PUNCTUALITY : How to enforce it.—Many employers of labour are particular to ensure punctuality in their works where the workmen are paid by the hour and by the day, and in cases where they are paid by the piece— the importance of this being evident from the beginning. The same employers of labour, though particular to see that their workmen come in at the hour they should start work and to penalise them if they fail to do so, arc very often lax in their conduct of office affairs. Employers of large numbers of clerks, stenographers, and typists complain that it is almost impossible to secure punctuality on the part of their employees. Their difficulty is the necessity of differentiating between clerical workers in the office and people employed in various capacities in the factory. It h assumed that workers in the office are on a different basis from the people employed by time in the factory or workshop. In many cases advantage is taken of this assumption by the staff employed.
As a matter of fact the employer of labour is faced with the same problem of making the most of the time he bargains for in his office as he is in the workshop, although he may sometimes fail to realise that this is so. Unpunctuality in an office staff can slow down the operations of a large firm almost as much as a lack of punctuality in a working staff. It is therefore essential to the proper conduct of the office that the hours agreed on should be observed as a mere matter of business economy. Again, an office which is unpunetual suggests a grave lack of discipline. If members of a staff are allowed to come and go when they please, this laxity may be a cause for slackness affecting the whole of the day's work when they do arrive at their duty.
Of methods of supervising office staffs there are many to ensure punctuality, beginning with a general check by the head of an office depart ment. This, the commonest method, is not satisfactory, because the member entrusted with this work may be often away, his train may be delayed, or he may be allowed more latitude than other members of the staff and develop unpunctuality himself. As far as possible all methods of ensuring punctu ality should be automatic, and it is unwise to depend upon the super vision of any member of the clerical staff, unless his reliability and fairness is so exceptional as to be unquestioned. Even then his personal supervision
is apt to become irksome, and sensitive members of the staff impute his interference with their comings and goings to personal resentment. In all questions of time a certain amount of dispute must arise, and where the matter is adjusted by the personal supervision of one man, ill-feeling is apt to be engendered.
A simple method of checking office time is the time-book at the entrance of the office itself. Many large firms find this quite successful. A book is placed in the central office through which room every member of the staff passes, and on arrival each is expected to sign. Most firms employing this method agree that nine o'clock shall be the hour for commencing business, and allow five minutes for errors in travelling, late trains, delayed trams, and other incidental irregularities which cause delay. The members of the staff who arrive to time sign as they enter, one under the other. At five minutes past nine a line is ruled across the page for that day immediately after the last arrival. Members entering after 9.5 are obliged to sign under the rule, and all who sign under the rule are classed as late. The result is that each day a return is made of the people who are there before 9.5, who are regarded as keeping satisfactory time, and people who arrive after that time, who arc classed as unpunctual.
In carryinet out such a system most employers have a return made from this time-hook each week, and in handling late arrivals they use their own personal discretion. The weekly return should show every late arrival during the six business days, and an employer who is in close touch with his office ought to be able to appreciate the significance of every item in the return. For instance, a wise employer would not admonish an employee who, though generally punctual, happened to lapse once or even twice. On the other hand, where a return shows the practice of arriving late has become common to the extent of being a habit, such a member of the staff is usually inter viewed by the principal. The best method of procedure is to ask for an explanation, because a usually punctual servant might be late three or four days in a week for reasons which would possibly entitle him to sympathy. Such explanations given would he considered satisfactory, and a lapse from punctuality would he overlooked.