Being late for work - is it acceptable these days?

excellent point, what was i thinking of? ?

I'm quite relaxed about timekeeping generally and only come down hard on someone if I really have to because they have a role where timekeeping is critical (in my direct reports this is really only the receptionist who has to unlock the doors and turn on the switchboard every morning)

In my role I end up working between 5 - 12 hours per week more than I am contracted to do, but I accept that this is part and parcel of having a senior role. As such, I sometimes come in later than my contracted 0830 starting time and expect this flexibility from my employer. I have a good working relationship with my MD and he shares my flexible attitude to working hours, which is good. I am also fairly relaxed with my team and respect their preferences for example, one lady like to be here for 7.30am and leave at bang on 4.30pm every day. Others will be in for our 8.30 standard start time and leave between 1645 and 1700. Blah blah blah.

I think if there is no critical business related reason for being at your desk bang on time every day then it's not worth stressing about. I disagree that it means you don't care about your job as I am between 5-15 minutes late on a couple of days but am extremely passionate about my organisation and work as much as I need to into the evenings / miss lunch breaks if necessary. I don't think this theory really works.

Looks like I'm in the minority then because I was late pretty much every day in the three years I was at my last job. Unless I had a morning meeting (rare) I was always between 15 and 60 minutes late. No excuses, I just hated my job and couldn't be bothered to get out of bed in the morning.

I did always do my 7 hours a day, but I also can't agree that working over and above your contracted hours should be expected. I suppose if you enjoy your job then fair enough but I don't work for fun, or for free.

Obviously I was also late when they were handing out Protestant work ethic. ?

Sorry i'm late, i've been working my contracted hours plus and extra half hour before them. i don't think being late is acceptable unless its a genuine one off with good reason. mind you i'm grumpy about personal phone calls, personal mobile phones on at work and shutting down your computer early s you can't answer last minutes queries which are things one of my colleagues thinks are ok.

No, it isn't acceptable to just troop into work late every day when there is an expectation that you work specific hours, ie 9 - 5. I do totally accept the situ is different where people work long hours, late nights etc in an environment where it's expected that you're there till the work is done whenever that is, if someone is working till 10 o clock at night it's a bit churlish to moan that they've come in 15 mins late.

As for the leaving on the dot of 5 I have to do it in my current job on the days I have to pick up my son or I will be late for my childminder. I don't have any other option and my employers knew that when they took me on [shrug] and we work a rota system and there are people rota'd on till 6 and 8, so it's not like by me coming off the rota at 5 I'm imposing more of a burden on my colleagues. I do stay behind, work extra when I need to on days when I don't have to collect him though.

Let's just ignore the fact I rolled into work at 9.50 am today though ? I had forgotten my purse and bag and didn't realise till I got into the car park at the park and ride, so had to go home and get them as I had no way of paying for my parking/underground ticket otherwise! I did of course offer to make up the time.

My last job was flexi time, which worked for us, but my job before that was in a call centre, so you had to stick to the set times. I wouldn't say I love getting up in the mornings, but I always plan to be early, and then if something happens, then I am at least on time.

I am late sometimes but only by 5 or 10mins never half an hour without ringing in with an explanation. I work in the centre of a town and the traffic is hell every day

Absolutely what Ice Queen said.

Can you tell the managers / people who own businesses on this thread? ?

The thing that intrigues me about comments like this is that the poster never seems to take the risk of 'sometimes' being early by 5 or 10 minutes i.e. if the traffic's hell every day, just leave 10 minutes earlier.

I don't think it is acceptable and it is a bit of a bug bear of mine. Someone being late once in a while isn't a problem as everyone can be stuck in bad traffic / have train delays etc that are longer than they would have accounted for, but consistently late is not acceptable.

I have always understood that the time you start work is the time you start work. Not the time you enter the building before making a coffee and having your breakfast before finally starting working at 9.30 rather than 9.00.

I had a colleague who would often be late every single day of the week and by Friday could turn up anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes late. He always justified it by saying he worked the hours at other times, but that didn't help if clients were calling up and wanted to speak to him when he was supposed to be in work but wasn't.

In my office we have a mix of structured and more flexible shifts

Start times for the shifts are 0700, 1000, 1330 and 1800. There's a late book and the records are passed on to the relevant line manager. They normally get to finish before their contracted hours, so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to turn up on time, and it's a disciplinary matter for consistent lateness

The managers have more flexible hours, but are expected to work all of their contracted hours so if they start later than the shift they're managing, they stay later

I can't abide lateness, and my staff know this as I make it very clear when I interview them. They know who to phone if they are going to be late and usually come and apologise to me (even though they don't have to)

Still, working here is better than up chimneys or down mines . . . . just!

i know ?

i used to have a girl who would come in late and say she d missed the bus. i told her to get up earlier. when she d arrive shed then eat a bowl of cornflakes and read the paper, starting work 30-40 mins after her contracted start. she did this twice, and i told her that unless she was on time, and ate breakfast at home, she d soon be out of a job. oh, and she d take calls on her personal mobile as well, so i had to change everyones contracts to ban mobile phone use during office hours.

in my experience, the vast majority of employees will always push push push and take everything they can, giving zero loyalty and having no comprehension about the risk the business owner is taking, and the ramifications on their own job if theyre lazy.

Ive always strived to be on time for all my previous employers. Its just not right to turn up at work late. Any time I even get a hint of being late (usually due to public transport) I call in whether Im going to be late by 5 minutes or an hour. Lots of my previous colleagues used to come in late. one of my previous colleagues would come in half an hour late, walk out again after 5 minutes and not come back for another hour. Usually he would give a reason like he had to go home to walk his dog ?. Nothing would be said to him which was extremely frustrating for the rest of us who came in at least 1/2 an hour before we were due to start, especially for me as i had to leave 2 hours before my shift started to get in on time. He eventually left the company when a new team leader pulled him up on it. He left shouting obscenities at said team leader (poor bloke).

I hate tardiness

i wont accept it as an employer unless there is a genuine reason

i get into work on time so i expect my staff too also , i am here now and i dont open til 10 but it gives me time to tidy up before the doors open and luckily my staff come in 10 minutes earlier to do the same

i feel if i am late i am rushing and i am stressed for the rest of the day so i find it better for me to be a little earlier and have a nosy on the internet and a cuppa before all hell breaks loose

i think if you are always late for work its time to leave a little bit earlier in the morning to allow for the traffic etc especially if you know its the same every day

When I was a trainee and had just moved flats I had about a week where I was about 5 - 10 mins late until I sorted out a reliable route into work. I hated being late and would always call ahead to apologise.

What got my goat though was another trainee would always sneer at my lateness and comment on it saying they were always in an hour early. However, they would then spend the rest of the day surfing the interent and generally keep their head down to avoid work and leave bang on time. I would always make up the time - and beyond.

Still, I was late and hated it and resolved not to get in the circle again. I don't think consistent lateness is acceptable - either professionaly or personally.

Jeez, Nick, that's just what I needed to hear ?<gulp>

legless wrote the following post at Wed, Sep ****:36:

Lateness and blatent skiving really piss me off.

I work with the boob starer. He is a community nurse like me. We have contracted hours, but such is the nature of the job, i am often at work late and so take the time back when i can.

He, however, works a 4 day week, but does full time hours, so should be in 4 days, 8-6.

He is never there in the morning when i get in at 9, he is rarely there after i leave at 5.

He has been seen swimming in work time at our leisure centre, he always says he is over worked yet spends hours on the internet in the office on various sports websites, and the olympics was a piss take, hardly saw him (which in some respects is a blessing, but his lack of work has a huge knock on effect for me)

By the way, i am not at work typing this, i am on holiday.

The Psychiatrist refuses to worjk with him as he never does what he says he will, the manager knows he is never here when he is meant to be, he and i had a huge falling out just before i went on myholiday as he always asks me where i am going, what time i was in, if i am busy, i think to assuage his own guilt over skiving.

Typical NHS never tackles this stuff. What really grinds me is he gets this day off in the week as he supposably works his hours over 4 days, yet i seem to be there much longer than him.

Oh, he has also rung me from a 'patients' home to show he was 'at work# when i heard his son call 'daddy', i pissed myself.

Nick, please come and sort him, and you should all be cross, it is your taxes that pay our wages, yadda yadda, ?

Another holiday?

I get in at 9.10 every day. That's just the time my train gets in. The one before leaves 40 minutes earlier, so I'd end up being in for 8.30 every day (and having to leave the house at 6.40).

But I'm the boss, so I say my day starts at 9.15. That way I'm always 5 minutes early - problem solved.

Totally unacceptable.

If I'm ever late (I probably have been about 3 times in my 17 year working life) I am always mortified and will phone ahead to explain/apologise.

It strikes me that many people these days have no self discipline.

I agree about skiving off too - At our place, some of the sales guys go and get their haircut during office hours which particularly gets my goat.

yes, i did not class my short stay in Cornwall in May as a holiday, neither a does a cruise with mad nan count as one (it was harder than my job!) , hence, my first holiday this year!

I used to work with a youngish guy (pain in the behind) who was always late.

One morning, he was 3 hours late with no phone call etc. When he finally came in his excuse was that the heating had broken and was waiting for the repair man. When asked why his mother didn't wait in as it was her house, his reply was 'her job is important'.

He was sacked a week later.

When I was in the military if you weren't 5 minutes early then you were late, and I still can't get that mentality out of my head !

I suppose H is technically late for work every day. His hours are 8-4, but the trains don't fit around it. He gets the train that gets him to the office (station is right next to his office) at 8.04am, but then gets a train home that leaves at 4.12pm, so he does work the full hours. The earlier train would mean him getting up at 5.30am and arriving at work at 7.15am. He wouldn't be able to do that and leave at 3.15am, so he gets the later train.

As a teacher I'd be in real trouble if I was late. I'm usually at school by 7.50am, although we're not required to be there until 8.35am and the day starts at 8.45am. There have been a couple of occasions where I've been a couple of minutes late (traffic issues, or the one occasion when my car wouldn't start and I had to get public transport) but I called in on those occasions and they are the exception, not the rule. The latest I've ever been was my first day at my second teaching placement at uni. I'd done the route on the day before so I knew the way, timed it, and added 40 minutes to allow for Monday morning London traffic. Then overnight it snowed. I was an hour and a half late and mortified. My only consolation was I was the second to arrive out of 6 trainees!

I don't really like being late. I am lucky in that my current job operates on a sort of flexi system. I can start work between 7.30 and 9.30 and then just work the 8 hours. This means its almost impossible to be late. I always aim to be in for 8.00 but tend to get in at 8.10 so work till 4.10ish.

In a past job I found myself getting into work later and later despite only living 5 minutes away, I was starting to get in at 9.05, with no good excuse. It was at this point I decided it was time to move on as I had lost all interest in the job and just couldn't be bothered to make the effort anymore.

I'm sick and tired of some of the slack hours bieng kept by people in my department lately. We don't do flexi time, though we are flexible with our staff if needed. This lot are taking the piss - no one was in the other day until 10.30am, and they'd all gone by 5.30pm. It's not fair on my team or anyone else who does come in and put in the hours. Still, it'll all be changing soon as their manager (my "contemporary") is leaving and my boss has decided she'll be sitting in our office for a while. <evil cackle>

Just had a very entertaining time reading this and had the same thought as Nick J on page 8 about people hitching whilst working!

I am a morning person so am only late because of a traffic incident. Today I got to work in 15 mins (10 miles in the car) but yesterday some plonkers had had a pile up and so it took an hour but I was still only 13 mins late!

My company runs summer hours where we can leave at 2pm on Friday, but only if we make the time up during the week. Some colleagues have agreed later starting hours due to childcare/school runs but it was the younger single ones who were often late. Our boss has had to point out the rules twice in the 5 months I've worked there!

I hate lateness and when I've managed people I've asked them to text me if they going to be more than 15 mins late and have had to speak to people in the past about them not then making the hours up, or being continually late.

Being a self-employed teacher if I am late then a lesson doesn't happen, I don't get paid and potentialy risk losing that student forever if they are unhappy about it. So I am never late. But then I'm not late for social and personal appointments either - I think my brain just won't let me be late!

And obviously as a teacher I can't hitch at work. So my conscience is disgustingly clear!