Punctuality in workplace is paramount

Often, workplaces dictate what time employees should arrive for work. However, what is forgotten is that sometimes arriving early does not necessarily mean working effectively to finish the set workload. Sometimes employees just follow the rules, get to work on time but finish no or very little work.
This, therefore, begs the questions; should workplaces have clock in time? Is it about the time or productivity? Does early clock in necessary mean productivity?
Mary Kyomuhendo, a human resource officer, says because her job involves handling a lot of paperwork, she would always leave office very tired in the evening. However, she was required to report for work at 7am and since there was nothing she could do about this, she would make it to office at the required time but while alone in her office, she would lock the door and sleep for at least two hours. This still left her with a lot of work at the end of the day.
“In a bid to reduce my workload, I started leaving office at 10pm and when I succeeded in reducing and normalising my work schedule, I revised my day to day habits and valued every minute I spent at office,” says Kyomuhendo. She adds that once someone plans their day well, there is no reason why they would get to work early but fail to finish their work.
“We had to let a lot of people go because many would spend most of their time in office either dozing or on the different social media platforms,” she adds.

When to start
Elizabeth Namukobe, a teacher and librarian, says she stays far from her workplace and traffic jam always affects her time of arrival. “The head teacher has had my salary deducted on several occasions which sometimes leaves me with less pay. I think this is unfair because I never miss any lessons and I open the library before the students leave assembly,” says Namukobe.
She believes that 8am is an okay time to report for work but the headmistress insists that they report before 8am to enable lesson planning before the pupils arrive.
However, she adds that her and most her colleagues do their lesson plans a week in advance and it does not make sense for the head teacher to dictate that they arrive so early for something that has already been done.

Showing up does not help
Karen Irene Echelai, an administrator at QG Group, says she sees no reason why a company would require employees to arrive early for work depending on the nature of the job. “There are workers who will only get what to do in the afternoon so I think them coming to office to wait is not ideal,” she says.
She notes that it benefits no one to just show face yet they are not adding any value. It is better they use the free time for personal development then report to office when there is work to do. She, however cautions employees to make sure that if this freedom is given, it should not be abused so as to cause work backlog.

Shortcomings
Jackson Oteu, a procurement officer at Proper Skills Management, says forcing an employee to start work so early in the morning may lead to stress which may cause a breakdown and that gap will do the company a disservice if the employee falls sick and has to take time off work.
He adds that sometimes a company may be able to save money that would otherwise be spent on say, paying for internet bundles that are used by idle employees. He further says dictating on what time employees should go to work may make people live a life full of dishonesty since some may clock in but later sneak out to do some other things then sign out at the right time.
Oteu advises that workers are left to decide the time they should report but there should be condition; they must show productivity or be fired. He is also against harsh penalties such as salary deductions just because someone is late because this demoralises the employee and a company may end up losing them.

Good time use
Kyomuhendo says employees will waste time doing anything but work because they lack supervision. She says an employee does not have to face consequences before they can start valuing their time at work but be self-driven to do their work without supervision.
According to Bosco Lotte Bogere, a procurement officer; “Usually people are advised to make it to office early in the morning because it is believed to be the most productive time of the day since the brain is well rested and fresh.”
On the other hand, Resty Nalubwama, a researcher, says in some fields, keeping time does not mean being at work early but making sure that you beat the deadline and submit what is required on time. She says regardless of the time you reach the office, it is best to make sure that you have collected enough data from your sources so that all you do is compile other than at your desk and start fidgeting.
She adds that those whose work requires them to be at office all day should be on time so that they can get their work done because afternoons are always ‘lazy’.