What do you think about being late to work?

[alabamagal]

My job is flexible in terms of hours, but I work 45-50 hours per week (salaried). My job is to make sure things get done, supporting a production area that runs 24/7. Many times I have to come in early or stay late. That said, on a typical day I arrive 8:15 - 8:30, even though work technically starts at 8.

My husbands business he has hourly employees, who MUST be on time. They clock in and out. It is a must that his store open for the stated business hours. That is the nature of thier job.

[Sum Dum Gai]

I think I've got bigger things to worry about than whether or not my team is a few minutes late once in a while. Right now, I come in two hours after they do anyway, so even if I did care I wouldn't be here to see it. We're all salaried though, so punching a clock at certain times on the dot everyday isn't an issue.

We're lucky though. A "normal" work day for us can be anything from 6-3 up to 10-6. Nobody really cares what anyone chooses either. As long as we have one person here until 6 everyone else can pick the hours that work for them.

[kgb18]

My last job was very structured, so I wasn't allowed to be late to work. My current job (which is an old job that I've gone back to) is much more flexible. I put in all of my hours, usually more than required, so as long as I get all of my work done and don't miss anything, no one really cares if we're a little late or leave a little early one day or whatever.

[cronewitch]

I am late almost everyday about 10-20 minutes. I explained to my boss that I procrastinate in the morning. He said we don't care. The receptionist started writing down the time I arrived. I showed my boss and asked if she was trying to get me in trouble. She said he would speak with her and explain it didn't matter what time I came in.

I am salaried, always work through lunch and might work 12 hours a day. I am doing two people's work now but rather stay late than come on time. Sometimes I will start coming a half hour early for a few months then it starts slipping again. No good reason I get up really early but doddle instead of getting ready and leaving.

[Deleted]

I'm in a profession that discourages lateness. If you are tardy 4 times, you get Saturday School. If you are tardy again, you get in-school suspension.

Obviously, your teachers were those who didn't care. That's what my students always tell me: "You are the ONLY one who ever writes anyone up." That is rather hard to reconcile with the fact that we have enough for Saturday School EVERY week, and only an occasional one is mine.

I'm a morning person. I get to work a little after 7 when I don't have to be there until 8. It lets me get organized. On the other hand, I usually leave one minute early (parking lot madness with lots of student drivers) unless I have a meeting.

I hate to be late. Even when I worked retail, I usually clocked in a few minutes early. I hate watching the clock. Isn't that what the bell is for?

[Deleted]

Oh, for those who say what is noticed . . . we clock in every morning so there is an official record if I am late. We don't clock out. I make certain that I clock in even on weekends.

[Firebird]

Things I've learned you can always count on in life: interruptions, complications and delays.

With that being the case, some of you might want to ease up a little bit. Yes, it's annoying when people are late - if the person means a lot to you, factor lateness into your plans. If not, cut them out (and if you're feeling charitable, explain why you're dropping them). No need to get upset over it, really.

[wvugurl26]

I try to be on time. It doesn't always happen with traffic on the beltway. The only way around that is going through the city which is a solid 30 minutes guaranteed. If the beltway's ok I can make it into my building in 15 minutes flat. If I allowed a hour for commuting I'd miss the traffic and be 30 minutes early to work. Due to the flexible schedule in which I work 8 9s and a 8 with a day off every 2 weeks, I can't adjust my start/end times.
By the time I clear security, walk to my floor, drop lunch at fridge, its generally 5 minutes past my start time. Big deal I take a 55 minute lunch instead of a hour. We don't work directly with the public and as long as I am present for core hours 9am-4pm, I am good.
At my old job my team was entirely composed of non morning people. The other two teams would be in a hour early and we'd come in up to a half hour late most days. We were salary anyway and even without staying late or taking a short lunch, we worked enough hours in tax season to make up for it.
And for ihop, I'm late for everything not just work now and then.

[hannah27]

I'm always late for work. On the flip side, I haven't had more than a handful of lunch hours in the past couple of years. I also telecommute nights and weekend a lot during my busy times. I think it really depends upon the type of work you do, and whether or not people are relying on you to relieve them after a shift. In my profession, that's not an issue. If something is sitting on my desk or my In-Box, nobody else is responsible for it - just me.

Luckily, I work in a flexible office environment.

[midjd]

We have some flexibility in schedules -- can arrive between 7:30 and 9:00, but it has to be the same time every day. If you arrive more than 7 minutes after your scheduled start time, you either have to use personal time or get a supervisor's permission to flex.

I have a long commute with the potential for some gnarly traffic, so am occasionally late (maybe 10 minutes once or twice a month). I almost always work late (it gets so quiet after 4:30!) and am meticulous about meeting deadlines, so my boss is pretty nice about letting me flex.

DH's last job gave "points" for lateness... more than 3 times in a year and you'd be fired. I don't think I would last long with a system like that, but I can kind of understand why he arrives everywhere 45 minutes early

[wvugurl26]

In some environments you need to be on time and that's just how it is. I think the issue I would have is with that clock watching behavior in an environment where being at your desk precisely at 8am isn't a necessity.
I get my work done in a timely manner and I'm on time for meetings. Today one of my coworkers couldn't get something done because the id badging office had no one working who could do what she needed. That is the kind of problem I run into far more than someone being 5 minutes late. I can deal with someone being delayed but when I have to put something off for a day or two because someone's just not there that annoys me. Doesn't help if they had processed us correctly in June we wouldn't be having to redo it now.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Doesn't help if they had processed us correctly in June we wouldn't be having to redo it now.

If you're surprised by this kind of thing you must not have been working for the government very long.

That's what always cracks me up about conspiracy theories and whatnot. I don't know what government people think we have but the one I work for couldn't get their crap together enough to maintain some big worldwide cover up even if they had super advanced aliens helping em.

[wvugurl26]

Dark I didn't say I was suprised by it. They broke me in early by losing all my initial paperwork and only finding it when the deputy inspector general was breathing down HR's neck.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Nice!

[wvugurl26]

Yeah that is funny. Most of the agencies can't do the jobs they were supposed to do let alone orchestrate and carry out some big cover up. Hell Congress can't pass a budget and you know the fiscal year ends at the same time every year.

[wvugurl26]

I think after our December trip my coworker finally got reimbursed for our July trip and all the local travel in between the two out of state trips. That was one big disaster. The excuses the people who handle it came up with were unreal. One of them dealt with it being a money market account that she wanted the money deposited into. That was supposedly an issue. Ok her paycheck can go in that account, but not her travel reimbursement?

[Cookies Galore]

I'm normally at my desk by 7:55, but have a public transit window of 8:10. My boss thinks I start work at 8:30, so I guess I'm early, though she knows I leave at 4, so who knows what's going on in her mind. So long as I call, my boss is okay with lateness; I can always stay late, work through lunch, or come in early another day. A lot of people at work take public transportation because my company offers a fabulous transportation benefit, so if I'm stuck on the track for 40 minutes, well, I'm stuck on the tracks. My line is pretty reliable, but shit happens. I've been late because my train lost power, the tracks froze and we got stuck, a train in front of us broke down, and a car got stuck on the track and the train hit it (no one was hurt); I've also been delayed getting home because someone decided to jump in front of a train, which shuts down that line for a number of hours. But for commute hassles 2-3 times a year, it's still more reliable than driving.
When I have a committee meeting, I'm there earlier than need be.
Our company lets people work hours ranging from 7-3 up to 10-6. We stick to our 35-hour schedules, but if something needs to be done, I stay without question. The most I've ever worked here has been 39 hours, I love it. ;D

[dcmetrocrab]

Feb 28, 2011 13:58:33 GMT -5 Firebird said:

at my company, leaving work early hurts you much more than coming in late. Just a little side note. Coming in early is noticed by approximately no one. Staying late is noticed by practically everyone.

Same. I only care about lateness when it affects my work, the work of my team, and meetings. People at my company are expected to work through lunch, stay past 6PM, and work on the weekends. Those who work only 40hr weeks are frowned upon. We all work on flex schedules, and everyone works "remotely" relative to the other. All teams are spread across 2 countries, 4 offices, and 2 timezones, no one team is collocated to prevent having silos. There is no "on time" except for meetings.

[TheOtherMe]

I'm retired now, but I never worked for anybody who would tolerate people being tardy. I grew up with parents who were the same way. I learned that you aim to show up for work between 15 and 30 minutes early so if something like an accident happens, you still get there on time.

A real pet peeve of mine was people calling in because it snowed and they couldn't come in until they shoveled. They expected not to be charged for that time, but that usually didn't fly.

Generally speaking, the office did not close. You got there. You figured it out and you got there. I'm not very tolerant of people who are tardy at work or in my personal life.

[TD2K]

It's not an issue at my job. The office is open from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Thursday and 7:00 am to 11:00 am on Friday.

No one really keeps track of anyone. I tend to work through lunch so if I get in at 8:00, I have my 9 hours in by 5:00 pm. My boss couldnt' care as long as no one abuses it and they'll address it on an individual basis if needed. I've never had anything said to me.

[wvugurl26]

30 minutes for an accident? Hahahaha you obviously don't live near DC. I didn't even move 1 exit down the beltway in 30 minutes last week because of an accident. It was on my way home though. And yeah if it dumps a foot of snow on us and they haven't plowed yet, I won't be there at 7:30. Then again my work schedules late openings to allow for the roads to be cleared and us to commute safely.

[motherto2]

I'm usually about 5 minutes late, but I'm not a morning person at all. But I'm usually the first of my group (we work with others in our area but they aren't in our group). And that's usually by about 10 minutes to almost an hour, but surprisingly, they tend to leave before me. Don't how that happens, but I'm not the boss. If I'm late, I make sure I stay at least that extra time, but a lot of times I'm there a little past my time. And about a week and a half ago me and another worker ended up being there about an hour and 40 minutes later (that was for me, for him it was probably only 45 minutes later). Our boss said to take the time off early, but I only used about 15 minutes of that time when I had to go pick up my taxes. Typically if I'm there late, I just let the time go. I haven't charged the extra time in years.

[share88]

Feb 28, 2011 13:58:33 GMT -5 Firebird said:

I just read the article - at my company, leaving work early hurts you much more than coming in late. Just a little side note. Coming in early is noticed by approximately no one. Staying late is noticed by practically everyone.

Completely opposite at my job. Largely I think due to the main business partners being in an earlier time zone than we are.

[cytoglycerine]

The last job I had was answering customer service phone calls at a large brokerage house, so I had to be on-time to sign into the call queue at my exact shift start time - They had a "zero tolerance" policy where you got written up if you were late by more than 2 minutes if it happens twice within the same week. Pretty stiff policy, but my shift didn't start till noon everyday, so let's be honest - it wasn't very tough to get there on time!! I've had jobs before where you just come & go as you please, and as long as all the work is done, no one really cares exactly how many hours you put in...I'm not sure which I like best. It really depends on the working situation.


I have a friend who was chronically late to work (30 mins+ every day for months and months) and NEVER stayed late to make up the missed time, and her co-workers eventually ratted her out for it. But lucky for her, her boss just said something along the lines of "Oh, you seem to be having a tough time getting to work on time, so we're gonna move your shift back half an hour", so her shift was changed from 8-4 to 8:30-4:30...And she actually had the nerve to COMPLAIN about it!! Jeez you're lucky they didn't FIRE you!

[phil5185]

The reason that most managers don't fight tardiness, leaving early, etc - is that human nature doesn't easily change - so we live with it. The Pareto Theory - 20% of the workers do 80% of the work (but you need the other 80% to get the 20% done)One of your employees may start 30 minutes early, has the coffee made at 7:30 before the others get there. And always stays 15 minutes past quitting time. You can count on him/her to be reliable - ie, a go-to employee, the one who will always get it done.
The tardiness (shirking) is tolerated - but it shows up on the pay check.

[Deleted]

I was a clock puncher at my previous two jobs, so I made up the time if I was late. Now I'm salary, so being on time (while still important) is not really something that gets honed in on unless you're habitually late. Lateness to the company is more than 5 minutes, but with our department there's pretty much a 10 minute lateness allowance. If I'm very late, I will take a shorter lunch or stay later. I really do strive to be on time to work, but traffic and fatigue get in the way sometimes. But I'm one of the most productive people in my group, so I don't sweat it. As for social functions, I come from a friend group/family that likes being fashionably late, so unless it's a wedding or a funeral I'll show up when I feel like it.

[Deleted]

I'm PT now, but when I did work FT I was usually on time but never more than 5 minutes late. Office hours are 7:30-3:30, but the boss is never here before 8 to notice what time you sat down at your desk (unless you show up after she gets here).
She makes comments almost daily about how someone is going to die in the stampede at quitting time.
I am glad that I'm not here to hear it anymore.

[Firebird]

I'm jealous of you guys who have early-bird bosses! While I was applying for jobs in early 2010, I was offered an interview with a company at which my hours would have been 6-3 every day, with an option to come in as early as 4. Sounds crazy to a lot of people, but I would have LOVED that. My brain functions better in the early hours of the morning than any other time of day. Plus, I love getting off early in the afternoon and having some daylight hours to myself.

It's too bad it took me until my senior year of college to learn this about myself. Until then, I never got any studying done and I couldn't figure out why. I need complete silence and darkness outside to truly buckle down and focus on memorizing things, heavy-duty reading, and anything else that takes great concentration.

By 5:00 pm, I'm pretty hazy about the eyes. But like I said, at my company my early tendencies don't help me at all. People would much prefer I stay late like everyone else.

[Deleted]

Firebird, I'd much rather come in early than stay late, too. And for the same reasons. Plus, there's less traffic if I come in even 30 minutes earlier.

[Firebird]

Yeah, traffic sucks. I take the train, and I'm at the far end of the line so I can usually get a seat regardless but I love it when the train is empty. So much less stressful.

If I had to drive to the city every day during rush hour, then drive home every day during rush hour, I think I would kill myself.