Welcome Ryoom,

In the jobs of my experience, a close watch is kept on the time of arrival or departure of employees.
Often this is done by logging onto a computer, which records the information.

When the information is examined by the payroll staff they deduct money from the wages of the employee in accordance with the hours he has actually worked.

If an employee is very late for work on many occasions, they get a verbal warning, next they get a warning in writing, and the final time they get dismissed from their job, if the employer so wishes it.

Perhaps there is not much competition for jobs in Qatar and employees exploit the situation for that reason.

(My reply crossed yours ChristineO, I was too lazy to update mine so I have left it as was. apologies for the duplication.)

hi Ryoom,

I am uncertain of the ethical aspects but in response to your direct question, I believe one effective approach to persistent lateness is as follows:

Explain to all employees the company's expectations i.e. starting work on time.
Explain the reason for these expectations e.g. People arriving late lose business, makes your customer dissatisfied etc. which reduces your profit, and so you cannot employ so many people. Arriving late will mean the company will reduce the number of employees at the end of the year or in twelve months etc.

Then explain that;
- arrival times will be monitored and the results made public e.g. make the statistics public and visible to all, e.g. hang the figures for the last month on the wall in the general office.
- anyone who is late more than a total of 1 hour a week (month, pay period etc) will not be paid for that time. Keep the list of who doesn't get paid private.
- anyone who is late more than eight (or ten or whatever) times a month will receive a warning. If it happens again in three consecutive months the person will lose their job. Do not make the actual data public either.

Explain that people who receive a warning will be ineligible for a promotion within the subsequent six months.

Then apply these rules with perfect honesty, transparency and without exceptions. Let the employees see how they are progressing, let the figures speak for themselves.

In this model, the employer makes the rules and applies them. The employee determines his future by his own behaviour. The employee will know in advance the results of his actions.
This means the employer decision to be late or not determines his future, not the employer. If the employee doesn't like the rules, then he should find a position elsewhere.

Good behaviour should be rewarded and poor behaviour discouraged.

The response to laziness etc is similar. Job objectives must be agreed in advance and the company response outlined beforehand. If the objectives are achieved then the agreed rewards are made.

It is essential that these processes must be simple to understand, simple to measure and be simple to apply. Complexity creates misinterpretations. It takes skill and experience to find the correct balance. There are many consultancy web sites that explain these management techniques. There is no one perfect answer, the culture of the company and existing agreements with the employees all are important.

The best way is to hire an experienced manager who has done this all before. Do not hire a highly paid consultant who has nothing to lose, but employ a person full time and explain he gets a bonus or whatever if they succeed. Theory is well and good, but experience when dealing with people is so very important.

Thank you guys for replaying

These are some effective solutions.

I have an idea that is all about HR manager. Before he accept application and hire people, he need to examine thier responsibility by some fizy questions. That the person doens't know that the manager asks him this question to know the resposibility side of him. If he answer these question in a proper way and its appears his responsibility side then we can conclude.

Just to talk with him in normal way and lough to make him feel normal and talk freely to know his truth personality.

Ofcourse the solutions for late and leave is good with the graph idea.

Managers should make the employees feel that they are part of the company and thier sucess is depend on all the managers and employees. Also show them what are the future plans to feel that they are part of the future.

hi Ryoom,

You mention that employees should feel part of the company and share in any successes. I agree totally. This approach is a very different one to what we proposed previously.

To explain, one management perspective says there are two different factors to people, management, tasks etc. (This is one management view, there are many.) The two factors are "tasks" and "relationships".

A task approach focuses on getting the job done on time, within budget with little regard for the people involved.

A relationship approach focuses on improving the relationship between people, making them happy with no little for the task timeframes, budget etc.

[high task/low realtionship]
A project manager typically manages by managing the tasks. Many project managers don't care about the impact on people of their job, they are seen as tough hard and even unpleasant, but they get the job done.

[high realtionship/low task]
A sales person is typically good with relationships and is popular with customers and often his co-workers. But a sales person if often sloppy with finishing the monthly report and poor with detail, such tasks are not as important as keeping the customer happy.

[low task/low realtionship]
A bureaucrat doesn't care about people or task timeframes, but simply follows the rules.

[high task/high realtionship]
A good manager has the ability to understand the situation in terms of task and relationship and can also use skills from either task or relationship to manage the situation. A good manager must be flexible and adaptive. Such people are rare, it is very difficult to correctly sense the situation and respond accordingly, and to ignore one's natural approach.

Most people use one approach more than the other and that is their natural approach. This is why most project managers have similar approaches to problems. It is interesting to note that women generally are relationship type people and men are generally task orientated.

So, when you mentioned that employees should feel part of the company and share in any successes, this is a solution based upon relationship. This is a different type of solution than what was proposed in measuring their arrival date and setting rules. That approach is a task based approach. Task based approaches are effective when you need to be tough and hard, relationship approaches are more effective when people want to do the right thing.

The best solution involves a combination of task and relationship factors.

And again I emphasise that there are many solutions and my explanation above is a general one. Nothing is ever 100% task or 100% relationship; there is always a combination of each.

I find it almost impossible to give any good advice. For me, much of how we worked was connected to the culture in our part of the country and the culture of our organization.

For example, where I worked we had a very generous sick leave policy. One of our employees was kicked in the head by a horse and had brain damage. He spent weeks in the hospital and then months at home while he got various types of therapy. Other employees would arrive at his home, sometimes on their own time and sometimes when they were working, to take him to his therapy sessions. Most people where I worked valued this sick leave policy and were careful to not abuse it.

When a new employee saw that the policy allowed 4.5 months sick leave a year some would start taking every Monday or Friday off sick. Very quickly other employees would talk to them and almost all would conform to the local system. Very few didn't and a manager would have to intercede.

The same was true for work hours. We had very flexible hours with the emphasis being getting the job done. People could come in early and leave early if they wished as long as the were working the appropriate number of hours and getting the job done. When people abused this it was often the other employees who would discuss the matter first.

We had a new employee who took credit for work other people had done and similar dishonest behaviors. One morning one of the men said, "We're all going out for coffee and we don't want you to come." Fine. I knew what they were doing. They chatted with the new employee. I suspect they chatted very firmly. Two weeks later, his behavior hadn't changed and he requested a transfer to another department.

I also did some work with a group of men from Saudi Arabia. I was totally out of my element. A major factor in the group dynamics was who was, and wasn't, related to the king. Everyone in the group knew and I didn't but even when they told me I didn't care. They cared a lot.

So, I hesitate to get very specific with suggestions. I would advise you to find a manager in Qataar, even in another organization, and pose your questions to him.

Our family business employed up to fifty people for a period of six months only, and I did the payroll.

I found there are distinct categories of employees.

Aproximately thirty per cent were self motivating, responsible, and hard working, ideal employees.

Another thirty percent were average, they would come to work but not work too hard and would pin point accurately each time a sick day entitlement had accrued and take time off accordingly.

The third group was totally unreliable, mucking around and taking days off each week.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear so the best idea is to get the good ones of course, and a higher than average salary might attract them.

The first three months of employment are usually a probationary period in my experience. Bad habits usually surface within that time period so its a good way of weeding out the lazy ones.

Sick benefits not used could be given as a lump sum at the end of the year, together with some other kind of bonus for punctuality and commitment to the employer.

patrickt wrote:

I find it almost impossible to give any good advice. ... I would advise you to find a manager in Qataar, even in another organization, and pose your questions to him.

I agree that your advice Patrickt, is good advice.

"As a result of these salary overpayments, the college overcharged its management and benefits fees, which are paid as a percentage by the State of Qatar to the college," the statement said. "A portion of these will now need to be re-paid to the state, which is estimated to be in the range of $5 million."
King said employees will continue to receive their current salary for the remainder of their contracts.