Helen has been an employee at a firm for over five years. During this period she has developed close relationships with a number of her colleagues. Management has however had a few challenges with her late-coming behaviour as well as the lengthy lunch breaks she has been taking.
The term “time-stealing” can best be used to describe her behaviour. The overall cost of all the times she has been late as well as the long breaks is contributing to financial losses for the company.
When Helen arrives late, instead of signing in the actual time of arrival, which may be five to 15 minutes late, she signs the time that she is supposed to be at work.
Time-stealing is a practice where employees bill their employer for the time they have not worked. This may be in the form of long breaks, late starts, buddy punching or even doing personal activities at work. Unauthorised overtime also adds to the cost of time theft for your business.
For companies that use systems of punching in to work, buddy punching may be a common practice. This is where employees clock in for each other when one is running late.
This is why it’s so important to look t how time theft is impacting business.
Four and a half hours weekly can easily turn into six full work weeks annually. Factors such as leniency on the part of management go a long way towards contributing towards financial losses.
At times it may also be caused by employees not feeling like a valued member of the team.
If there are no consequences for time theft there will inevitably be a negative impact on the amount of money that a business is making.
As a business owner who is concerned with the true cost of time theft for your business, you can consider using apps to help with managing the process. The time is exact for checking in and out of work.