring someone with a disciplinary problems. What happens if an important meeting that s/he needs to be present and s/he is late? Isn't that will tarnished the image of a company?

I believe it is always best to do everything possible to work with what you have; rather than open a new can of worms with the unknown. A replacement could bring much more serious problems to the workplace...with issues a lot more difficult to deal with in the long term (i.e. lazy,sloppy,poor hygiene,bad attitude,frequent absenteeism). As an employer, I think you have to accept the fact that very few people are as perfect as you are! I am personally,extremely punctual. I realize I have had very high expectations of others,in this regard. My attitude was "if I can be on time...why can't everyone?" The sooner we accept the fact that we can't expect others to possess the same values as we do..the less frustrated our lives become. In my younger days,I would have most likely terminated this employee but,today I feel I have a better understanding of myself and the appreciation of what constitutes a valuable employee. I therefore would try to keep this one, and maybe have a private talk to find ways to keep you both happy.

I would instruct him to change first. Most people are late because they are victims to unfortunate events. Try to change him first before terminating him.