Advice Needed. . .

[ehenry]

Most of you know I work for the county in their IT department as a systems engineer. We're a really small shop. There are 4 of us including our manager. The guy we work for is a great guy couldnt ask for a more easy going, easy to get along with manager. My question is this....How do I aproach him about an issue with a co-worker?

The issue is that the co-worker never ever shows up for work on time. He's consistently 30 to 40 minutes late every day and has been for the last year and a half to two years. I remember when he was hired. He was 10 minutes late for his first day on the job. The guy does not report to me and I guess its not my concern but its really starting to wear on me.

My hours are 7:30 to 4:30. I generally hit the door around 7 just so I'll have a little extra time to deal with any issues should there be any when I get in. Office hours are 8 to 5. The co-worker generally drags in around 8:30 to 8:40 every day. As far as I'm concerned he's robbing us of 4.5 hours a week. Now if he and our manager made some sort of agreement that he can be late then he should stay late to put in his 8 hours but then who would police him.

Is there a tactful proper way that I can aproach my manager about this?

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

That's a tough call seeing the coworker does not report to you. That said does the Manager know the employee is habitually late? Are the positions salary or hourly? Does the employee punch a time clock? I understand your frustration, but if the boss is willing to accept the coworkers action you may have to as well.

 

[ehenry]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

I dont see how our manager can not see that the boy is late every day. We are salaried but we have to fill out a time sheet. Its really an honor system as far as keeping up with time.

 

[1fishbone]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

Sorry, I don't see a tactical way to approach the manager.
The manager will find out sooner or later.
He might know and is so laid back, he doesn't want to make waves.

IF you do:
You'll alienate yourself against the other guy
Possibly put yourself at risk of being a 'whiner', trouble maker, etc

Ignore it! It's none of your business!
What goes around comes around!

My motto:
Know the things I can change
Know the things I cannot change
HOPEFULLY know the difference between them!

 

[aspeck]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

Tough situation, and really between the co-worker and the manager. However, you may ask the manager if it has become "common practice to start the day later, or work fewer hours per week. So can I start going home at 3:30 - 4 each day? Just asking, you know ..." I think your manager will get the hint.

 

[tswiczko]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

Many facilities that employ public employees, I.E. federal, state, city, county, etc), offer a flex time if you have a specific need like single parent needing to put a child on a bus etc. I don't know the whole situation but worked for the state of Ohio for many years and used flex time for extended periods, when I was going through a divorce and worked 2 jobs, where my day would start 2 hours later than everyone else's and I would make the time up on weekends.

As I said though I do not know the full situation where you are other than what you have told us.

As far as approaching your supervisor about it I would be direct about it, and ask why your co -worker has the privilege of setting their own schedule when an offence like that would get you reprimanded.

Or you could ask your co-worker directly.

good luck

 

[outdoorsman10]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

If his inability to to put in his hours has a direct affect on the productivity of the shop/office or increases the workload of yourself, then ya, bring it up. If your day is not affected by his coming and going at his leisure, then just carry on with YOUR work.

BTW, I noticed you called him "the boy", so I'm guessing there is a large age gap.

 

[ehenry]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

Yeah, theres about a 25 year age gap. He's in his 20's not married, no kids and lives by himself. I've been in this field for 20 plus years and have never seen people especially this guy do things like this. It has taken me a while to adjust to working in an environment like county govt.

Whats really got my feathers ruffled is he came in 35 minutes late yesterday and there was a problem with a system that he has been the sole one involved with. He's done zero documentation on it so neither myself nor my manager know very much about it. This outage had the Chancery Clerk jumping up and down like a short stop and we had to wait on the boy to get in to fix it. I would have though that my manager would have said soomething to him about it yesterday but he must not have because the boy was late again today. I wouldnt call him boy if I had a tad of respect for him but at this stage I have zero respect for him.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

Nepotism? CYA

 

[produceguy]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

Heck ya you should say something. It's not fair to you or the other employees and if you have a good manager he would feel the same.
What do the other employees think about it?

 

[Bucks45]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

Yeah, theres about a 25 year age gap. He's in his 20's not married, no kids and lives by himself. I've been in this field for 20 plus years and have never seen people especially this guy do things like this. It has taken me a while to adjust to working in an environment like county govt.

Whats really got my feathers ruffled is he came in 35 minutes late yesterday and there was a problem with a system that he has been the sole one involved with. He's done zero documentation on it so neither myself nor my manager know very much about it. This outage had the Chancery Clerk jumping up and down like a short stop and we had to wait on the boy to get in to fix it. I would have though that my manager would have said soomething to him about it yesterday but he must not have because the boy was late again today. I wouldnt call him boy if I had a tad of respect for him but at this stage I have zero respect for him.

I would absolutely say something. It's obviously affecting you! I work in LE and we can't leave until our relief gets here. My relief guy got in a habit of being 5-10 minutes late everyday. First, I joked with him about it. That didn't work, so I started b@#%ing to him about it. Finally, I just started putting down the overtime. The Chief noticed that really quick. He's on time everyday now!

 

[JB]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

When does the young fellow leave? If he is as late leaving as he is showing up he may have an unofficial flex time deal.

You might ask the Manager about that.

You might also ask for a staff meeting at 08:00 daily to do a status check and plan the day. That would make the latenick's hours obvious to everyone.

Finally, ask yourself, seriously, why you care. It is easy at mature age to be really annoyed by what we perceive in younger people's apparent attitudes, dress, manner of speech, work habits, etc. If his sloppy adherence to time has no affect on group performance or your own workload let it go.

 

[rickryder]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

I would greet the boy every morning with a "GOOD AFTERNOON" Glad you could make it! Unfortunately you don't sign his paycheck....if you did he would have been looooong gone! I agree with your frustration....if your not 15 minutes early your late!

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

I think it's the Managers problem. If he is not noticing "the boy" is coming in late on a daily basis, that's just as much an issue with the Manager. I used to be a Manager in an IT dept. I knew what my staff was doing without having to micro manage them. Eventually, middle management burnt me out and I left that field.

 

[robert graham]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

If his tardyness don't effect you then why worry about it? The guy may just "cook his own goose" eventually anyway. My office runs 8AM to 5PM, but I'm here about 7AM, just to get a head start on my work, and I don't know or care if or when the rest of them show up. Seems like constantly being late creates stress, is bad business habits, not real smart in the long run. Maybe he has to take his sick old mamma to the doctor every morning...who knows?

 

[Mark42]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

Nepotism? CYA

Hmmm... Nepotism..... good "word of the day".

My office hours are 7 am to 3:30 pm. I come in around 10 am. Take care of personal stuff until 11:30, then its time for lunch. I get back by 1:30, take care of personal business until 2:30, by then its too late to start anything, so I clean up my desk and leave at 3:00 pm. Hard day. Bonus for last year was ok at about 40% salary, I think my promotion should be coming through shortly. Its a wonder that I stay considering how hard they work me here.

 

[avenger79]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

my advice on something like this used to be simple. ignore it, not your business.

then I realized that by my ignoring things what really happened is people took me as a scapegoat. because I wouldn't mention others faults they would slyly talk to the mgr and blame their faults on me. mistakes made would quietly become my issue. it led to me being let go from a job that I truly liked because the mgr never asked me up front, he simply took others word.

now days I have a different approach, and I don't apologize to anyone for it. I would "jokingly" mention it to the employee in front of the boss.

hey bankers hours again today, third time this week isn't it? hey boss how do I get that system?

if you think that won't work then ask your mgr for a few minutes, close the door and be honest with him. don't let it go, they won't notice it on their own. especially if it's a nice mgr who doesn't want conflict. they tend to think well no one else notices so I don't feel like dealing with it.

 

[levittownnick]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

There is a biblical story that I'm not familar enough to quote but that has a bearing on this situation. My advise is to MYOB because surely those that are paid to know, know. If when push comes to shove (termination, etc) you are the one getting pushed, then posibly it's a blessing in desguise. You should feel good every day just knowing that you are doing what is right. Don't sweat others unless you are paid to do so.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

In this economy, if there is a round of layoffs you will be glad that he has such a poor ethic.

On the flip side I work with an older guy who comes in and leaves on time. The problem is that he does close to nothing all day every day. For the life of me and my coworkers we can not understand how he stays employed.

My point is that I think it's more important that somebody pulls there own weight than that they have perfect attendance. I could care less what time people come and go as long as I don't have to do more work to make up for someone else' slacking.

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Advice Needed. . .

I believe poor work ethics should be reported BUT, I would first ask if the "boy" has a special arrangement with the supervisor before accusing him of such a thing.

You do risk alientating yourself however, there isn't much honor in an honor system that dosen't work.

It's unfair to the responsible employees who really care about doing the right thing and showing up on time. An employer who dosen't know this is going on is not a very good manager/supervisor. He should be more in tuned with whats going on in his department and fix it before a coworker has to bring it to his attention.

Lots of hard working, good people in the IT industry looking for work right now. People who don't appreciate having a job might not deserve to have one IMHO.