We all have seen bosses in our lives who get angry if we reach late to the offices.
They don’t bother if sit back late in the evening to do some extra work.
This is quizzical.
Lot of companies think the bio metric attendance is meant for identifying late comers.
cities like Karachi and all others where population has gone beyond control pose further more problems.
The Road situation is getting worse everyday so much so no one is sure while starting from home or office if he or she would reach his/her destination in time.
Workers and employee often get bogged down by unexpected traffic blocks and with all unforeseen calculations they reach their offices late.
Resultantly they come across various uneasy attitudes and feelings.
if there was a camera to record the way many of these employee actually move, travel or drive we would see world’s most horrific drives.
As a matter of fact lot of people put their lives at Risks to reach in time and put their finger, card or hand in bio metric attendance machines.
I am amazed why????? HR people and those who make policies do not understand the problems of commuting in metropolitan towns. I am strong advocate of punctuality but does that mean putting people at risk.
Is presence on time important……? I know employees who reach without break fast ….. and they rush to a morning meeting which is sometimes kept exactly at the time when office timings have to start……
Is Stress a tool of managing employees?
I wonder why some employees win their bosses only by sheer presence at work place and not by actually doing some productive work.
I recall in Military this old man with 30-35 years of Service often known as Subedar Major who would stand at a place which can be observed by the commanding officer while he reaches his office and gets off from his vehicle. This Subedar Major would always be seen talking to either gardeners, soldiers, workers or counting flower pots (Giving an impression that he is always there in the field, or he works a lot, or he is present)
Commanding Officers would always appreciate such hard working Junior Commissioned Officers. So do the bosses. I wish employees are not questioned on being five or ten minutes late but if they miss some important work need or schedule.
Many good companies feel and express that late sitters are those who cannot complete their work in time. Now that’s not true or fair as well. To be honest….the best time that I got was always after 5 pm …..in the morning and during the day we come across so many movements, meetings, agenda points from others that we hardly get time to fix up our own back locks….
Now lets look at another avenue …….organisations have begun to shrink in humans but they are quickly spreading in quantum of work ……lean management has reduced umber of employees adding to increased work pressures and stress…… with this scenario in mind employees have to spend more time in offices…..this extra time is often not accounted when it comes to managers……. but a minute late for four days and in some cases three days would be considered as one day absence from job……
discipline is often restricted to late comings which is not right……there are hundreds of other means to check discipline of employee….. bosses must understand imitations of employees…..Human Resource departments must keep enough leverages for metropolis limitations….
Just availability of employees is not enough ……they should be stress free and doing more productive work than watching over their attendance delays. I also know hundreds of employees who always try to stay over time when they get late but still remain under stress due to uneasy responses from their bosses and HR on the subject.
This is 21st Century the world population is about to hit 10 Billion mark. Population Density is aggravating scenes and scenarios we must also transform our needs and demands accordingly.
In the end I also need to express I am not an advocate of late comers but I expect humans to act pragmatically.
Written by Zahid Faqir, DGM HSEQ at 560 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Karachi, Pakistan.
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