Would you fire a worker who shows up 15 mins their first day?
 

Let's say you hire a group of 10 employees. On the first day, everyone shows up on time or early. All except one worker who shows up 15 minutes late.

Would you let him or her through the door?

I don't really care about archaic shit like that. Do they know their role well? Am I treating them well enough (pay, etc) for them to want to execute that knowledge? If yes, then presumably they'll make me more money. The rest is irrelevant.

I get what you're saying, and I agree with you 100%. But we're talking about the first day of work here. You haven't had a chance to treat or pay them well enough, yet. They haven't even sat down and met their co-workers, yet they are late on the first day. Don't you see it as an attitude issue?

Nah. I think that's reading too much into it. To be fair, I don't have some rule like this to begin with, so perhaps a bit harder for me to judge this situation.

Attitude problem would be showing up on the first day and telling me to fuck off during first meeting or so. Showing up 15 minutes late can have 100's of pretty innocent reasons - none of which matter at all to me.

Here's my favorite excuse, that I heard from a guy on a film once.....

I had a personal hygiene emergency.

fap fap fap... :thumbsup

It depend on more factors, like what kind of job position is, as some positions is hard to filled so you cant really fire someone if there is lack of available work force .

And also like is job type something what finishing it does not relay on time frame but more on worker skill.

The question is really more about attitude and respect than any practical issues. If a person shows up to work late on their first day, what does it say about them?

It says that they are human. Sure its possible that they just dont really give a fuck... And, unfortunately, that probably would be the reason. However, shit does sometimes happen, that is out of your control...

I really couldn't answer based upon the level of detail you have given, and the lack of knowing a reason, that they may or may not have given you.

More info is needed.

The guy fucked his GF un the car at lunch.... we never asked about the ..... emergency

You can flip coins on what it means.

But what if it means that person was so excited that day to be working for such a great company that they spilled coffee on their pants at the drive-through and had to go back home to change.

Yeah, fire him; because he doesn't need to spend another day working for some asshole who forms opinions without even asking questions.

:2 cents:

Junior year in college I ran out of money around spring. Applied for a job waiting tables, got hired and did the training, then the first day I was scheduled to be waiting (a Saturday lunch) I was lazing in bed with the GF when it occurred to me that I was supposed to be at work. I think I was an hour late.

They let it slide, and I worked there through that degree, my next degree, and post-grad. Seriously, I became the best employee they had.

Who daFuck "goes" to work anyway?

We get out of a bed and into a chair for our commute.

:1orglaugh

That's a good story. Thanks for sharing.

in that case then, I lik to imagine that when he came... He also 'went'...

About 8 years ago I ran a company with about 30 - 40 employees. It was phone sales and worker turnover rate was very high - we'd hire people in groups of 5 - 10. After moving to a new office, we did our first big hire: 14 new sales reps all starting on the same day. Monday morning, their training (which lasted at least a month) was all set up for them to get started as soon as they arrived. Everyone was on time, or early, except for one dude who showed up exactly 15 minutes late. Fuck it, I thought, and told the HR person to not let him in. To this day I still wonder if I was too rash.

Some great responses. But if I want to make a good impression at my new job, I'll try to at least be on time. Then again, I was taught being late is extremely rude.

My housekeeper was about a half hour late the first day she came here. She's been here over 10 years now. I'm very glad I kept her.

Be like Apple, when I worked there, they bribed me with things like 60gb iPod Videos back when those were top of the line for me to come in on time, instead of firing or disciplining me. (I was going to college full time in the morning, so that's what made me late a lot)

Yeah, but keeping her at your house for over 10 years, and not letting her ever go home, so as she cant be late again, isn't really keeping within the spirit of things... :helpme

I think you probably made the right move. Being late on your first day is generally more often than not a sign of what is to come with that employee. I may have reprimanded him/her with a warning and let them earn your trust back, but now that you say it was a entry level high turnover position, I think you made the right move.

No I would not

civilians do!

Job security and she no longer needs public transportation to get here.

You have more experience with hiring and firing large groups of people than most who have posted in this thread. Your job was to bring in a large group of folks and have them perform a function to the best of their ability and help them get better at it. You, as the team leader, had specific needs that you feel were not met. This will vary based on the situation.

Managing yourself is difficult, managing a small team is even more difficult, managing a dozen or more? You start letting one slide for this and one slide for that, you've got a whole team sliding all over the place.

I find that my gut is right more often than not, and when I start second-guessing myself, that's when mistakes happen.

Me? Too many variables to say, but I know one thing, I wouldn't be regretting it years later. :-) Move on.

I would not fire them.

Would give person a chance to see how they perform the job, and if they are on time after that. See how it plays out... if they are late the 2nd day and doing a poor job then yes I would fire. If they are late 2nd day but do an amazing job, I would explain they need to be on time or get fired lol.

It would depend on how time-critcal the job was. Some jobs, being present at a specific time is crucial and some it makes little difference. Especially on the first day, where someone may not know their way or be used to the traffic patterns or train schedules or whatever, I am more lenient.

I might be too lenient though because, while I've had some amazing workers who couldn't hack stuff like being on time, I've also had workers I suspect I ended up having to fire for bigger things partly because they got complacent getting away with smaller things.

in my company around 60% come late every day

:thumbsup

Happy Christmas mate :)

I had heard in business school, that if you're late for class they don't let you in.

CEO's of a large corporations probably start working at 5:00 in the morning and work till 8 or 9:00 at night with their day scheduled out in 15 - 30 minute increments.

I can relate to the get out of bed part. I'm up @ 4 every morning to work for the man. I ensure the pumping infrastructure is maintained by rebuilding large industrial pumps for most municipalities. Wished I could be like that but I relyed on what got me through 60 years so far. I never had the balls to take a chance. Thankful still working making 100 k plus a year with pension and benefits. The Time has come to hang it up. My body is starting to fail me. more surgeries, more headaches.

I would give him a warning that this better not be a habit or c-ya hit the bricks. You will find a decent employee eventually

speak for yourself, i travel to castles, lakes, beaches, pools, rent homes and casas, find mountain tops and other amazing features and sceneries for some of my films :2 cents:

:1orglaugh

If the day before somebody told me something rude at work.. it's my self-defensive mechanism. I just want to hide and live through the pain alone. So I can sometimes hesitate to go to work, and when I finally realize how important this is and actually make effort I'm late. And I can't even open my mouth about it, because nobody cares. Sometimes I beat this by working on myself and trying to stay positive. Then I'm never late.

Did anyone ask them why they were late? I mean what if there was a car accident that had the road he was on shut down doe 25 mins. I get being late on the first day is a red flag but in 2021 there are so many things happening that I would give them the benefit of the doubt and see if their performance was better than others and if they showed up on day 2 or 3 late it would be a no brainer to let them go.

You too, my friend.

You're doing it the hard way.

The easy way is to play some rap like Moneybag Yo.

"I don't like __ I don't like __ I don't like nobody"
"We can get gangster, we can keep it cordial, how you want to go about it?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H6x...oneybaggYoVEVO


:2 cents:

I personally hate rushing, and appreciate jobs where I can start my day when it suits me.

If the job is performance-based, I'd not give a damn if they hadn't showed up at all. End of week comes and they bring in the numbers - here's a bonus.

Naturally, there's time-sensitive jobs where it matters to be on time. If the job is time-sensitive then 3 strikes is my best rule. I believe people are intrinsically good until they prove me wrong 3 times, or pull something truly atrocious.

I went to business school. I expect there are some professors somewhere who do that, but my MBA did not have much in the way of punctuality requirements. I think maybe it was possible to flunk a class if one missed enough of it, but nobody would have done that.

Well if your show up at a certain time instructions were as fucked up and confusing as this thread title I would let it slide dude.

:pimp

I just realized I forgot to include the word "late" in the title :1orglaugh

in todays climate, at least they showed up.

I dunno how things are where you are, but here everywhere is short staffed, hiring, and unable to fill positions.

I know man just busting your chops. :1orglaugh
Happy New Year!!

I'm talking like 5 years ago. Another important details I left out of the thread lol.

Let's turn this around:

I only hire people with special skills that require verification and extensive reference checks. So if someone makes it through that, they're special, and I wouldn't care if they were 15 minutes late. If I needed them to be somewhere on time, I would tell them, "be there on time, and text me if for ANY REASON you are going to be late". Then they are never late. Further, anyone can be 15 minutes late on their first day for a variety of real reasons.

If, on the other hand, you hire large groups of poor schlubs with no skills only because they are breathing, then I suppose you could fire them for any trivial reason without consequence.

THEREFORE, if you are in a job where being 15 minutes late on the first day is an offense resulting in termination, you know you have been classified by your employer as a useless drone who is just filling a spot and waiting to die. Quit immediately and take stock of your life, is my advice. Never, ever work for an organization or person who would fire you on the first day for so minor a mistake.

Your opinion is noted :)

Did you even bother to ask why they were late? What was the excuse?

What does it say about you that you instantly think they are a bad person because they were late for work. Give it a chill and see how the person works.

What the fuck is 15 mins in the scope of things unless you are just an asshole as an employer. If it happens repeatedly then sure that’s a problem but any number of things could cause someone to be late.

If the person just doesn’t give a fuck then sure, but if it was simply a mistake they showed up late then who fucking cares unless you are a drill sergeant who expects everyone to jump every time you walk in the door.

It could have easily taken longer to get to work than expected or traffic or any number of things. Being late 1 day doesn’t give any reflection on their character other than they are capable of making a mistake just like everyone else.

What's to keep the person from lying?

IF this is your line of thinking, I doubt some top-notch pros would be willing to work for you. I mean, it's his first day, and you don't care to ask why is he late because you believe he'll lie to you.

Why the hell are you even hiring a person if you believe he is a liar before even getting to know him.

I mean, come on, 15 minutes is nothing.

- You can tear your t-shirts
- You can spill something on yourself while driving
- There can be traffic (especially on a new work where you don't know the roads)
- Don't you have kids? Cause sometimes, you have to drop 1/2/3 kids to specific places, and sometimes they tend not to cooperate

The list goes on...

Before anything else, be HUMAN and act humanely with your employees.

i wouldn't on the first day, but i would make it clear employees are to arrive on time and ready to work. After that, you need to monitor his arrival times and take progressive action....reprimand, suspension and if it still continues...firing...

It depends.

But it definitely is a bad look.