Have an Employee Who's Always Late? Here's What to do.
You have employees who seem to be late for just about everything – work, meetings, etc. (They always has a good reason, of course.) There are several effective strategies you can try, but the one I’ve seen used with greatest success is this:
Set up a meeting with them. Have prepared a list of specific occasions when they have been late (make the list as long as you can). Read the list out loud, then point out the silent message they’ve been sending to the people around them.
For example:
“Sam, being late for things once in a while is inevitable. It happens to everybody. But it’s happening to you more often than once in a while.
“Being late once sends the message, ‘Oops, I goofed.’ Being late on a number of occasions sends the message that you think your needs are more important than everyone else’s. I’m sure that it is not the impression you want to leave people with.”
Once you’ve done this, ask for a commitment to improve the tardiness, then make sure you monitor their behavior over the next couple of months.
