Time Issues

Dear Seniors,

I am Nikita, new to CiteHR, so I do not know much about how to work here, but I am learning.

I work in a small IT Company based in New Delhi as an HR and Admin Executive. We have around 25 to 28 employees here, including 3 employees in the HR and Admin Dept. The rest of the employees are engineers.

The problem we are facing is late arrivals. Our working hours are from 9 AM to 6:30 PM, with a lunch hour from 1 PM to 2 PM. The HR Manager has allowed a grace period of 15 minutes in the morning. Here is a summary of the time-related issues we are encountering:

1) Employees who arrive at 9 or 9:15 AM leave at 4 or 4:30 PM.

2) Employees who arrive at 10 or 10:30 AM leave at 6:30 or 6:45 PM, sometimes even 7 PM.

3) The HR Manager works a full shift.

4) I work a full shift, starting at 8:45 AM and finishing at 6:45 PM.

5) The office boy's shift is from 9:30 AM to 6:30 or 6:45 PM.

We are satisfied with the engineers' schedules. The most senior person has no issue, and neither do we. The work environment is very comfortable. Another senior person communicates with his team about this, and we, the HR Dept., try to stay away from the engineering team's operations. Our role is to maintain discipline in the office, and the Senior Engineer is working towards that.

The area where the HR team faces a challenge is with the Office Boy. It has been observed that the Office Boy opens the office, cleans up, and serves tea to everyone in the morning. In the evening, he locks up after everyone has left, regardless of the time.

Initially, the HR Manager handled the opening and locking of the office as we had just hired the Office Boy and did not fully trust him. However, now I am responsible for this task, affecting my timings. I have tried to communicate with the Office Boy in an encouraging manner, but there was no improvement after two days. The HR Manager also attempted to address the issue, but again, no progress after 2 to 3 days. We tried to understand his challenges, and according to him, he has to drop his kids off at school and take them to the doctor sometimes. Even when his kids have holidays, he still arrives at 9:30 AM.

He receives overtime pay for staying back late, but it is reduced if he arrives late. For instance, if he arrives at 9:30 AM and leaves at 7 PM, he will not receive OT for the additional half-hour as he was late by half an hour.

We have tried both positive and negative approaches to encourage him to arrive on time, but we have not seen any progress. When questioned about his lateness, he simply says he had work.

This situation is frustrating. My question is, if we trust the Office Boy now and he occasionally stays back when engineers have work, why can't he open the office on time? I commute 20 kilometers to the office and back home, the HR Manager does the same with a 10-kilometer distance, so why can't he, especially when he lives only 3 kilometers away and has his own vehicle?

I seek your assistance. I want to find a way to motivate him to arrive on time in the morning. Sometimes, when asked to open the office, he does so at 9:30 AM. I need your guidance to address this issue.

Thank you.

Regards,

Nikita

Dear Nikita,

Today's scenario is such that you can find people for any position, but it is very hard to find office boys or housekeeping staff.

Do not encourage a poor attitude from an office boy; in such a case, termination may be necessary. However, it is essential to understand why he is behaving this way.

If he is performing personal tasks for your employees like purchasing breakfast, lunch, coffee, or snacks, do not encourage it, and please cease this immediately.

Assign him official tasks such as data entry or file management. Even though he is currently an office boy, he may not wish to remain in that position forever, so consider offering him a career growth opportunity.

The primary issue may be that he is married and has children, leading him to seek a change, growth, or higher salary. Consequently, he may not be fully engaged in his work.

Hence, I recommend looking for a new, young office boy if needed.

If you decide to retain him, create a career path for him and clearly communicate this plan. With guidance, he may improve his performance.

Avoid using salary increases as a tool with such employees, as it could lead to recurring issues and unnecessary problems.

Thank you.

Hi Shenbagarajan K,

Thank you for replying back. In the past few months, we have increased the KRAs of the office boy. We are trying to understand more deeply what the reason for his tardiness is, analyze it, and determine what we can do to address the situation.

We acknowledge that as he is married and has kids, he has additional responsibilities at home, including dropping his kids off at school. Overtime has been a consistent occurrence since we hired him, and I agree that a salary hike is unnecessary.

We will develop a plan for him and perhaps create a questionnaire for everyone, including him, to gain a more personal understanding of all the employees.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,
Nikita