Attendance2 min read
Late arrivals and absences: qualify before you sanction
A 9:18 clock-in is not misconduct in itself. It is information, which becomes a late arrival, a mission or a medical appointment depending on what is known about it.
The temptation with a biometric time clock is to turn it into a disciplinary tool: every minute late becomes a deduction. That is the surest way to put employees’ backs up and multiply disputes. The point is not to count late arrivals but to give them a cause.
Lateness is measured against a schedule
Each employee is assigned a schedule: start time, breaks, end time, working days. If the start is set at 9:00, a clock-in at 8:40 is on time and a clock-in at 9:18 is 18 minutes late. Shifts, public holidays and special schedules are configured per entity.
Qualify rather than record
- Justified late arrival: the manager adds the reason from the employee record; no deduction.
- Covered absence: approved leave or a mission order removes the day from the anomalies.
- Missed clock-in: a correction is added alongside, with its author and date.
- Unjustified late arrival: it is carried over to payroll according to the entity’s rules.
Written rules, the same for everyone
The main benefit is fairness: the rule applies the same way at headquarters and in the provinces, to the director and to the messenger. Exceptions exist, but they are written and signed in the audit log, not negotiated in a corridor.
An arrival time should not be a matter of someone’s word, nor should an absence go without a written cause.
What management sees
Attendance rate by department, by site and by month, morning late arrivals, absences without reason: management sees the trends, not just the incidents. A department that piles up late arrivals on Mondays often points to a transport or organisation problem, not a discipline one.
The resulting deductions are detailed in From clock-in to payslip, and absences covered by leave in Leave and service missions.
Frequently asked questions
How does OPTimes define a late arrival?
Against the employee’s schedule: a clock-in after the scheduled start time becomes a late arrival, which the manager can then justify.
Does a justified late arrival lead to a deduction?
No. Once the manager adds the reason, the late arrival is marked as justified and is not carried over to payroll.
