The time-book ruled out on this plan shows the delinquents each morning, so as to bring before the notice of the employer those members of his staff who are persistently late, the actual offenders with whom it is necessary to deal. The sensible employer is inclined to the opinion that the man who is always stretching the time he should begin work to the latest possible moment, has a doubtful interest in the business of the office generally. Very frequently this question of punctuality is a guide to the value of the service he gives his employer. The man who is persistently late two or three times a week should be asked for an explanation at the end of the first week. If the explanation is not reasonable, he should be cautioned ; if during the next week the unpunctuality goes on, a further explanation should be demanded, and if at all unsatisfactory some penalty should be enforced, a fine being usually deemed sufficient to meet the case. If, in spite of warning or fining, the habit of being late is pursued for the next week, drastic measures would have to be taken. The employer would then have the choice of two measures, either a temporary suspension or dismissal, an extreme measure being necessary as a significant example to influence the rest of the staff.
A fertile cause of unpunctuality in offices is the question of overtime. In a factory or mill a worker generally draws a rate of pay based on the time worked. In an office it is rare to make allowance for overtime services. Frequently a man who works an hour or two after the usual closing time in the interest of sonic special emergency turns up late the next morning, under the impression that he is entitled to this indulgence for his services over night. This explanation is very frequently given in large offices where many of the clerks cannot possibly leave at the usual hour, and any reprimand for unpunctuality in the morning is usually resented by workers who have stayed after the accustomed hour. The attitude of the employer in this case would be to insist that punctuality must be observed, the suggestion being that the minutes or portions of an hour lost in the morning on this excuse are unwarranted, and that if the time had been worked, the length of overtime necessary the night after would have been so much less. It is obvious that a man who comes in late one morning and stays half-an-hour later the next night is simply making up the shortage of time caused through his unpunctuality the day before. If he had given proper attention to his work during the day, starting punctually, the need for overtime would not have arisen.
In questions of office discipline this matter of overtime sometimes presents a difficulty. It happens that overtime is not due to the lack of punctuality on the part of employees, but to the interior circumstances of the office organisation. Work which has to be left to the last minute is thrown upon the punctual clerk, who has to stay after the usual closing time to see that the work is carried out. If this habit of office routine is continued, it is almost impossible for the employer to secure punctuality without adjusting the personal grievance of the unpunctual one, who claims a special allowance for over-night service. The readjustment of this grievance may proceed
along one or two lines. If three members of a large staff have to stay late regularly, there is a defect in the organisation of that department. Rather than allow it to be made an excuse for late arrivals the next morning, the employer would do well to organise his office so that this kind of justification could be eliminated. The best method would be to examine the work of the whole staff and see why an undue burden had been placed on one or two men, more fairly apportioning the tasks all round, so that the late hours might be avoided. Or if one or two members of the staff are obliged by the peculiarities of the office to take a later duty for the purpose of meeting special emergencies, it would be as well to establish hours for that particular class of work. Thus clerks who are employed on work that does not require overtime might keep the hours from nine till six o'clock, while clerks who have special duties to perform, keeping them an hour later, might be entitled to start at ten o'clock the next morning. It is better to make this concession a matter of right under peculiar circumstances, than to leave the clerk to adjust his time according to his own ideas of fitness, and technically to commit a breach of office discipline which is jealously noted by the rest of the staff. When temporary overtime is unavoidable, the wisest course is either to make special hours for it or a special allowance in pay. To allow it to be used as a reason for breaking office regulations by one or two members out of a staff of thirty or forty, has an unsatisfactory influence throughout all departments of the business. Au alternative suggestion would be to consider, if one or two members are needed to work overtime regularly, whether the duties could not be so arranged that every member of the staff shared the work in turn instead of leaving the late hours on the shoulders of one or two men.
Almost better than the rude book of signatures is the automatic time register machine, which is described in this Encyclopedia. See TIME CHECKING. This is an automatic device governed by its own clock, which records the actual time of every member of the staff as he enters or leaves the office. About this there can be no dispute. The machine not only shows who are actually late, but the amount of time lost by the employee. Again, it may be used for the luncheon hour, entering the man out and in, so that one can check cases where the employee departs five or ten minutes after his accustomed hour. Similarly the machine can be used to indicate the departure at night, thus giving a complete record of overtime; so that when it is used as an excuse for unpunctuality the matter can be satisfactorily adjusted with the actual figures before the principal.