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Ask HN: How will you handle a team member who always comes late and leaves early?

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Re: Ask HN: How will you handle a team member who always comes late and leaves early?

#3
post #2

If he does what he's supposed to do then let him be. If it's affecting his work you better have a talk with him.

Exactly that. If it's some "policy" and not something objective you will sound clueless. Many people just sit in corporate environments waiting for the clock to hit 6, and do nothing until they leave. You don't want this kind of behavior.

In case his work is time sensitive, it's a different problem.

Re: Ask HN: How will you handle a team member who always comes late and leaves early?

#4
That depends on whether he/she delivers or not. I've had people working for me that didn't seem to care about the clock but as long as they delivered their share (and sometimes more) I never cared too much.

What I do have a problem with is people that are there strictly 9-to-5 without delivering. That's a much bigger problem. (Obviously, just being there 9-5 is no problem that should be the norm, that people are only there for the time that you actually pay them.)

Re: Ask HN: How will you handle a team member who always comes late and leaves early?

#5
If the person is not working their full hours commitment that they agreed to to when they accepted the job (e.g. 40 hours for a regular full time job ) it is time for them to go. It is illegal (fraud) to bill for a full days work, but not work the full day for the hours billed.

If they are skimping on things like working a full day without using their vacation time and clearing leaving early with the boss. Then the person is probably skimping on other important things that will eventually come back to bite the team, themselves, or even worse the company.

People that do this are not trustworthy and should be distanced from those that do their full hours and bill their time accurately. Insure the boss knows of the illegal activity so he can work with H.R. to get the person out of there as soon as possible so you can get a more trustworthy replacement. How much work they complete or the quality of it is no substitute for committing fraud.

Re: Ask HN: How will you handle a team member who always comes late and leaves early?

#6
post #3
post #2

If he does what he's supposed to do then let him be. If it's affecting his work you better have a talk with him.

Exactly that. If it's some "policy" and not something objective you will sound clueless. Many people just sit in corporate environments waiting for the clock to hit 6, and do nothing until they leave. You don't want this kind of behavior. In case his work is time sensitive, it's a different problem.

That's the challenge I am facing. We are very flexible with the timings. It usually works for us. We seldom find people misusing this freedom. But then, once in a while we come across this situation. I am not sure asking the person to stretch a little more will help the coarse. I want him to be motivated intrinsically.

Re: Ask HN: How will you handle a team member who always comes late and leaves early?

#7
You left out the important bit: Is he actually working less than 8 hour days (or whatever is the norm in your country), or is he simply working less hours than the rest of the team.

Only in the first case do you need to have that difficult talk with him. In the other case, the best plan would be to use him as an example for the rest of the team to emulate. Get your work finished and get out. If the rest of the team isn't doing that, it'll come back to bite you in terms of long term productivity and team happiness.

Re: Ask HN: How will you handle a team member who always comes late and leaves early?

#8
Two points:

1. I'm assuming that you mean a team member who comes in late and leaves early, but doesn't do any additional work outside of the office environment? I know of many people who leave the office early and work from home.

2. The key metric here is delivery - I'd much rather someone who works fewer hours but delivers results over someone who works long hours, but doesn't deliver.

Re: Ask HN: How will you handle a team member who always comes late and leaves early?

#9

You left out the important bit: Is he actually working less than 8 hour days (or whatever is the norm in your country), or is he simply working less hours than the rest of the team. Only in the first case do you need to have that difficult talk with him. In the other case, the best plan would be to use him as an example for the rest of the team to emulate. Get your work finished and get out. If the rest of the team i…

We don't follow any norms for work timings. We are flexible.

And I wouldn't mind if he finishes his work and moves out. But, it's not happening that way. I am concerned about others in the team who might be demotivated because of this person.

Re: Ask HN: How will you handle a team member who always comes late and leaves early?

#10
post #6
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly that. If it's some "policy" and not something objective you will sound clueless. Many people just sit in corporate environments waiting for the clock to hit 6, and do nothing until they leave. You don't want this kind of behavior. In case his work is time sensitive, it's a different problem.

That's the challenge I am facing. We are very flexible with the timings. It usually works for us. We seldom find people misusing this freedom. But then, once in a while we come across this situation. I am not sure asking the person to stretch a little more will help the coarse. I want him to be motivated intrinsically.

I think you just answered your own question. You want the person to be something other than what they are. Maybe they are valuable to you in other ways, hence your struggle over what to do. Do those benefits outweigh the potential costs to the team? Perceived inequity has a life of its own in a group setting.
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