Send new recruits alarm clock in their welcome pack

Straight-talking, common sense from the front line of management

QA recent hire is a really hard worker, whose work is exceptional and who – unlike many of his colleagues – often puts in late hours where needed to hit major deadlines. The only problem is that he is ruffling a few feathers with his timekeeping – running 10 or 15 minutes late, often arriving with a coffee in his hand. I’m not sure how to approach him about this. Given his otherwise excellent performance should I just sit back and let him be late?

A

Don’t cop out, it is high time you had a chat with this serial latecomer. If you ignore his poor timekeeping and allow someone who is a potential superstar to call at the coffee shop, instead of coming straight to the office, you will be doing everyone a disservice, by failing the colleague, the company and yourself.

A leader must develop promising talent, but this young man will never gain the respect of other colleagues as long as he fails to arrive at the office on time. You can’t give promotion to a man who becomes known as “Mr Late”.

The Timpson business has a reputation for trusting colleagues with the freedom to do their job in the way they want. But we have two rules – 1) Look the part 2) Put the money in the till.

Rule 1) expects colleagues to be smartly dressed and turn up on time – even in our upside down management world, colleagues can’t choose their own timetable – we put the shop opening times on every shop door and on our website so colleagues must be there for our customers. (In my book anything less than five minutes early is late.) Punctuality matters just as much in all our support departments, who need to be there to help whenever the shops are open.

Once or twice a year I experience a similar frustration to customers who are kept waiting. Despite being semi-retired I sometimes crawl out of bed before 6am, to reach a far flung shop by opening time. I don’t tell them I’m coming (but it doesn’t take long for most colleagues within the area to know that I’m around).

Very occasionally I have arrived at the first shop to find the shutters down and the door shut. I immediately call a member of the area team, who usually know the reason. The most common causes are car breakdowns, illness, childcare problems and public transport. But there are times when colleagues hold up their hands and admit they overslept.

Every area has someone who makes sure there is a colleague to cover for days off, holidays, medical appointments and birthdays. They need to know all about the people – who has a car, who likes working Sundays, who can deal with complicated car keys – and it goes without saying that everyone has to turn up on time. Timekeeping is so important in our business we send new recruits an alarm clock as part of their welcome pack.

Your chat about lateness is critical to the future of this colleague’s career. If you fail to get the message across you will have to dismiss him and miss the chance of a promising future together, so be prepared for a critical conversation.

Start the meeting on a positive note by saying how impressed you are with his ability and dedication to the job. Tell him he could have a great future, but explain that this one big obstacle could get in the way of his career. Then ask him why he always arrives after everyone else. Does he find it difficult getting out of bed in the morning? Does he have to care for other family members before setting off to work? Is the bus usually late? Why does he need to buy a coffee before getting to work?

Go into enough detail to show him his habit of being late is serious and needs changing, then find a way of making punctuality part of his new image. It could be as simple as catching a different bus or cycling to work – whatever gets him there on time.

Make his pursuit of punctuality a matter of public knowledge and personal pride, he needs to gain the respect of his colleagues.

Your question makes me wonder how many potentially great people we lose because we don’t nurture them in their first year of employment. We like colleagues to have the courage to express their personality but when it comes to punctuality and appearance they have to toe the line.

Despite his timekeeping problem your recent hire has plenty of potential. If you don’t want to give him some much-needed basic coaching please send him along to us, he sounds like the sort of person we are looking for.