Written warning re: Timekeeping, suggestions please

Conor_3

I always aim to arrive 10-15 minutes before my start time. Gives you a bit of leeway for unforseen events and takes a bit of stress off.

jumpycheese1

The only time I was late for work, is when half of Leeds' workers were late as well was in Feb 2005. There was a major road accident on the junction of the two major roads that feed into the north of Leeds. These roads were blocked solid. From my flat I was living at the time, I could see one of the major roads and the traffic wasn't moving. I left the flat 15 mins before normal and WALKED just under 5 miles. I was only late by 10 mins. As half the employees were late as well, for the same reason. They didn't give any of us a ticking off as a large number of people were affected.

Also, give yourself an extra 30%-50% time to travel. So if your average journey time is 40 mins - leave 52-60 mins before you start work. If you get there early, get yourself a coffee etc.

This shows you are making an effort.

LittleVoice

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

. . ., I have to wash my hair in the morning as it’s long and gets greasy during the night.

Well wash it before you go to bed. It won't be getting greasy at a faster rate during the night than during the day. (If that means that you want to wash your hair again before you go out in the evening, then do so.)

DCFC79

You need to get yourself up earlier if your late, do you do any jobs(not jobs as such) in the morning before you go to work eg get your lunch ready as you could do them before you go to the bed the previous evening, sort out the clothes you would wear previous night as well. No it may not be predictable how long it will take you to get to work but you need to plan for that. Id leave say an hour or maybe 1 hour ten mins so you have got extra time in case of any eventually

Lavendyr

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

I’m a woman! It’s physically impossible for me to roll straight out of bed into the car, I have to wash my hair in the morning as it’s long and gets greasy during the night. Also (and no, I don’t wear lots of make up to impress the factory guys), but I won’t leave the house without makeup (for the benefit of public decency!) this all takes time, I get up at 6am for an 8:30 start.

This bit of your post particularly irritated me, I have to say, and I had to reply to it. I am a woman too - many of us are, you know - and somehow the vast majority of us manage to get up and get to work on time. My working hours start at 8.45am, so I get up at 6.30am, with an hour's commute, and get into the office for 8.15am (yes, half an hour early - so I can set myself up for the day, have my breakfast, get started on any difficult bits of work, and allow plenty of time just in case traffic is really bad). That time includes showering, washing and drying my hair and doing my makeup. What on earth are you doing in the morning that takes you over an hour and a half?

You really need to change your attitude towards your working hours. Instead of aiming to get there at 8.30am, aim to get there for 8.15am, say, or even 8am, and rearrange your getting-up time accordingly. Again I have no idea how you manage to spend over 90 minutes getting up, but would suggest you try to cut that down as well. Either that or find a new job, one which you are happy to turn up a bit early for.

frugallass

I absolutely hate bad time-keeping - I'm always at work 10-15 minutes early and am only late if the train was delayed. In all my years in employment I have never slept in (I once stuffed up with the clocks changing but never made the same mistake again).

I have never been able to understand how people can be consistently late - my boss is NEVER at work at 9:00am, he strolls in between 9:45 and 10:00 most days and has always got some excuse (usually it's the children - yet his wife doesn't work - he once phoned in to say he would be even later because he hadn't had time for breakfast :eek: )

Anyway, to the OP, if I was a colleague of yours I would be quite relieved that something is being done about your timekeeping. BUT, good for you for opening up about it and hopefully trying to improve the situation.

Phudge

I don't think men can just roll out of bed and into the car either - they still have to shower, wash their hair and shave. I was thinking maybe you could have a very good haircut where you can wash it and leave it to dry by itself to save time?

It's a good suggestion to aim to get to work 15 or even 30 mins early every day so good luck for tomorrow and let us know how you get on!

Reds-on-Sea

Lavendyr wrote: »

This bit of your post particularly irritated me, I have to say, and I had to reply to it. I am a woman too - many of us are, you know - and somehow the vast majority of us manage to get up and get to work on time. My working hours start at 8.45am, so I get up at 6.30am, with an hour's commute, and get into the office for 8.15am (yes, half an hour early - so I can set myself up for the day, have my breakfast, get started on any difficult bits of work, and allow plenty of time just in case traffic is really bad). That time includes showering, washing and drying my hair and doing my makeup. What on earth are you doing in the morning that takes you over an hour and a half?

You really need to change your attitude towards your working hours. Instead of aiming to get there at 8.30am, aim to get there for 8.15am, say, or even 8am, and rearrange your getting-up time accordingly. Again I have no idea how you manage to spend over 90 minutes getting up, but would suggest you try to cut that down as well. Either that or find a new job, one which you are happy to turn up a bit early for.

:rudolf: sorry you feel that way!

Yes, I agree with you about changing my attitude - I'll be getting up 30 mins earlier tomorrow (and forever more!) I will try and shorten my 'getting ready' time, but I'm such an ugly mug the make-up part takes ages! lol!
I don't dry my hair in the morning, even though it's very long and thick, and I can't wash it the night before because A) i'd have to blow dry it every night before bed which isn't practical, (takes at least 20 minutes and I'm not always in at a reasonable time/thinking about keeping OH awake with the noise) and B. it would be yucky by early evening and I have band rehearsals & gigs & other activities etc.
Can't remember if I said I'm paid hourly, so getting in early would be classed as overtime, so I'll be early AND quids in.......okay, I'm convinced!

One last question though... say I was good for 3 months and then there was a terrible traffic day/snow day/ other unpredictable occurrence and I ended up being late....despite leaving a stupid o'clock....and everyone else being late too......would I have any defence, or have I dug myself into such a hole that they'd still be able to reasonably sack me? There's been a couple of times where it's taken over 2 hours to get in to work.

thanks

frugallass

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

One last question though... say I was good for 3 months and then there was a terrible traffic day/snow day/ other unpredictable occurrence and I ended up being late....despite leaving a stupid o'clock....and everyone else being late too......would I have any defence

thanks

you would need to phone in at the moment that you know you are going to be late and explain the situation......but it's down to your bosses on how they deal with that

LittleVoice

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

. . . and I have band rehearsals & gigs & other activities etc.

Do these other activities explain why you aren't awake fast enough in the morning?