Office space

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by greg1075, May 18, 2015.

  1. greg1075

    greg1075 Valued Member

    This guy I work with, on top of being totally disorganized and not good at his job, is also chronically late. We were told before he was hired on that he had a tardiness problem but we were short staffed and I suppose we underestimated the issue. The guy comes in at least 30 mn late every single day. This has been going on for a couple of years and we have found out that it is due to a medical condition for which he's being treated. While I don't know the exact diagnosis, the only one I can come up with is delayed sleep phase disorder, where a person biological clock is off and they can't fall asleep until very late and have a very hard time waking up in the morning.

    He was so late a couple of times last week that he simply took those mornings off and didn't show up until after lunch. Here is the kicker though. When the guy was scheduled to start his job at 8:30, he would show up around 9:00 or later, thus demonstrating that he CAN make ~9:00 work, but now that his start time has been changed to 9:00, He never comes in until at least 9:30. This doesn't compute at all.

    Anyone ever heard of something similar? I smell bullpoop.
     
  2. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    Are you his manager? If not, what is your problem? Clock in, do your job, clock out. Giving this a second of thought outside of work is unpaid labour and giving it a second of though inside work is slacking off.
     
  3. greg1075

    greg1075 Valued Member

    We work as a team. His tardiness heavily tilts workloads and affects the entire department.
     
  4. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    And that is a concern for the person running the team. The rest of you need to just get on with it. I've never worked in a team where at least one person wasn't a work shy chancer. You should be glad that yours is doing it in a highly visible way.
     
  5. greg1075

    greg1075 Valued Member

    :rolleyes:
     
  6. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    You don't agree?
     
  7. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    I don't agree. Being a part of a team and having a supervisor who is located elsewhere, I agree with Greg that it IS his problem as much as anyone else's. Working on a team is different from working in the same place as other people. When someone is late, it shifts responsibiity and workload to the people who DID show up.

    Now, I say that with a due sense of irony, given that I'm the one who's chronically late on my team. In my meager defense, it's more because of circumstances than character. But the net effect is the same. My teammates take up the slack. For which I'm extremely (and openly) grateful. And I endeavour to make it up to them when I can.

    If this guy isn't approaching it the same way, I think Greg has a real point.
     
  8. greg1075

    greg1075 Valued Member

    No I don't agree. Fitter Happier - a disastrous form of management that goes from bad to worse when morale is already affected because of bad colleagues or a toxic work environment. You really expect people to act like automatons 24/7 and let everything slide without a second thought? Staff aren't robots and more to the point, feeling that their opinions come crashing upon the walls of HR management and aren't heard is pretty much the worst thing you can do as a manager.
     
  9. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    The guy is ill. You don't know what that illness is, but presumably it's sufficiently convincing to satisfy your managers. Would you be so insensitive about a female colleague taking maternity leave? Or colleague who struggles with certain aspects of their job due to a disability? Or a colleague who needed to take an extended period of absence due to illness?
     
  10. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    I'm with Holy on this one.

    It's obviously a serious enough condition that his line manager and HR have allowed it to continue for several years.

    If his behaviour is ****ing you off Greg, you need to raise it in your next supervision meeting.
     
  11. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    Huh. I missed the illness part.
     
  12. Bozza Bostik

    Bozza Bostik Antichrist on Button Moon

    I hope you feel bad now!! If you don't, you should! ;)

    Bozza (who also frequently turns up late for work due to health problems and is happy to have understanding work mates and clients).
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2015
  13. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    Hell, I'm a fortnight out from a kidney transplant. I'm missing all kind of work right now, and counting on the kindness of teammates daily. Yeah, that makes a big difference.

    That said, I think the key is that the coworker is doing what s/he reasonably can. If my teammates are going to back me up when I need it, I damn well better back them up to the extent I'm able.

    Same for this guy.
     
  14. greg1075

    greg1075 Valued Member

    No it's not. They've pulled him in about it and it's the actual reason they moved him to 9:00. You'd think he'd be able to make that time since he did when scheduled at 8:30. Nope. Still 30-45 mn late every day. Went like this: was first scheduled for 9:00: would roll in 30+mn late. Then we had a change of sup and he asked to be moved to 8:30 because he didn't like the 8:30 shift. They said ok but you need to be on time. He said ok. Still 30+mn late every day. They told him that since he couldn't make it close 8:30 but was there more around 9:00, he would be back on the 9:00 shift. Problem solved? No, still 30+mn late every day. to What kind of medical condition explains tardiness no matter the time? If there's one I'm all ears. There's a point where you go from being accommodating to being taken advantage of. The quality of the actual work he does is dubious, by the way, and in terms of quantity he pulls low numbers. People hired on a year after he did produce double the sales he does.
     
  15. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    Chronic fatigue. Depression. Thyroid issues. Anaemia. Pretty much any illness that results in fatigue.

    It's not rocket science. You push his shift back half an hour, he pushes his alarm clock back half an hour. You haven't solved the underlying problem, which is fatigue causing him to struggle to get out of bed in the morning.

    As for his work performance - again, that's for his managers to deal with. If they're happy with his work, then you don't really have a legitimate reason not to be.
     
  16. greg1075

    greg1075 Valued Member

    There's a wrongful termination lawsuit factor at play too, here. A lady who worked for my department was finally let go a few years. To put it simply, she was terrible at her job and had other issues HR put up with for a while. She was in her 50s. When she got canned, she sued for age discrimination - just to give you an idea of the type of repercussions and headaches canning someone can bring to a company. That and the fact that the company has a history of being very slow at cutting the people who need to be cut. There's an ongoing joke that you need to kill someone to be let go around here. I have brought it up. Everyone knows about it and everyone is aggravated by it, staff and managers alike. I have no problem accommodating medical issues of any sort but the guy's pattern makes no sense. That's actually why I asked if someone had any experience with something similar.
     
  17. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    If the company did its job properly, the tribunal will be thrown out. If they didn't, then they deserve everything that's coming to them.

    There's a horrible irony about workers complaining about how hard it is to get fired from their job. In a sane world, that's something you should be very happy about.
     
  18. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    Costs for recruiting and training just one new employee are extensive in most sectors; companies would be wise to delay throwing away that investment unless absolutely necessary (i.e. in cases of gross misconduct).

    Your company will have a grievance procedure. I suggest you follow it if you're not satisfied with your manager's handling of the situation.

    Or you could, y'know, talk to your colleague and ask if they need help?
     
  19. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    As I work shifts and on a 1 in-1out team handover pattern...meaning I can't go home until someone takes over from me.
    As unwritten rule/professional courtesy, we all take over about 10mins early.....

    Except 1. There's always 1!

    Sometimes I would be on my way out of the building and I would be seeing her just driving into the complex or parking her car when she should be already at her desk.

    Then waltzes in like nothing happened.
    But when she is at her desk, with 5 mins to go, she's complaining that she is still there.

    Here's the kicker. She lives across the road and DRIVES into work. Then complains she's fat.

    Management did put her on a warning so since then she's been relatively on time.

    Thats just my story/rant.
     
  20. Johnno

    Johnno Valued Member

    Couldn't the chap who always comes in late simply work a bit later to make up for it? Or are there specific times of the day when the work needs to be done?
     

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