How would you handle a team member who is consistently 5-10 minutes late for their shift and they fail to notify you they will be late?
As a Band 6 nurse, you will require excellent leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills. The interviewers would like to hear that you address this situation before it becomes a consistent issue while also having compassion for your colleagues. As an interviewer, I like hearing that senior nurses will address tardiness the first time it happens. Asking your team member why they are late shows that you have leadership skills and that you are concerned about what caused the staff member to be late. If the reason is valid and the employee is not typically late, you can shrug it off while reminding them to call you if they will be late again. If the employee continues to be tardy, let the interviewers know how you would follow the NHS policies and procedures for an incident, such as documenting the incident, reprimanding the employee, and involving human resources if the tardiness continues.
"I always follow the policies and procedures of the organization I work for, which are generally the same regarding employee tardiness. I do not allow team members to get to the point where they are consistently late. I like to nip it in the bud the first time someone is late and ask why they were late and why they did not call and notify me. I am always concerned if a team member is late and want to make sure nothing bad happened to cause them to be tardy. If it were something simple, such as inclement weather or heavy traffic, I would let the incident slide with a warning to contact me if they were going to be late in the future. If they had a warning and the behavior continued without notifying me they would be late, I would document the incident, give the employee a verbal reprimand, and involve human resources if there was no improvement with the team member."
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Anonymous Answer
I would ask to speak to them privately and find out why this might be and to come up with a solution. It is possible to have hours that suit your situation. It is important to find out all the information first to come up with a solution before doing anything else
Jaymie's Feedback
It's always best to address it with the person to better understand their situation before jumping to conclusions. Perhaps they have transportation or childcare issues. Inquiring in a professional way is a good approach to try and get to the bottom of the issue, and then come up with possible solutions. Share with the colleague the impact on you and the team when they are late and reassure the interviewer that you would escalate the issue to your supervisor if needed.
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