A co-worker constantly arrives late to a weekly scheduled meeting. What would you do?

Question

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Firstly, I would like to review my role in this setup, Am I the meeting
organiser? Does this person report to me? Is this person critical for this
meeting?
If the answer to any of the questions above is yes, then I would take a leading
role in resolving this matter of the person being constantly delayed into the
meeting.
I would try to understand if this is the only meeting that he is constantly
delayed in or others as well, trying to understand if this is a generic
behaviour trait of being late or something keeps him being on time for this one.
If it is a generic trait, I would request him to take note of the situation and
politely ask him to be on time, as his presence is critical for this meeting and
by being on time he is being respectful of his co workers time as well.
If it is just this specific meeting, then I would try to understand the reason
behind that, could be that the person has another meeting just before this which
could lead to him shuttling between meetings/ or personal commitments like
childcare which could lead to this. In those cases, I would try to find an
alternate time slot for the meeting

Anonymous · Answer

I would find a time to speak with the coworker in private, seek to understand
his reason for being late, and identify there are any impediments I could help
remove. I would then propose any actions to be taken to remove those
impediments, and gently reiterate the impact of them being late to the project,
people and also to his brand and trust within the team. I would close the
meeting by offering my help and continued support to help improve.

Anonymous · Answer

i will try to talk to him first and find out the reason. If he has any issues
with the timing and is there a way for him to make it on time. I assess the
situation if it is valid reason and temporary i will allow to be late but ask
him to communicate clearly that he will be late. If i feel as per company
guidelines its not a valid reason i will request him to attend the meeting

Anonymous · Answer

If an employee was consistently late for a weekly meeting, I would start by
addressing the situation privately in a respectful and non-confrontational
manner. I’d approach them to understand if there are any underlying issues or
challenges they’re facing that might be causing the delays. For example, they
might be dealing with conflicting priorities or personal matters that are
affecting their ability to be punctual. After understanding their side, I’d
explain the importance of being on time, especially for team meetings, since
punctuality helps ensure that we stay aligned and efficient as a group. I’d
offer solutions, such as adjusting the meeting time if that works for the team,
or helping them better manage their workload if it’s a scheduling conflict.
Ultimately, the goal would be to resolve the situation in a way that maintains
team cohesion while helping the employee improve their punctuality without
feeling criticized.

Anonymous · Answer

My first action will be to check in on this person. Do they already have
something important scheduled? Is there anything that happens in their personal
life at that point, e.g, maybe they go to school to either pick up or drop their
kid or have a regular appointment with doctor for themselves or their family
members. If it is either of those, I will discuss internally with the team and
ask the meeting be moved to a time suitable for everyone to attend or depending
upon the role of this person maybe excuse him from the meeting altogether.

If, though, it turns out that this is nothing but tardiness, my next steps will
be significantly different. I will remind them of the importance of punctuality
and ask them to make an effort to arrive on time for future meetings. If the
issue still persists, I will reach out to their line manager and express my
concern with the person's behaviour.

Finally, it will be a direct escalation and involvement of HR into the process.
This is a little extreme but by this point I have exhausted all different
actions and the tardiness continues.

In one of my previous roles, I had a situation where the employee would come to
the daily standup (scheduled for 15 mins) 10 mins late. On inquiring about the
issue, they mentioned about the meeting time coinciding with their regular
meeting with a doctor for an ongoing therapie. As a team, we decided to move the
meeting to the second half of the day to make it easier and less stressful for
this person to join.

Anonymous · Answer

My first action will be to check in on this person. Do they already have
something important scheduled? Is there anything that happens in their personal
life at that point, e.g, maybe they go to school to either pick up or drop their
kid or have a regular appointment with doctor for themselves or their family
members. If it is either of those, I will discuss internally with the team and
ask the meeting be moved to a time suitable for everyone to attend or depending
upon the role of this person maybe excuse him from the meeting altogether.

If, though, it turns out that this is nothing but tardiness, my next steps will
be significantly different. I will send out a slack/email message to them to
improve themselves and start coming to the meetings on time. This will serve as
my first action, followed by a slack/email marking their line manager so that
they are fully aware of the ongoing issue.

Finally, it will be a direct escalation and involvement of HR into the process.
This is a little extreme but by this point I have exhausted all different
actions and the tardiness continues.

Anonymous · Answer

I’ll first evaluate my role in the meeting. If I am the owner of the meeting
I’ll set some time apart to ask if everything is ok starting with a question
like. Hey I’ve noticed that you have been joining the meeting late over the last
few weeks, is everything ok, or is anything that I can help with?
Depending on the answers to the question and assuming this person is important
for the meeting I would consider the possibility of moving the meeting to a
better time or maybe just changing the order of the meeting to ensure the person
is present to provide updates or to answer questions. If there is no valid
reason to getting late to the meeting or if it continues the issue should be
escalated to his manager.
When I was managing the Flutter Team I had to deal with a similar situation. A
person from infrastructure was not joining the bug triage meetings and he was
expected to provide information about lab ongoing issues. I talked to him in one
of our 1:1s and asked the reason he was not joining the meetings. It turned out
to be a misunderstanding and an issue with how I set up the meeting. I used the
team’s mailing group to set up the meeting and because his name was not
explicitly called in the meeting agenda they thought they were optional for that
meeting. After clearing the misunderstanding they started joining the meeting
consistently.

Anonymous · Answer

I would ask them if everything was alright, and if I can help them out in any
way. Based on the reason they state, I would try to suggest them some solutions
and offer help if I can.

Rishav Raj · Answer

I would ask the employee what is the reason for them being late to a scheduled
meeting. I would also ask them to always respond to the invite by agreeing to
join or declining the invite in the calendar if they are busy at that time and
also to inform in advance. If they have some genuine issue to join at the time
of that scheduled meeting, I will try to reschedule the meeting. If it's not
possible to reschedule due to other teammates availability, I will connect with
the employee one on one and brief them about the meeting. If however they are
being late for the meeting intentionally or without any important reason, I will
inform our seniors if they are doing it again and again.

Anonymous · Answer

I would ask is there any issues that the person is facing due to which this
situation has arise and would offer support if needed. I will try to work the
situation out with the person and will find out an ideal way to tackle this
situation.

Anonymous · Answer

i'd first ask if there's anything about the meeting schedule that makes it hard
to make. Then ask if they feel it's not something they feel they or the team is
deriving value from. If so, we can talk about why we have those meetings and how
it makes others feel they're disengaged. I'd share that they do great work and
it's important that we all feel like they're part of the team and to not
hesitate to tell me if we can run the meeting better.

Anonymous · Answer

I would check if they are okay and understand if there was some other
circumstances that prevented them from attending the meeting. Things like
conflicting meetings or other work priority. If there is nothing then I would
suggest them to move the meeting to a time when they can attend the meeting.

Anonymous · Answer

I would ask him/her if everything is fine, if there is something I can help
with, and of course, the reason why he/she is arriving late

Anonymous · Answer

I would want to have a conversation with the employee offline. It is important
to understand the reason behind it. It may be that the time needs to be adjusted
to better accomidate the employee due to outside influences they can't control.

Anonymous · Answer

I would highlight to them that they should respect everyone's time and be on
time. If there is a conflict with the schedule, they can decline the meeting, or
we can inform them before the meeting so we can adjust the time.

Anonymous · Answer

The co-worker should be asked in a mail why he has become a habitual latecomer.
If he/she forwards some argument which is not the office's responsibility,
he/she should be warned in writing. If this fails, the issue should be
escalated.

Anonymous · Answer

First, we have to consider if this person is really need to participate in the
meeting and if the answer is yes. Next step we have to ensure that the
information about meeting time is correctly transferred to him by asking him for
confirmation or cross-checked in meeting invitation.
Then we have to inform him if he doesn’t want to join the meeting, please inform
meeting organizer but if he wants to join the meeting, he have to act
professionally to manage to join the meeting on time.

Anonymous · Answer

speak to them one on one first. Kind of get friendly. If you are close enough,
you can just directly say it to them that it is time theft. but if you're not
close to them, ask them why they come in late first to see if they have a valid
reason or if they already pre-arranged it with the manager. If yes, then stop
and apologize and just move on. if no, explain to them whatever

Anonymous · Answer

I would ask if he/she has any problem with the meeting time so we can change it
to a more suitable time.

Anonymous · Answer

Have a curious mind and approach with understanding. Talk to the person 1x1, see
what's up and go from there.

Anonymous · Answer

First, i will ask him the reason behind arriving late, if he gives the valid
reason then we will try to resolve his problem if it is possible otherwise we
find substitute of him to attend the meeting.

A co-worker constantly arrives late to a weekly scheduled meeting. What would you do?

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