Dog Community

Work dilemma

Posted : 3/27/2007 11:38:34 PM

I#%92m having a little bit of trouble with my assistant at work & need a little advice.

I am a vet tech at a busy vet clinic. I have an assistant & receptionist of my own, to help me manage my time wisely, keep things running smoothly, & my receptionist takes care of some of my personal errands as well. I work an unusual schedule Mon. Thurs. & Fri. I work 7:00 a.m. & generally I leave at around 7:00 p.m. at the earliest. On Tues. I work from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. on Wed. morning. (Essentially I work 60 hours in 4 days) My assistant works 8-5 daily.

In the past 3 weeks she has been late 12 times. I am a very punctual person so this drives me nuts & throws off my schedule for the day. My assistant has 3 children, ages 10, 4, & 3 so I try to overlook a few minutes late, but what started out as 5 minutes late has escalated into well over an hour late. This morning she arrived at the clinic at 9:40. I let her know that I was unhappy with her routine tardiness & that I would appreciate it if she would make an effort to arrive on time. She countered, “You don#%92t have kids, you don#%92t know how it is” and walked off. No I don#%92t have kids, but for the past 3 weeks, I have packed 4 of the dogs up & dropped them at day care before going to work, yet I can still be there on time. I am really trying to be nice (I actually like this woman) but how far do I let this go? I am frustrated that she seems to think that her children are a “get out of jail free card”.

t__m

Posted : 3/27/2007 11:50:01 PM

Lateness from employees drives me crazy....[8D]
Did she understand at the time of hiring that her shift was 8-5?

If you still want to keep her, ask her if 9-5 or 9-6 is a better schedule for her...
Maybe this compromise can help both of you...

She seems to be taking for granted that you haven't said anything until 3 weeks have past....
Time for a serious talk....

Hope you get it fixed....

miranadobe

Posted : 3/27/2007 11:52:16 PM

I am frustrated that she seems to think that her children are a “get out of jail free card”.

My immediate thought is maybe she has some drama of her own going on at home. However, professionals act professionally. Sounds like a sit-down (versus a drive-by) discussion would be better. Find out if there's a reason and if you need to temporarily adjust her schedule? If she says no, then there needs to be consequences.
I'm ridiculous here (and someone is going to flame me for this, so go ahead, because I'm just joking, but would enjoy trying to do this in my fantasy world)...If all of the discussions and such didn't work and you wanted some results.. I would consider hiring a temp who comes in just for that first hour and a half. Tell your assistant that you needed the hours covered, so you had to cut her hours back. To part time hours that she COULD arrive for, on time. Nothing hurts in the job like a cut in pay.

BEVOLASVEGAS

Posted : 3/28/2007 12:14:08 AM

I like to deal with most of my patients in the morning, I need someone there to help. I had 8 sets of x-rays waiting to be shot this by 8:15 this morning & nobody to help me shoot them.

My boss has already spoke with her about being late. He offered to re-arrange her hours if needed & she assured him that her hours were fine & that she would rather not change her schedule. The problem was that she just couldn't seem to get the kids moving in the mornings. My boss is a single father, who has custody of his 2 kids, so he offered some advice on how to get the kids up & moving. He warned her that punctuality was very important to me & that she was hired to make my life easier. He did warn her that if her late arrival continued that she may be terminated.

I have a tendency to be blunt & to the point, so instead of saying much I have tried to let him handle it. But today, I couldn't help but say something. I thought my comments out in my head before I said anything & she was rude & just blew me off. I'm about ready to fire her & start over.

t__m

Posted : 3/28/2007 12:34:43 AM

If your boss has already offered modified hours and gave her parental advice and
things still haven't changed, then I see no other option...

WestieGirl

Posted : 3/28/2007 7:49:50 AM

Yeah, it sounds like you've all been more than accomodating to her. I have children and a full time job-as do millions of people in this country - I (along with the majority of parents, I'd imagine) still manage to make it to work on time...EVERYDAY! That is amazing to me that she actually uses that as an excuse--like it's something she has no control over! Sounds like she needs to get her kids to bed earlier and herself up earlier! As far as firing her, I'd look at it like if this job were that important to her, she would be grateful for the advice and apologetic for her behavior...sounds like she's neither!

mrstjohnson

Posted : 3/28/2007 7:59:05 AM

I had this exact issue come up with my assistant at a previous job a few years back. She was a single mom with 3 kids and could not get to work on time (1 - 1 1/2 hours late). Like you, 5 - 10 minutes here or there is fine, but the kind of tardiness she is showing is unacceptable.

I know it sucks but you have to be straight forward or things will never change. When it came to my assistant, I simply said, "the hours of the position are x - x. If you don't think you can accommodate that then I will need to find someone that can. I am sorry, I can understand how hard it is; however, those are the requirements for the position. It's not fair to everyone else that you receive special treatment and are allowed to come in over an hour late everyday. There are other parents that work here that manage to get here on time everyday."

I kept track how late she was over a couple of weeks just to make the point. Needless to say, the behavior stopped because she knew it would not be tolerated. I felt like a b****, but what are you going to do.

miranadobe

Posted : 3/28/2007 8:15:04 AM

As a chronically late person (for everything, and more often for the things I want to do than the things I don't) I'd say the cure is a hit in the pocket book. OR, as in my case this morning, when I came in 12 mins late (I've been sick and slept through the alarm) and the admin to the CEO/owner of my company was waiting to tell me something, and chewed me out for a second - then giggled and said she was totally joking, she'd just gotten there. But, still! Right in front of my boss and co-workers, (and had she truly been waiting as she'd

retended, I'd feel even more horrible than I did, just for genuinely putting her out). That kind of shame works for me! I plan on this being the last day ever!

dubilpie

Posted : 3/28/2007 8:53:55 AM

I'd give her a written warning and if she still showed up late, I'd fire her.

rwbeagles

Posted : 3/28/2007 9:04:26 AM

I worked when I had an infant at home and was pregnant..twice while working. I was always punctual. I do NOT think she need too much more accomodating...in a business/cubicle environment she'd already be jobless IMO.

It is HER responsibility as a parent to get those kids TO BED at a proper time. The morning routine starts the night before. Lily is in bed by 8pm...latest 8:15 and she is awakened by me at 7:20am. I wake at 7:15am and make her lunch...

That is PLENTY of sleep and she is not hard to rouse. We have a routine and we stick to it. Elias is awoken at 7:40 and we are on the road walking to school by 7:50!

IF someone wanted to give her tips I'd suggest she get them into bed earlier.

DH ad I have already decided that if/when Lily or Eli get hard to wake up...their bedtime with come 15mins earlier each day...even if that means they are in bed BY 6PM...lol. Morning hassles are nonsense that parent's set up many times by not enforcing or ensuring the proper amount of sleep.

Liesje

Posted : 3/28/2007 10:46:08 AM

Kids should not be used as an excuse, unless one of them is dying of leukemia or something really unpredictable. I used to nanny for 4 kids that all had to go to various camps and activities daily. I was never late, even when I had to literally be in two places at once (drop Aubrey off at the pool for swimming and leave the oldest child to make sure she gets in the water at 10am, then take the two middle children over to sports camp by 10am, then back to the pool by 10:05 to make sure Aubrey is in the water and pick up the oldest kid....). Kids can be a full time job for some people, but at that point you have to choose. You can't keep using them as an excuse. If she HAS to be over an hour late everyday, then maybe you guys have to change her work duties and adjust her hours and her pay to reflect this. Or fire her and get a new person. [

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meilani

Posted : 3/28/2007 11:14:44 AM

Her excuse is a poor one because millions of people in this world have children and manage to make it to work on time. As a mother, if I'm going to be late for work I ALWAYS call to let them know if I'm going to be late for work and it doesn't matter if I'm going to be 5 minutes late or 15 minutes late. There's only been a few times where I was going to be over an hour late but I still called and thankfully, I work with cool people so they didn't mind and understood if there was a problem. Being an hour late chronically is a problem and I can't see how anyone would think that using their children as an excuse is acceptable. You're all there to do a job and if one person isn't there to help the job run smoothly then it can become a problem. Once in a while, I can understand as it does happen. Every time? No. I would give her one last warning and if she doesn't heed it, I'd find a replacement.

Cita

Posted : 3/28/2007 11:21:17 AM

Being an hour late and not apologetic for it is extremely irresponsible. I think the idea of "replacing" her temporarily might get the point across. I had a professor who was getting tired of students showing up 5-10 minutes late to class each day, and one day he simply locked the door at the appointed start time. 5 or 6 students were left locked outside, and it surprised and embarrassed them sufficiently that there weren't any problems for the rest of the semester.

I think your employee needs to not be paid for time when she's supposed to be at work but isn't, and if you really would like to make a statement if she comes in sufficiently late simply tell her that she's too late to be useful, and she should go home. (I know this might be difficult since it sounds like you really need her help.) You could also set up some sort of "three strikes" policy with her - every time she comes into work more than, say, 15 minutes late she gets a strike. 3 strikes, you're out.

espencer

Posted : 3/28/2007 11:31:03 AM

ORIGINAL: mrstjohnson

When it came to my assistant, I simply said, "the hours of the position are x - x. If you don't think you can accommodate that then I will need to find someone that can. I am sorry, I can understand how hard it is; however, those are the requirements for the position. It's not fair to everyone else that you receive special treatment and are allowed to come in over an hour late everyday. There are other parents that work here that manage to get here on time everyday."

Ditto, if she is not able to be at 8 am there then she should not take that job in first place, i'm sure she needs the money so she will have to think what to do, she is bending the rules untill the point that she broke them, "is an 8-5 job, can you do it yes or no?" you dont need an answer that involves more than any of those two words

ashland

Posted : 3/28/2007 11:34:52 AM

I was once a chronic tardy person. I would come in about 10-15 minutes late and nobody ever said anything. A close coworker of mine, who sat right next to me, was also late like me, every day. One day, I actually came to work on time and my boss (who is very lenient and laid back) said, "Sylvia? What's this? Here at 8:30! Good job! I normally don't see you and Joel until 8:45!" He wasn't being mean or rude, but it made me realize that it WAS noticed and it did have an effect. That was all it took to get me to start coming in about 10 minutes EARLY. I can't imagine the embarrassment and shame I would feel if my boss had ever actually pulled me aside to talk to me about it. If your assistant has already been spoken to about this and has not changed her tardiness, then I would say give her a written warning and then let her go if it doesn't change.