1. Employees Should Be Aware of the Time They Are Expected to Report to Work

It is very important to determine your working hours and the time you expect people to report to work. For instance, if there has been a long-term understanding that the time to start work is 9 AM and people report before 9:15 AM, it’s okay. 

However, if you have never told them about the time you expect them to report; do so as soon as possible. Even though things like schools being closed, late trains, sick children, and other things can get in the way, most of the part-time employees need to be at the workplace at the time you have set.

Raising this issue can be challenging when some professionals often have a more laid-back approach to starting work. However, you can flag this as a health and safety issue that you want to know where your employees are during working hours. Communicating to each and every employee what is expected of them even if they are the most punctual is a good way to ensure complete transparency. 

  1. Consider Having Morning Meetings

Morning meetings can be a good way to make people report to work on time. It can also make people more productive. Having morning meetings is in fact one of the best ways to discourage the habit of reporting to work 10-15 minutes late.

  1. Use Technology

You can use technology to monitor employee attendance and arrival times. Time and attendance software can help you collect wide data about departments and their behavior. Besides this tool can help you identify the worst offenders who may need intervention from their manager. Telling employees that you are about to introduce software to track attendance is sometimes enough to make them report to work on time as it reminds them about their obligations to the company. Not only can software help to manage attendance but also work schedules. Find out more about work schedule planning and its benefits at Tracktime24.com.

  1. Have Action Plans

Is there a group of people who report to work late on a regular basis? If the answer is a yes, work with their management teams to create an action plan for how things will proceed. Keep in mind that their behavior has a huge impact on other employees and can even cause their workmates to emulate them. As such, it is good to discourage tardiness as soon as possible.

Having a meeting with their line manager may be the first step. In this meeting, the employee will be told about what is expected of him or her and the impact of reporting to work late on a regular basis. It is good to do this in private as the employee may have personal reasons why they turn up late. However, if they continue coming to work late, give them a verbal warning.

  1. Consider Incentives

Incentives can be a good way to get people to engage in a certain behavior and you can use them to encourage employees to come to work on time. For instance, you can give those who come to work on time a free bottle of wine or a box of chocolates at the end of every week. While this may seem simple, it works! If you try it today, you will be surprised by the impact it will have on your employees when it comes to punctuality. 

  1. Identify What Motivates Your Employees to Come to Work on Time

Knowing what motivates your employees to come to work on time is very important because it will help you come up with effective motivational methods and techniques. The best way to know this information is to have one on one conversations with employees about what can make people come to work on time.  

It may be something like seeing their managers or company directors come to work on time on a daily basis or little perks and bonuses for maintaining a perfect attendance for a certain period of time.  It is also important to find out issues that could be reducing people’s motivation to come to work including serious problems such as workplace bullying. This is because workplace bullying can negatively affect employee attendance and punctuality, especially those people who feel the worst effects of this.

  1. Boost Morale

Sometimes, coming to work late is a sign of poor morale. When people feel disengaged, uninspired or unhappy (at work, at home or both), it can be difficult for them to come to work on time as they may not have the energy and motivation to come to work early.

That is why it is good to connect with your employees to find out the cause of lateness to work. If it is negative attitudes and sentiments that cause this, look for things that will boost their morale. Some of the measures worth considering include:

-Asking employees for suggestions and ideas that can improve their work/life balance

-Organizing informal social events to encourage employees to socialize outside the office

-Small but meaningful gestures like handwritten thank-you notes or gifts on their birthdays to show your employees that they are very important and valued.

By Eddy Z

Eddy is the editorial columnist in Business Fundas, and oversees partner relationships. He posts articles of partners on various topics related to strategy, marketing, supply chain, technology management, social media, e-business, finance, economics and operations management. The articles posted are copyrighted under a Creative Commons unported license 4.0. To contact him, please direct your emails to [email protected].