Alastair Wallace explains why one late employee undermines your whole team's start time. If you let it slide, everyone sees the start time as optional. Use a simple script: acknowledge the lateness, state the official time, ask what happened, and set clear expectations for next time.
Your Gen Z team member wanders into work at 9:15 AM, iced matcha in hand, headphones on. You groan and think, where have you been? Lateness isn't just about the clock, and it doesn't just apply to Gen Z either. This is about what you as a manager tolerate. Flexibility is totally fine if that's what the agreement is. If one person drifts in late and nothing happens, Everyone else learns the start time is more of a suggestion. If time does matter, you don't need a lecture here, you just need a patterned conversation. Say this: I noticed you were 15 minutes late today and on Wednesday. Our start time's 9 AM. What happened? Then clarify: I need you here ready to start work at 9 AM from tomorrow. If there's a problem, you can always give me a call before the start time, not after. This works because it's specific and it's fair. You can listen without making the standard optional. If you want the words for awkward manager conversations just like this one, grab my free Say This First guide. I'll put it with the post.
