How do you handle a gifted employee whose problem is tardiness?
This type of employee is valuable to the organization, but always comes late. As an employer, I would reach out to him with practical suggestions to cope such as putting on alarms at night, sleeping early, etc. If he has problems with alcohol or other issues, then he might need professional help.
Ofcourse if this employee brings most value to the organization, then I might as well consider if they are irreplaceable or not.
If tardiness is just a timing issue, 1 alternative is 2shift the start time L8R. If it is not a timing issue, shift departure time so that it is "8" hours after arrival time (whatever that is that day). If tardiness persists, dock him/her.
This is practical and I appreciate the suggestion to move one's personal timing a bit behind. Although some tardiness seem to stem from other behavioral issues like lack of good personal organization.
Sure an employee that struggles to be punctual might as well struggle in other things. So it might cost them the job if they dont improve
It's a cost-benefit analysis you need to make. Is the tardiness worth it when the benefits greatly outweigh it? Are the factors causing the tardiness within the employee's control? Even if a replacement is needed, is it worth the cost?
Exactly, some employees are super talented, have invested their life in the work, and sometimes difficult to replace their input. So yes a cost-benefit analysis is in order before taking a decision.
Another option is to have the super-talented employee compensate for the tardiness by working extra time for free now but to be rewarded later as a paid off-day. Think of it as being like "injury time" for a team in a football game.
Nice suggestion and that is cool. Human resource management is really an area to be careful about. If there is a team that is turning up results, management should try to keep them happy and productive.
It's even more important when you as business owner are your own HR department. On the bright side, you as business owner have more flexibility in how you handle the situation.
--Also like in a football game, begin using "yellow cards" and "the red card." Once these R used, that's it. It should never reach this point, but let the super-talented employee know once the red card is issued, that means termination.
Exactly. There must be rules that shouldnt be bent no matter who was the defaulter. Every team needs that discipline that all members should adopt.
You can hold off on using the "card system" on the super-talented employee, but once you begin to use it on this person, there is no going back. It's one thing for exceptions to be made, but boundaries need to be respected as well.
He is useful, you just need to train his behavioural thing bit to fully explore his potential and make him work optimally.