Templates

Warning Letter for late coming

Use Tanda's free templated warning letter for late coming to clarify expectations and promote communication.

Date issued:

[Today's date]

Issued to:

[Employee name(s)]

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RE: Written warning for continued late attendance

Dear

[Employee Name],

Your continued lateness to work is deemed unacceptable by management. This letter is an official written warning. Specifically, you have been late on the following occurrences:

[Date and time the employee arrived at work late]

We strive to create a workplace that is fair for all employees. When you continuously arrive late to work, you are not only in breach of the standards we expect of our employees, you are also creating a workplace that is unfair for your colleagues.

We set scheduled times for your work so we can correctly meet our business goals and best service our clients. Everyone in the team strives for our continued success as a business, and having a single team member arriving late causes our standards to slip is also unfair on your colleagues who are following our high standards.

We expect you to remedy this breach of our attendance requirement immediately.

Continued lateness may result in termination or other disciplinary action.

Regards,

[Manager Name]

COPY

Should you send an employee a warning letter for late coming?

The short and sweet answer is yes. Poor employee attendance damages businesses in a number of ways. Absenteeism and lateness create conflict between employees, reduces productivity and sets a bad perspective of management and their ability to keep operations smooth. Conversely, good attendance and punctuality create a work environment where employees feel as though equal effort is being applied. Using a warning letter for being late is a simple way to maintain good attendance.

If you’re contending with employees who display continued lateness, a proactive approach to the situation is encouraged. If you’re reading this, the chances are you’re already looking to present the employee with a warning letter for being late. A simple warning letter to employees for late coming is a formal, but relatively inservere way of reminding employees that their late attendance affects themselves, their coworkers and the business at large. It’s not unreasonable to expect employees to be on time, and the majority of workers will agree.

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How do you write up an employee for being late?

If you’ve previously verbally warned or brought up an employees lateness, begin by listing the previous dates those verbal warnings have occurred. Discuss how lateness affects the other employees around them, and how continued lateness isn’t fair for the company or those working in it. Setting and understanding consequences for lateness is important before writing up an employee, if this is a first warning you may not want to escalate, however continued lateness may warrant consequence. Having discussed consequences for future lateness, talk about why the lateness is occurring, and what can be done on both sides to improve the situation. Conclude with a formal letter for late coming, and keep a copy for your own records.

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How many warnings are appropriate?

According to the Fair Work Commission, an employer doesn’t have to give an employee 3 warnings, or even 1 warning but an employer should give the employee a chance to fix any performance issues before handing down consequences such as a formal performance review or termination of employment. The above template can be edited to suit as a first, second or final warning letter for late coming.