Just have to add that last week on the Ground side, we were informed that a new Time Keeping System is being rolled out system wide to ground, which automatically spits out write ups if you are late 3+ minutes from your scheduled start time. (This is the package handler side in the hubs not drivers btw). See how this goes, I assume this is to try to get rid of some people!
From what I understand on the Express side, they've already implemented a system if an employee keys in a start time that is later than the scheduled start time in their powerpad - an alert is automatically sent to their manager.
The reason this is being done, is to ensure uniformity in handing out discipline to employees for tardiness. The only reason to ensure uniformity in handing out discipline, is to prevent any legal issues from arising when they do start handing out Warning Letters then termination notices to employees due to clocking in later than scheduled. If there is a uniform corporate wide policy on tardiness and handing out discipline and potential termination due to tardiness issues, there isn't any room for lawyers to claim unfair treatment or arbitrary treatment in potential litigation.
Since the elimination of the performance review (the linking of the performance review to pay increases), there has been an increase in both tardiness and use of sick days within Express. Employees no longer have to worry about a single tardy or sick day cutting their pay raise by 0.3%. So employees are now more casual about clocking in a bit late or calling in sick if they want a day off. As long as they maintain less than about 9 late clock-in's within a 12 month running period, nothing can happen to them. In the past, employees wouldn't dare clock in late - it would cost them too much in their pay raise - with follow on consequences for each subsequent year since there was no way to "catch-up" the results of a bad review and lowered pay raise in a year.
There has also been an increase in requested LWOPs - day off without pay.
When I was still with Express, I calculated that if an employee were to have just one late clock-in (under the old performance review system) - and they did this in their 2nd year of a 20 year career (assume a full-time employee), that one late clock in would cost them $90 in lost pay for the next year and each year after that - approximately $1,620 loss in pay over a 20 year career (it is slightly higher than this since there is a compounding effect with pay issues being based on percentage increase over the previous year's pay rate). Pretty damn draconian penalty for a single late clock in.
The math is $15.00 base rate times 0.3% loss in potential pay increase in second year of employment times 2000 hours worked in a year times 18 subsequent years of employment. The loss in potential pay increase could never be made up, thus the continued "penalty" for a late clock in. The same thing applied to taking sick days too.
This is the primary reason why Express employees "cheered" the ending of the linking of the performance review to pay increases. However, they didn't expect what happened in March either (getting a pay raise that was LESS than they would've received under the old system). It was a case of "be careful what you ask for, you may just get it".