We had this "problem" at two of my workplaces; one where I was the one doing it and the other where someone else was doing it.<p>In my case I lived nearby but sometimes was 5-10 minutes late despite having moved to live literally 5 minutes walk away. Why was I coming in late? Because while my direct coworkers and manager were amazing, we had been acquired by an evil company, and being ordered by senior management (from the safety of another state) to treat customers without human decency.<p>The only way I could continue to work, aside from the feeling that I was in the belly of the beast and secretly helping all the customers that I could, was that I was in control of that 5-10 minutes in the morning. I was the one doing it, they weren't doing it to me.<p>After some poking and prodding my boss decided it was not a big deal. Yes the phones had to be answered, but it wasn't an issue when a few people were likely in the office, they can call back a minute later and have someone, and my mobile number was also published for outside of hours contact. No big deal, no internet post, no ego, no whinging.<p>At another company an employee was even more late; 30-60 minutes every day. I wasn't privy to the conversations about why (I think it was just more convenient because they had kids and both partners worked) but the boss had a talk with them and changed their working hours to start at 9:30. Again, the phones have to be answered, but it's also useful to have someone who stays later in the day. No big deal, no internet post, no ego, no whinging.<p>Do you see the pattern here? An employer and employee talking about something, realising they both want different things, and deciding well it's worth it to retain the talent. The idea of a manager and their bruised ego trying to force everyone to fall into line as if workers were cattle is disgusting.<p>What amazes me from the post is the number of managers (or manager wannabes) who insist that the employees are either insulting them, insulting co-workers, refusing orders, or failing to meet a contract.<p>* I can guarantee at every company, anyone with kids, comes late at some times and leaves early to pick the kids up. Nobody bats an eye.<p>* Coming late has nothing to do with you, the company, or the job. Some people just work this way and you can judge them on the work or be pig-headed and lose their talents. (There may be a slight correlation to being a bad boss and having employees come in late because they hate dealing with you.)<p>* As for not fulfilling a contract, if your lawn gets mowed once a week, or the paper or milk is delivered, or you're in the doctor or dentist's waiting room and they're ten minutes late - try refusing the bill and tell me how it goes. Good luck.<p>* You may write a cheque but you will never own a person and get to push them around however you like. Let them go if you must. But if doing so doesn't strongly benefit the business to the tune of the tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars of investment it costs to retain an employee - versus ten minutes a day - then if you do it you're just a bad manager.