When the late crew member always has a good excuse

This week's conversation

You run the opening shift at a distribution warehouse. Start time is 6:00. One of your seasonal pickers, eight weeks in, has clocked in between 6:10 and 6:20 four times in the last three weeks. Once he is there, he is good. Fast, careful, liked by the crew.

Every time, there is a reason. The bus was late. His sister's car would not start. A wreck on the bypass. Each one sounds true, and some probably are. Meanwhile the line starts short, and two people have asked you, not quietly, why he gets a pass.

The moment you dread: you start to raise it, and before you finish the sentence he says, "I told you, the bus was late. What was I supposed to do?"

Why it goes sideways

The trap is judging excuses instead of describing a pattern. Each reason, alone, is reasonable. So the conversation becomes a string of small trials: was the bus really late, should he have left earlier. You cannot win those, and you should not try. He feels accused of lying and gets defensive. You back off because you do not want to call him a liar. Nothing changes.

Clinically, this is face-saving. An excuse protects how a person sees himself: reliable, doing his best. Challenge the excuse and you challenge that. SBI (Situation, Behavior, Impact) helps because it keeps you on what happened and what it cost, not on why. You do not need to rule on whether the reasons are true. You only need to agree that the pattern has to change.

One note: if he mentions a health condition, a disability or caregiving duties, pause and bring in HR before going further. Those can carry legal protections, and that is not a conversation to script on your own.

What to say

"I want to talk about start times. You've clocked in after 6:00 four times in the last three weeks. When that happens, the line starts a person short and others cover your zone. I'm not going to go through each reason. I want to work out with you how you're here at 6:00."

When he pushes back:

"I believe the bus was late. I'm not questioning that. The pattern is the problem, whatever's behind it. What would have to change for you to be on the floor at 6:00 every day?"

To close:

"So the plan is the earlier bus starting Monday, and a text to me before 5:45 if anything goes wrong, so I can cover the line. Let's check in Friday after shift. Does that work for you?"

• Instead of "Why were you late again?" try "You've been late four times in three weeks."
• Instead of "You need to leave earlier," try "What would get you here at 6:00?"
• Instead of "Just try harder," try "Let's check in Friday."

Two-minute drill

Say your opening line out loud. Then say the hardest excuse you can imagine, and answer it out loud without arguing with it. Do this three times. If you hear yourself say "but," start again.

Practice it

Rehearse this before you have it. On the free practice page, pick the Workplace domain and the "Resistant Direct Report" persona, and describe the situation in a sentence. Account holders can open "The Chronic Deadline Misser" from the app's library under Workplace → Performance Management. Practice this conversation

Thanks for doing the hard ones. Dan