I have a pastry shop employee who is always late, usually five to seven minutes. We operate on an hourly basis, so late is late. He is by far the best pastry cook I have in a staff of five, but our policy is to be on time no matter what. He has been at my hotel for three years, and I’ve tried bringing up his tardiness in his quarterly reviews, and I’ve even held back a raise because of it. He has a good attitude toward work, but nothing gets through to him about it. What’s my next step?

Rafael, don’t feel like the Lone Ranger when it comes to chronic tardiness. While the research on this topic is fairly thin, what does come through loud and clear is that most people who are tardy have developed the habit of being a little late over the course of most of their lives. It’s an ingrained pattern of behavior that has almost nothing to do with personal drama or control, self-discipline, good (or bad) intentions, or ego. No matter how hard they try, these folks always run a little behind, and they haven’t the foggiest notion of how to fix it.

Here’s a blend of ingredients that may do the trick:

1. Ask him why he’s late so much. Is it a transportation problem, does it involve child or elder care, is it a sleep disorder? Finding a specific cause—if there is one—will lead to a cure.
2. Evaluate your policy on tardiness in light of his level of performance. Sure, late is late, but if his performance in terms of the quantity, quality, and elegance of the baked goods he produces is measurably superior to that of his peers, then maybe everyone should start work at five to seven minutes after the appointed hour.
3. Rather than hold back on the entire amount, turn his raise into an incentive bonus for punctuality, using “percentage of days ontime” to calibrate the amount he receives.
4. Coach him to reset his personal time standard from “on-time” to “10 minutes early.” When taken seriously, this simple adjustment has worked for many people.
5. Continue to address the issue during reviews, putting him on verbal/ written notice if needed. But before you drop the axe, go back and ponder number two on this list again. Perfect employees are impossible to find. That’s why great-but-imperfect ones, like the person you describe here, are such valuable assets.