Late patients have the ability to throw off your entire patient schedule, adding stress to your day and potentially causing you to work later than you had planned. However, a chronically late employee can be just as disruptive to your optometric practice. Tardy employees add stress to your optometric practice staff that has to operate short handed, and could affect the quality of care you provide to your patients.

Below are strategies to help deal with the chronically late employees in your optometric practice.

3 Steps For Handling Chronically Tardy Employees

Review Your Handbook

Before you take any action on the tardy employee, look through your employee handbook to see what is in documented about tardiness. If you have clearly documented the policy and the consequences of being tardy in your employee handbook, then review the rules with your optometric staff in a private meeting.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to create an attendance policy, then start writing the documentation and review the policy with your team once it is complete.

Meet With The Offender

When an employee starts having trouble coming in on time, it could be a sign that the employee is going through some difficult times. Have a 1-on-1 meeting with the employee to review your attendance guidelines and ask questions to find the cause of the employee’s tardiness. If the employee has a legitimate reason for their recent lapse in punctuality, consider making a temporary adjustment to their schedule. Making a temporary adjustment to the schedule will help them deal with potential barriers without the added stress and will keep you have having to wonder if the employee will no-show.

Discipline

No one likes having to discipline their employees, especially when you run a small practice and your staff is viewed as family. Unfortunately, there are times where the behavior of a tardy employee doesn’t improve after you have reviewed your policy and attempted to understand their reason. When it comes time to reprimand an employee who has been abusing your policies, document the days that the individual came in late. If the course of disciplinary action starts with a warning, have documented proof that you gave the employee a warning for being late and have the individual sign and date it.

For more staff management ideas, download our Ultimate Guide to Staff Management in Eyecare.