FOUR REASONS WHY EMPLOYEES REPORT LATE TO WORK

Productivity is a vital need in every company be it a startup or a time-tested conglomerate. Simple as the word may sound, productivity is a factor that is majorly determined by the employees. Hence, the employees’ attitudes have direct and indirect effects on the company’s productivity. One of these attitudes is lateness to work.

Unlike machine whose functionality is not limited by time, the productivity of man is not only time-variant but time-dependent. And even though that machines tend to replace the skills of man in the 21^st century businesses, the inevitable inputs of man are still relevant as these machines are indirectly controlled by man

Below are top four reasons why employees report late to work:

• .      Lack of motivation at the place of work

 

This is the major cause of employees’ lateness to work, especially when the frequency of lateness is on the high side. Lack of motivation at the employee’s working place could be caused by internal or external factors. The internal factors come from the employee himself while the external factors are perhaps from the working environment, employer or fellow employees. An employee may not have enough interest in his work that could motivate him to report to work the following day early enough and in time. An employee also finds it difficult to report early at his place of work  immediately he losses interest in the work, possibly due to a look-out for or expectation of a better job, low salary for the present work or total hatred for the job description. The on-the-job behaviour of fellow employees could also cause him imbibe the attitude of lateness while  the company’s bad working conditions can deter him from reporting to work early as such conditions would always demotivate him to come to work the following day once he gets home.

Entrepreneurs and employers should therefore find better ways to make their companies attractive and conducive to their employees so as to motivate them. Managements should also draft out better schemes to encourage and facilitate employees’s healthy relationship with one another. This would certainly motivate them as such would increase productivity for the company.

•  Inadequate Time Management

 

Time is the greatest asset given to every man in equal proportion. The 24 hours a day assigned to Mr A is the same 24 hours a day allotted to Mr B, yet both have different degree of achievements within the stipulated time if given the same tasks. This difference due to time is purely as a result of their different time management skills. Though many employees are familiar with the phrase, “time is money”, only very few embraces and utilizes the phrase adequately. A large number of employees lack proper time management skills. Hence, what they suppose to achieve within a reasonable time frame at home after work is extended and therefore given more time to be worked on. This attitude infringes on the time allotted for their rest periods at night, thereby causing them to wake late and so report early at work. Employers should endeavor to orientate their employees on adequate time management skills as such will not only benefit the employees but increase the business turn over for the employers.

• Setting inadequate priority on work schedules

 Most employees are used to the haphazard system of work. They lack proper organization of themselves and so do their work schedules. Employees’ proper check on their to-do list every morning before the start of work would help in marking out the tasks that are of lower  priority against those of higher priority. When work schedules aren’t organized and prioritized, the tendency to work on unnecessary tasks at the expense of the most important ones always arise. Consequently, at the close of business, such employees find it difficult to leave the most important work unattended to. The urge to attend to it would always set in which makes him close later than the appropriate time. Such late closure could encroach on his resting period at home and so his attendance time the following morning would also be affected. Psychologically, the thought that he couldn’t finish the most important part of his work schedules the previous day would certainly demotivate him from coming early, and if it is a repeated process, continual lateness would ensue.

•  Inadequate Relaxation off the Job          

Off-work relaxation is so important to every human. Relaxation is the major reason why God created day and night. While you carry out all your work schedules in the day, you are meant to adequately rest at night and so re-energize yourself for your work  the following day. It is however, disappointing that the urge to make ends meet and have more source of income make most employees to run a side job at home or elsewhere once they dismiss from their main daytime job. They usually stay on this night job till their time for relaxation becomes too short. This attitude would occasionally interfere with their normal resumption time in their main job the following morning thereby causing recurrent lateness.

In as much as humans are insatiable beings and would always work towards expanding their source of income along with their main job, employers should always ensure that their salary is in commensurate with the work descriptions.

Article written by Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Eminent Agbo

A Motivational Speaker, a Creative Writer, a Blogger and a Digital Marketer

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