Why I don't trust people who come to work early

I don't trust people who come to work early. People who are early for work are not Over achievers They something to hide. Employees who know they are making mistakes, know that if they come in early it will hide their incompetence. It's true! Being early is like getting a key to the city, a lifetime hallway pass, a ticket to first class!

Yes I am kidding but only slightly. The point I am trying to make really comes to a common mistake that employers make valuing reliability over production.

Example, Joanne would come in early every day. The bosses knew they could always expect to see her bright an early in her chair sometimes 30 minutes before her shift. She was pleasant, and always had the coffee made. But, she was slow and often burdened her co-workers with questions she should have known. She was not computer savvy and often couldn't do certain things that were part of her job description, which would be passed down to someone else by the administrator with no repercussions. She turned her phone off at 5 and made it clear that she doesn't work weekends and didn't stay late even if that meant others had to come in and complete a time sensitive task. Co-workers complained but nothing was ever done. In fact, management defended her.

Now Sue usually arrive on the dot and sometimes a few minutes late. She was a fast worker and often picking up the slack. She would stay late when it was required of her, and would come in on weekends or take work home off the clock to get things done. One day, Sue was asked to stay late and said she couldn't. She was written up for it and was also warned about not being on time or taking longer lunch breaks. Why did Sue get in trouble for not staying late and not Joanne? Because the bosses looked at Joanne as a better worker and more reliable simply for being early. It allowed her to set her own boundaries. It didn't matter that Jackie does twice the work.

It is very common for employers to value an employees reliability over production. There are positives and negatives to this thought process. Yes reliability means less turnover, reducing cost to the company. However, poor productivity can counteract that benefit. Ideally the best case scenario is someone who is both early and a productive worker but that is rare. So what is the better employee to choose? I would choose the productive worker over the punctual one. Why? Because with the right encouragement, you can always work with punctuality. But you can't teach people to be multi-taskers or to be productive even. You either are or you aren't. Employers often forget to simply ask an employee how they feel about their performance and their schedule. What they would likely find is that these employees that put the extra effort, are simply feeling under appreciated. Or they may be simply trying to manage their schedules due to the extra hours. Employers may not consider things like, when the employee stayed late the day before, she missed an appointment or couldn't get to the bank. So the next day they try to do it at lunch and end up late coming back. OR, an employee put in 2 hours additional work that was unpaid, and when no one noticed they felt that coming in a few minutes late would be ok. By talking to them and working out benefits for these employees and discussing their frustrations it not only acknowledges the extra work the employee is doing, but it encourages productivity and can prevent misunderstandings in schedules.

And the truth is, there are some employees who have figured out that being early will hide their incompetence in other areas. Its true. During an evaluation, we came across a girl whose typing speed was almost half of her coworkers, had less responsibility because her file notated she did not have the skills required to take on more work and who was clearly warming the desk more than 20 hours a week. She flat out told us that she knew that she wasn't as up to par but that the management "loved her" because she was always on time and had coffee and donuts ready for her bosses when they got there.

Employers need to remember that their employees spend more time in the office than they do with their own families, and that being understanding that they need time to take care of the home and personal priorities and appointments that can only be done during office hours, will get a more loyal employee who will want to work harder for you.

Me, I personally don't want desk warmers. There are employees who have made it an art stretching out an 8 hour day when the work is done in 4, simply to collect a bigger paycheck. I would rather someone be honest and tell me they finished their work and give me the option to send them home early or renegotiate their salary so that both win. If they save me money like that, I wont forget it come bonus time