HR Dilemma: Can you ask staff to come in 15 mins early?

Everyone’s guilty of it. You start at a certain time so you arrive at that time, on the dot. But you’re not ready for work. By the time you’re ready to work valuable time has passed. So, can you reasonably ask your employees to come in earlier so they’re ready to work when the clock strikes?

Short answer: not unless you want to pay them more. This is always an option, staff deserve to be remunerated for the time they put in, but in Brexit belt-tightening times pitching the idea of paying staff to get ready to work may come across as self-defeating.

From our partner

7 ways for managers to spot conflict before it happens

What HR needs to do is make employees want to come into work and be ready to start on time – without it being presenteeism. Naturally, then, offering flexibility may provide a solution. It allows workers to feel autonomous in their position and trusted in their role. It’s just a shame that flexibility is not considered by some employers.

A survey last year by Workingmums.co.uk found that 12% of employers had not considered a working mothers request for flexible working and over a quarter of these rejections were not in line with flexible working legislation.