Time theft

[darcie smith]

I’ve never been so mad at an employee as I was today. Scott asked me to check the punches for our new tech because it seems like she’s been 10 mins late or so several times since we hired her a month ago. I started looking into it and I found out that not only has she been late several times, but she’s been punching in when she’s still almost 10 minutes away from the shop. I found six instances of this in the last three weeks.

We confronted her and she broke down sobbing, scared she was going to get fired and swearing up and down she only punches in when she’s on our property, but HCP records the location of your time clock punch. Either she’s lying through her teeth or there’s a glitch in the technology. Our other tech’s punches are fine, all former tech’s punches have been fine. I don’t know if she’s telling the truth or not. She’s a very hard worker, is picking up really fast, loves the work... But if she lies about one thing, what else is she lying about? Trust is absolutely essential when you’re sending someone out to people’s homes with $85,000 of equipment and your company name and brand are on the line, and I don’t want to make snap judgements but I don’t trust her now.

Scott told her to start clocking in at the shop in view of the cameras and we’ll watch her closely. I hope I’m wrong, I really do. I like her. But...

 

[FredC]

If it strictly uses GPS it is probably accurate but if it uses other location methods or a combination it could be off

for example depending on which services I have on (gps, cell, wifi) my location varies widely ......it usually narrows down to a specific location but we are talking about a snapshot in time. If you based my location of the find my friends app right now I would be about a mile from the couch I'm currently sitting on


My wife's company geofences the clock in location.

I'd give her the benefit of the doubt

 

[Mikey P]

Does she sling a wand?

 

[darcie smith]

Does she sling a wand?

Fabulously

 

[Mikey P]

Hey go to bed!

 

[RobMLyon]

If it’s a first offense do a verbal warning or written one, let her know that it can’t happen again and move forward. Document, Document, Document everything.

 

[RobMLyon]

Hey go to bed!

You know entrepreneurs never really sleep lol

 

[darcie smith]

Hey go to bed!

I’m pregnant, I wake up to pee a LOT. You go to bed!

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I'd give her the benefit of the doubt

I agree with Fred.

As Rob said, if you have proof she's late, then a warning and documentation. Do not tolerate it.

I had an employee who was habitually late. We have an old fashioned "time clock", so I could clearly see she would punch in at 8:04, 8:08, 8:10, etc. I let it go because she was good at the job, personable, and fit in with our staff.

When it got to be 8:10, 8:12, 8:15 I let it go because it was just a few minutes more....and she was really good at her job.

Then I found out the other employees were talking about her with resentment. This "got along good with others" employee was setting a bad example. It got to be a "joke" among them, but it wasn't funny.

So of course I had to talk to her about it.

At that point, she was OFFENDED that I brought up her lateness, as, in her words "You always let me come in when I wanted..."

We parted ways, but it was my fault this happened.

Nip it in the bud, and watch for other infractions.

 

[darcie smith]

I agree with Fred.

As Rob said, if you have proof she's late, then a warning and documentation. Do not tolerate it.

I had an employee who was habitually late. We have an old fashioned "time clock", so I could clearly see she would punch in at 8:04, 8:08, 8:10, etc. I let it go because she was good at the job, personable, and fit in with our staff.

When it got to be 8:10, 8:12, 8:15 I let it go because it was just a few minutes more....and she was really good at her job.

Then I found out the other employees were talking about her with resentment. This "got along good with others" employee was setting a bad example. It got to be a "joke" among them, but it wasn't funny.

So of course I had to talk to her about it.

At that point, she was OFFENDED that I brought up her lateness, as, in her words "You always let me come in when I wanted..."

We parted ways, but it was my fault this happened.

Nip it in the bud, and watch for other infractions.

It’s not the lateness that I’m upset about. I have managed people for fifteen years and I saw lateness all the time. It can be corrected if the employee makes an effort. My issue is the punches and I really hope Fred is right and it’s a triangulation issue. If someone is sneaky enough to clock in repeatedly when they’re not at work yet it says a lot about their character and that’s harder to change. She was late yesterday and told me she told Scott the night before that she may be late because of an appointment. When I talked to Scott, he said she told him she may be able to early and didn’t mention being late at all. Did one of us mishear her or did she lie? Is she clocking in at the shop or is she lying? I truly don’t know. Time will tell.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Yes, let's hope Fred is right.

If their is deceit going on, that's an entirely different level of infraction.

 

[RobMLyon]

If it happens again, it may be write up time, I had an employee that would do it, they worked with me for 2 weeks strait (on time every day) after that.