We all know providing tuition is a service-based business; but yet we don’t realise and understand that it is a business built on people, and for this reason alone the most difficult part of this business is dealing with tutors and managing your team. You might think it’s the customers. TRUST ME, IT’S NOT. It’s the tutors and the people providing service to your customers, i.e. your managers and admin staff.  

Tutors present many challenges. Some of these include salary negotiation, teaching quality, sickness, leave and many others. But I want to focus on one challenge in particular, and that’s lateness and timekeeping.    

Every time I’m at the tuition centre, I’m worried about tutors turning up late. I should be more concerned with students not turning up as it’ll impact profitability, but instead, it’s the tutors. Do you know why?

Because it impacts the quality of our service. Kids will go back home and say things like: ‘Mum you know what happened in our lesson today? My teacher turned up 10 minutes late.’, and that can only mean one thing for us; a call from the parent to discuss why we didn’t start the lesson on time. It also means tutors cutting corners to catch up on time by not marking homework and providing feedback, resulting in quality issues.  

If a tutor hasn’t turned up 15 minutes before the start of their lesson, I start feeling anxious. I would look at my phone, thinking a WhatsApp ping would go off anytime soon with reasons why they’re running late. I’ve seen many reasons. 

It would say something like: ‘I’m running 10 mins late, Sorry about it’, ‘There are road works going on in the area, not sure how long it’ll take me to get in’, ‘Buses are running late, and there are no trains from X station’. These are the basic and sub-standard reasons that you’ll hear all the time. But I’ve come across a few that I never never thought I would in my wildest dreams. 

Here is one:

“Good morning, I’m at the bus stop waiting for the bus. It still hasn’t arrived. I’ve called an Uber. The buses are on diversion, so I’m not too sure how long it will take. I will try and book an Uber again closer to [name of destination]”. So apparently they’re unable to book an Uber as well now. Not sure what else I can say. I can blame it on bad luck I guess. 

But my favourite reason by a country mile is this one here 

One day I’m getting ready to go to the tuition centre and I get a call from a tutor at 9.15 am. Mind you, the lesson starts at 10 am. 

As the phone rings, I’m thinking: ‘Oh NO! This can’t be good. I know this is going to be bad news.’ I knew they weren’t going to come in; all I had to do was answer the phone to find out why. Normally they would just send a message, but this tutor for some reason was calling. So I answered the phone. 

As expected, the tutor couldn’t come in to teach, but what was their reason?

They got locked outside of their home without keys and were now waiting for a locksmith to let them back in. My thoughts were: ‘What?’ ‘Locked outside?’ ‘Waiting for a locksmith?’ I mean what are the chances of that ever happening, and that too when the tutor is about to step out of their front door? Never in a million years would I’ve imagined such a reason, but you know what they say: ‘There’s always a first time for everything.’, and this was that first time. What can you do? Nothing to be honest; except feel sorry for yourself and empathise with them. 

After all, remember, you want to create a culture of tolerance, and not lose them if they are good. But as human beings, you’re thinking: ‘How unlucky could I get to be in this situation?’

I said, ‘Keep me informed about whether you can make it in.’ I knew they weren’t going to come in, as it took them over an hour to travel on a normal day. I knew I had to find a solution and find a cover fast, which I eventually did. 

But most interestingly, I then received a message at 11.03 am saying: “I’m waiting for the call out locksmith to arrive still. It’s been over an hour now, I’m still here.” By this time you know there’s no point, so I simply told them not to bother coming in anymore. I had managed to sort out a cover by then anyways, so it didn’t bother me. Plus, I wasn’t going to pay for two tutors when I only needed one. 

This reason was simply unheard of, but I have to give the tutor credit for one thing at least, and that was they were responsible enough to inform me. I’m not kidding, but some tutors won’t even bother sending you a message if they’re running late. If anything, you have to message them to enquire. After a while, you soon get to know who the culprits are, so you know who to message when. 

For instance, I messaged one tutor 10 minutes before their starting time asking them about their Expected Time of Arrival (ETA), to be sure, because I knew there was a high chance of them being late given their poor track record. 

I messaged: ‘Morning [Name]. Are you ok for timings this morning? Just wanted to check.’, and the response was: ‘Morning, yes I’m all good. See you at 10.’

“Lateness is a trait of disrespect and it gives the other person waiting for you time to think about your other shortcomings.”

Carian Cole, Author

Tutors not turning up on time signifies one thing to me; that they’re not serious about their job. Their attitude and commitment are not there. There can be reasons for lateness, I get that. But for it to happen consistently, you start to feel that the tutor isn’t serious at all. And if they’re not serious, I can only imagine the quality they bring to their class. 

So what can you do? There’s a lot you can do actually. But you have to see what strategy works best for you and the culture you’re trying to build at the tuition centre.     

We’ve kept ‘Tutor Sign-in’ sheets, for tutors to sign in their ‘start time’ and ‘leave time’. I feel it helps, but you would still find tutors who would be late. At least it acts as a good deterrent. But then there is that problem of tutors forgetting to sign out, and you have to remind them all the time. 

Other times, I’ve even seen one tutor intentionally put the wrong time. Yes, you heard me right, it was INTENTIONALLY done. They would always turn up a couple of minutes late, but always signed in as ‘on the dot’ arrival. They did the same when leaving early. There is no difference there whatsoever. This is a serious matter, but ultimately the important thing to understand is that you will be presented with such instances and issues no matter what. 

So how do you ‘actually’ deal with lateness? 

You can introduce many systems, but I would suggest adopting a ‘trial and error’ exercise. Try a few strategies, and once satisfied you will know which option to go with.  

I remember when I used to tutor at a tuition centre myself, the manager used to issue ‘late slips’ to anyone late. Three strikes and you’re in trouble. Being a committed tutor that I was, it never came to that point, so I would never know what could have happened. I did however receive one ‘late slip’ though, but that was it. You can adopt this approach if you like, but I didn’t at my tuition centres. Here is why.  

One thing I’ve learned about running tuition businesses is that it is centred around people, and you want to build a good working culture to keep people happy. Tutors come and go all the time. But the good ones are very hard to come by. 

I would take it on a case-by-case basis. Understand who the tutor is and how key they are to your business. If for instance, they’re the only tutor who can teach Science, you don’t want to annoy them as they are ‘key’ to your business. That is why make sure you deal with them very tactfully. At times, you would want to overlook some of their shortcomings, because you need them. But do make a mental note of what is happening. What you don’t want is to show that you’re onto them, which might only push them away to look for work elsewhere. 

Trust me; when I say a good tutor is hard to come by, it is quite hard to find them. Why? Because it takes time and effort to find the right tutor, one who is a good fit for your tuition centre. You train them to bring them up to speed – that takes a lot of time and effort. 

Should you easily let them go just because they turned up late? I don’t think so. 

Conclusion

With lateness, it’s something you should address on a case-by-case basis. ‘One policy fits all’ is something I wouldn’t advise. See how critical they are to your business before you take any steps.

Best to keep an open mind, and have a polite word with them explaining your situation. Like us, they are people too. They’ll understand that your request is reasonable, and they’ll try their level best to turn up on time next time. 

Taking a hard stance will only impact your tuition centre’s culture, which in my view is far more important. Your goal should be to have tutors turn up without fail and to have minimal disruption to the classes and in turn your tuition business. 

What you don’t want is that they leave, and now you’re looking for another tutor to replace them, which takes time. This will only disrupt lessons, and don’t forget kids’ education. So the next time a tutor is late, think about the repercussions. 

My view is, that as long as the business is running smoothly without interruptions, I would take that any day of the week.

If you feel that the tutor is critical to your business, I would then suggest hiring another tutor (to potentially replace) before taking a harsher stance.