ALT-4 Why Habitual Tardiness might be an Employers Pet Peeve
When employees hire new staff members they expect, or at least hope, they will arrive at work on time and be efficient. However, it isn’t always easy to spot a job candidate who is tardy during an interview, and many slovenly individuals slip through the net and gain employment. When this happens their employers raise their hands to their heads in dismay, because they know they’ve inadvertently hired someone who isn’t going to pull their weight.
Tardiness comes to light in several ways in the workplace. An individual may constantly arrive late for work, armed with lots of excuses about being held up in traffic, or their maiden aunt being ill and needing help. There are usually plenty of reasons why employees are late, although many are obviously not genuine.
Lateness can cause employers to become annoyed, but what really distresses them is when the same employee begins to regularly phone in sick, or with a dramatic excuse about severe illness in the family or funerals which need attending. After a while an employer may begin to wonder why their employee is beset with such bad luck, and will finally come to the conclusion that they are being lied to.
Dishonesty amongst employees is a horrible prospect for an employer to come across. Once a tardy employee shows their real colors by telling lies in-order to attempt to cover up their habit of being late or not caring enough about their job to make an effort, it becomes clear that they can’t to be trusted or relied upon.
To top concerns over dishonesty and the inconvenience of a tardy employee always being late or not coming into work, an employer has to deal with the unease and bad atmosphere this causes amongst other staff members who have to take up the slack. When they end up working over time or missing out on coffee breaks to cover for the bad employee in question, they can become restless, dissatisfied and downright angry. The person, who will have to hear their complaints and take action, is of course, their employer.
Tardiness doesn’t always equal a terrible employee, but tardy workers are certainly worth less to a company than other employees who work hard and care more about their job. This means that they fail to live up to an employer's expectations, and produce problems to deal with, and extra work to distribute amongst better employees who don’t deserve to take the brunt of the situation.
When faced with an employee who shows signs of tardiness it’s best for their employer to directly confront them about the matter and attempt to nip their bad work ethics in the bud before they blossom into further problems. Tardiness which remains, despite an informal discussion about the matter, may be subject to written warnings which threaten their job. Eventually the last resort can be dismissal, and a lesson well learned by an employer who will be extra vigilant about whom they hire in the future.
