Employee Lateness Policy and 5 Tips on Managing Tardiness

Perhaps your customers have been complaining that your cafe isn’t up and running before 9:10 AM even though the doors open at 9:00. Or perhaps your team has been grumbling about having to cover for someone who always seems to have an excuse for arriving late.

Either way, it’s time to confront an employee about their tardiness — but how to do so if you don’t have a clearly defined employee lateness policy?

In this article, we’ll talk about what a lateness policy is and how to design the ideal policy for your business. We’ll also share some tips on how to deal with employees who are late, and talk about what tools you can use to ensure everyone knows when to show up — and what happens if they don’t.

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What is an employee lateness policy?

Your employee tardiness policy lays out clear rules and expectations around coming to work on time and what happens if employees show up late. It includes details of what constitutes tardiness on a shift, how much tardiness per week or month is excusable, and what disciplinary action you’ll take for issues like repeat offenses or days missed without prior notice.

Having a clear employee lateness policy is good for your staff, managers, and business. Your employees know exactly what happens if they’re late, and your managers can take prompt action in case of tardiness without having to scratch their heads. It also boosts employee morale, because staff no longer have to worry about covering for folks who show up late. And it can contribute to reducing your labor costs as there’ll be less need for your team to do overtime.

It goes without saying, your tardiness policy needs to be clear to everyone and respectful of individual needs or extraordinary circumstances. We’ll cover these issues as we go.

How to design a lateness policy

Crafting an employee lateness policy that’s fair to everyone doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, the simpler, the better — you want to help your employees, not confuse them. Here’s how to get started.

Ensure your HR policies are compliant

Labor laws vary across the federal, state, and city levels. Different states, for instance, have different laws around taking breaks at work.

So, you’ll want to make sure you’re tracking hours and paying your employees in a fully compliant fashion. Homebase offers readymade tools and expert HR guidance to help with this — you don’t want the FLSA knocking on your door!

Set clear expectations and rules for staff

The best way to get your team to follow your lateness policy is by making sure everyone knows what’s expected of them. Outline all the rules simply and clearly, covering each scenario that might crop up.  

Let’s say someone needs to take unscheduled time off because of an emergency. Who do they have to inform? How soon do they have to let them know? Do they need to find someone to cover their shift before they go? With clear instructions on the correct processes to follow, your employees won’t have to “guess” what to do and risk being penalized for tardiness — plus, your managers will always know who’s going to be present at each shift.

Create clear processes for managers

Your managers should know exactly what to do in any case of tardiness — when to let shift workers off with a warning, when to speak to them about a pattern of tardiness, and when to take disciplinary action.

It’s also vital to make sure managers on all floors follow the same rules. If one department is lax about recording or reprimanding tardiness, while another department is hyper-vigilant about clock-in times, it sends mixed signals to the team. So, if you decide three cases of tardiness means a verbal reprimand, make that the rule everywhere and be sure to enforce it.

Establish disciplinary actions for each scenario

Not all instances of tardiness look alike. Your employee lateness policy should include exactly what the consequences are for each scenario.

For example, maybe everyone is allowed a certain number of instances of tardiness per month, with tardiness defined as, say, more than five minutes after the shift begins. Beyond that specified limit, their managers will have to step in. This could take the form of a formal reprimand or a loss of privileges, such as a reduction in bonus for that month, depending on how many times the employee has been tardy.

Beyond a certain “zero tolerance” threshold of tardiness per month, you could lay out more serious consequences, such as docking pay or even suspension from work. However, if it’s an extraordinary situation (with a clear definition of what “extraordinary” means), the employee won’t be penalized as long as they can provide sufficient proof that the situation was beyond their control.

Communicate policy and processes in the employee handbook

Your employee handbook is your policy Bible. Upload your tardiness policy to your handbook and have all your employees digitally sign off on it to acknowledge they’ve read and understood the rules.

On that note, Homebase lets you create a customized employee handbook and welcome packets fit to your organization’s needs. Not only does this make onboarding easier, but you can share documents, receive signatures, and securely store them for up to four years.

5 tips on dealing with employee lateness

Employees who are regularly late make things harder for everyone, but the goal shouldn’t be to penalize them right away. You want to encourage them to be on time, and that happens through fair and respectful treatment that takes their needs into account. Here are some best practices to achieve that.

1. Use a digital time clock

With a digital clock-in app, you can record clock-in and clock-out times for each employee and then keep track of overall hours worked (and missed) through timesheets.  

Time clocks are the easiest way to track who’s coming on time and who isn’t and how many “strikes” of tardiness each employee has. It also minimizes payroll errors and helps you stay compliant with labor laws through accurate reporting.

The Homebase time clock also captures a photo when employees clock in, which eliminates the risk of buddy punching (where employees clock in for each other). A whole 16% of US employees have admitted to buddy punching — you do not want to be part of that statistic!

2. Address the issue with compassion

If an employee has regularly been late, don’t immediately assume they’re lazy or unscrupulous. Maybe they’re dealing with family issues, or maybe they’re struggling with a scheduling issue you can easily resolve.

If so, talk to the employee about how you can support them better. Is there someone on the team they could carpool with? Could you change their shifts to later in the day so they can take care of their kids first? Or could you simply ask their manager to be lenient about their showing up late, at least for the time being?

Using your best judgment in an extraordinary case can show your team that you’re committed to their wellbeing — but to be fair and transparent, if you’re ever flexible on your own policy, always be clear on your reasoning.

3. Set goals together

After you’ve spoken to an employee about their tardiness, let them take ownership of how they’d like to solve it. For instance, if they can’t come in early just yet, they might volunteer to take a shorter lunch break or do an extra shift outside their regular hours.

Once you’ve agreed on a solution, check in regularly on how things are going and whether they need any additional support. It’s also good practice to document all the conversations you’ve had about their tardiness. This helps avoid miscommunication and gives you something concrete to refer back to when you’re tracking the employee’s progress.

4. Consider whether your policy needs some adjustments

Consistent patterns of tardiness at your company might indicate something wrong with how you’ve implemented your policy.

Maybe a lot of your employees are parents with young children. A zero-tolerance policy for tardiness might not be feasible for them as caregivers — and might even affect their finances depending on what your penalties are. Or maybe a lot of them are students who work shifts after classes. If those classes run late, they won’t be able to clock in on time even if they want to.

A good solution — ask your employees directly how they feel about your late policy and if they need any extra support. When you talk to them, you might realize that a more relaxed tardiness policy (such as 30 minutes after shift begins rather than just five minutes) might work better.

If your employees feel they have a say in the decision-making, they’re a lot likelier to respect the rules.

5. Recognize and reward improvements

If an employee has consciously made the effort to fix their tardiness, appreciate them! Bring it up at the next team meeting and recognize them by name, or send them shoutouts on the team messenger in the Homebase mobile app. You could also incentivize being on time by offering rewards for the employees with the highest number of on-time check-ins each month.

When you acknowledge and value instances of improved behavior, you’re showing your commitment to helping your team — and also to upholding the rules around being on time. This motivates your team to keep following the rules.

How to get started with your employee lateness policy

A strong lateness policy is a vital part of fostering a healthy work culture. When everyone understands the rules and knows they’ll be treated fairly, they’ll be much likelier to make sure they’re on time.

Looking for a great way to enforce your employee lateness policy without the challenge of manual tracking? Homebase has a whole suite of tools that make it easy to manage your hourly teams wherever you’re based (and wherever your business operates). From the digital time clock to the automated timesheets to the on-the-go scheduling app, our solutions are designed to save your business time and money. Best of all? You can get started for free today!

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FAQs about employee lateness

How do you address employee lateness?

An employee could be late to work for multiple reasons. To begin with, speak to them and ask whether they’re facing any issues that might be affecting their ability to be on time. If they persist in their lateness, you may need to take appropriate disciplinary action as outlined in your lateness policy.

What software helps manage employee tardiness?

A digital time clock is an easy and accurate way to see when employees are punching in and out — and with the photo capture feature that the Homebase time clock offers, you can avoid instances of “buddy punching.” In addition, digital timesheets allow you to track everyone’s hours and identify any patterns of tardiness that might need a closer look.

How do you reprimand an employee who is late?

Every company needs an employee lateness policy that clearly outlines the consequences of being late. A few cases of tardiness might be excused or let off with a warning — beyond that, the manager can take disciplinary action such as deducting time off, docking pay, or even termination in case of repeated offenses.