Punctuality Issue With Employees

Hi,
Happy Afternoon..!
I am working in a consultancy as Client Engagement Executive on HR Generalist Profile. I am responsible for managing all the HR operations and strategies of our Clients.
My problem is, In our Client's Organisation, mostly all employees are coming late by 10 - 30 Mins. Office In-Time is 9:00 AM. We applied different approaches for solving this situation like fines for number of late marks, salary deductions, conducted sessions, notice emails, one on one sessions but no improvements.
Please give your valuable suggestions ASAP.

Make them (late comers) stay late in the office as well as call them on Sundays also (without paying any extra overtime), saying that we are unable to meet the targets as most of the employees are coming late.
Give recognition (rewards) to those employees who are punctual. The rewards can be financial or non-financial. This will certainly make a difference.
Make a habit of sending motivational thoughts (daily) to all employees by sms. At present you can send thoughts relating to "value of time". You can find the same on internet.
If still your problem will not resolve then start filtering good employees and say "thank you" to others following proper procedure.

Dear Ms. Shweta,
Dealing with tardiness is very critical in maintaining employee respect.
Firstly, Ask the employee to meet you in your cabin so that he/she is not uncomfortable or embarrassed.
Use a calm tone and ask the employee about his/her tardiness. List a few occassions in which the employee was late.
Listen to what the employee has to say, may be the employee must have really some glitch.
Ask the employee to overcome tardiness with some solution, if not you may gently advice the employee that you can provide a solution and implement your thought accordingly.
Approach the situation that can be handled with much tender and explain the employee why punctuality is important to your clients.
Last but not the least, even after a one-on-one, if the employee does not tend to change issue him/ her a final warning letter.

Dear Shweta,
I appreciate suggestions of Bhawna and Sharmila.
What are the reasons employees mentioning for late coming?
Regards
Parth

Dear,
If posible, write their names on Notice Boards on daily basis which can be seen by everyone in organisation.
As days goes you may find that numbers of late comers will reduce.
Also keep your salary deduction practice.
Cordially,
Mahesh Ayare

Hi ShwetaVi,
To get a more help on your question, tell us "Whats your company business and how many employees?".
Ukmitra

Hello Shwetavi,
Pl respond to the queries of Parth & Ukmitra.
Also, you mentioned that '.....coming late by 10 - 30 Mins'. Have you tried giving a grace period for check-in?
Where is Salai located? How is the traffic situation @ this place--meaning are there frequent traffic jams?
Unless you mention the various reasons given by the employees [obviously everyone would have told differently], the efforts of the members would be a case of 'hunting in the dark'.
Rgds,
TS

Hello Everyone..

Thank you all for your valuable suggestions.

Company is located in Sadashiv Peth and its an Interior Designing Firm. Total employees in the organization are 20, 70 % are females. Attrition rate is high. Company is hiring and firing very fluently that too within Probation period.

In one on one sessions, most common reason for late reporting is that female employees are married and they have to finish domestic work in the morning before coming to office.

Male employees don't have any genuine reason for reporting late.

Secondly 18 employees reporting time is 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM while core members (2) reporting time is 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Inspite of this leverage, they are coming approx 10:15 - 10:30 AM everyday (Core Members timing cannot be changed because they joined Organization on the same condition). Observing this scenario, juniors are following the same.

Employees are working late as well for completion of individual task. Office generally closed at 8:00 PM. No grace period is given for In Time.

We cannot continue fines or deductions because this system is not at all affecting them.

Company applied and removed this system before I came into the picture.

I will put forward the following suggestions in front of Company's Director:-

1. Rewards for Punctual Employees.

2. Names of Late Comers on Notice Board.

3. Regular Messages on "Value of Time".

Hi Shwetavi,

Excellent info. I have just modified your info below to have a good picture.

Here is my suggestion.

Before I give my comments, must say that the loyalty of staff is there to complete the work, which must be rewarded. Hope you agree. But, there is no compromise on punctuality, to maintain the standard of organization.

1. Introduce grace period 15 min for all Staff. With Condition that only 6 grace period in a month. After 6 grace period, late marks will be recorded with 1/2 days deduction.

2. Timing change for all staff from 10.00 am to 6.30 pm (8 hours with 30 min break for lunch). Lunch time 1.00 to 1.30 (flexi) But not during peak working hours.

3. Clear message sent to all staff on the timing of office and have an acknowledgement taken from them as well.

Besides, since your office is in Interior designing, please understand that its a creative business and most of such stringent rules normally does not work with such employees. For creative minds we need to be flexible, but ensure they are loyal to their work and work does not suffer due to they being non punctual. As long as that happens, just ignore these few cases and implement that is flexible and fun to work.

Also, I did not ask about the employee average Age group and the home location and mode of transfer to office. Please also take those into consideration while finalizing your decision.

Like example: if all staff staying with 1 hours reach and commute by road, you can suggest management to have company vehicle for pick-up and drop.

Management also needs to be fully aware of the employee family background and ensure that majority of staff is retained on longtime basis. Selection of team members should be done with care and mindfulness.

Hope my suggestion is making sense.

Ukmitra

Hello Everyone,
Thank you Ukmitra for understanding my query so properly and for your valuable suggestions. They are very helpful.
We cannot change timings because all Interior Designers have to attend daily meeting with company's Director at 9:30 AM and with Core Members at 10:15 AM. He is very punctual.