Arriving to the office on time, after the company requires more onsite work

Q: In March, our CEO required many of us to RTO (return to office) five days per week. The more experienced employees have more flexibility. My level is supposed to come into the office four days per week at a minimum. When I do go into the office, I sometimes have problems with unreliable trains and buses. But I account for that, so I most often arrive on time. Some though are really sloppy about arriving on time. Sometimes they are here by 9am, and sometimes they are not. Last week there was no rain, no reports of train or bus delays. No reports of commuter rail problems. Lighter than normal traffic because of the holiday week. And still employees are coming in 20-30 minutes late or more and no one seems to think it is a concern, except for me! For those of us who try to plan to anticipate delays and really try to arrive on time, this is causing me to be resentful. Why are some not spoken to?

A: For some, returning to the office is a welcome change. Some prefer working in an office. Others feel like they work more efficiently at home. While others prefer hybrid, with some days in the office and some days working remotely.

Many employees can work well with a remote work arrangement. Then, there are some who take advantage of this benefit. Some employees take a more relaxed, almost too casual approach, to a remote work schedule. Almost everyone expects that employees will take a 60-minute lunch break. However, some employees tack on a few errands like picking up kids at school, cleaning the car, running to the dry cleaners, dropping by the grocery store, etc. Once in a while, an errand like this is likely ok. I think picking up a sick child is a reasonable excuse to cut out for a bit. However, if these personal errands are a regular occurrence in addition to the lunch break, then it feels like the employee is taking advantage of this benefit. It was not that long ago that a remote or hybrid role was unusual.

Some companies are asking more employees to return to the office. Returning to the office may be a new routine for some and adjustments may be required. Your management team may be giving your coworkers time to adjust to the new expectation. Or your manager could be addressing these concerns privately, and you may not be aware of these conversations. I agree that these discussions regarding arriving late should be handled confidentially.

Managers may be resetting expectations, while also trying to keep employees engaged. Their goal is twofold: to hold employees accountable but also keep employees engaged, so not to minimize any disruptions to the day-to-day operations of the business.  Smart managers clearly communicate expectations but then address tardiness after expectations have been raised.

I looked back at a past column, where a similar concern was raised. The question on how to address arriving on time was asked by a manager. The content of that blog post was similar. I suggested that a manager reset expectations but also explain that there had been a lot of flexibility granted over the past few weeks, but now the arrival time is a very firm expectation.

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