Do you have employees who have a hard time getting to work on time? Do you have employees who shrug it off when you approach them about being tardy…again? Are you ready to pull your hair out?
When employees live in daily stability and have enough resources for today and the short-term future, they make their decisions against achievement and work. An employee with an achievement and work mindset knows the importance and value that businesses place on timeliness. The business depends on employees being on time so that shifts are covered, phones are answered, the production line keeps moving efficiently, and the front office is operating as designed. Time is allocated to tasks. Time is allocated to achievement. And, in stability, time is measured abstractly: minutes, hours, days, weeks.
When an employee lives in daily instability and doesn’t have enough resources to make it through the day, time is viewed differently. In this instability environment, decisions are based upon relationships, survival, and entertainment. Thus, time is given to relationships. A great deal of an employee’s time is spent on personal phone calls, issues, and agendas. In daily instability, we will give up work for these immediate needs and our relationships that support us way past the job. The time is given to the demands of the moment, the value of the entertainment, or the need for survival. When an employee lives in daily instability, time is measured emotionally: Did that meeting feel like it was an hour long?
Businesses operate from the mindset of stability. The expectation of the employer is that, as an employee, you will be at work, ready, when it is time to punch the time clock. Knowing that employees live in the tyranny of the moment, struggle to make ends meet every day, and operate with different hidden rules (the unspoken cues and habits of a group) gives managers an opportunity to mentor. They can provide additional training on time management during orientation, figure out the cause of the tardiness, see what workarounds there are, create visuals/videos that address the issue, and more. By doing this, managers are stabilizing the business while making the employees more successful as well.
Gotta go. The alarm clock just went off!
Ruth Weirich, author of Workplace Stability, has provided insight into the overall corporate strategies of divisions and companies for 30 years. She received her M.B.A. from Colorado State and her B.A. in Business Administration from Goshen College. By maximizing an organization’s operating performance and achieving its financial goals, Ruth has held responsibilities ranging from communicating with and leading all stakeholders to preparing operating budgets to overseeing a strategic plan. Ruth is an active listener, a critical thinker, and has quick judgment and decision making skills. Click to learn more about Ruth Weirich.
