How do I respond to getting written up at a new job?

Would you all consider it reasonable for me to see when other people get in? And if they are consistently late as well (which I KNOW that SEVERAL other people are) I should ask if they have been written up as well? I don't work in an even remotely corporate/office job and I can say with confidence HECK NO don't do that. Other employees' schedules and possible tardiness are between them and their supervisors, it's none of your business, and you trying to use someone else's lateness as leverage to supposedly justify your own will not be viewed with approval from either your bosses or your co-workers.

This is business, and you are reacting from a very emotional perspective. It is unusual as a manager that you would think over-explaining like this, and including personal medical details(!) was appropriate. By the time you reach the role of manager, you are aware what written warnings mean, and why it is illegal to ask for (or offer) specific information about medical issues. (I mean, someone can disclose, but management shuts that down because legally employers are not allowed to know or weigh that information - you offering up something you know they can't know is grossly unprofessional considering your role.) I agree you should play the game, accept the new terms, and start looking for a new job. My worry and reason for commenting is that based on your reasoning and desire to respond in this manner, there may be other managerial skills and job requirements you need to familiarize yourself with and improve. Your impetus to over-share is not congruent with your role's experience level.

Would you all consider it reasonable for me to see when other people get in? And if they are consistently late as well (which I KNOW that SEVERAL other people are) I should ask if they have been written up as well? I feel like I'm not being treated the same as everyone else. You're at risk of being very unhappy and resentful in this job. Your employer will perceive this and your work life will get worse as a result. You should consider completely letting this go. I'm looking at this from the perspective of someone who investigates discrimination and harassment complaints and who has defended countless workplace discrimination claims. What you are describing is a fact pattern I have seen over and over and over again in the workplace and shows up in one form or another in nearly every unsuccessful claim of workplace discrimination. Before you go down this road any further, there are some things that it might be helpful to consider. In order of importance, employers love employees who are (1) reliable, (2) do quality work, and (3) who get along with other people. Being perceived as doing 2 out of these 3 things badly is a death knell in the workplace. Being perceived as doing 2 out of these 3 things right might be enough to save your job even if you're really really bad at one of them (the exception being poor attendance for non-medical reasons basically--you have to show up to work reliably). Right now, you're so new that your employer doesn't know whether your work is of a very high quality or not. They're still forming that opinion of you. They're also forming an opinion that you're not reliable, and from their point of view they're extremely flexible in allowing a start time and you're still not able to consistently show up when required, which alarms them. If you take this the direction you're going, which is to track the arrivals of your colleagues and then confront your employer with this information, I can guarantee you that they will also mark you as someone who does not get along with other people. As a consequence, they will not perceive that you are a good worker. You will feel frustrated, because this perception of you will manifest itself in all kinds of ways: how you're spoken to, what assignments you're trusted with, how your performance review turns out, and so on. And you will continue to feel singled out and become more and more resentful when you feel like you were never given a chance. But, this is totally a situation you can manage! All you need to do is show up on time every day, do quality work, and be nice to people. It will be several months before you regain the trust of your employer--showing up late was a little like drawing down on a bank account that had very little in it. You can think of your task as needing to build this bank account up, little by little, every day, until it has enough in it that your employer won't stress out when you're a few minutes late. (By the way, although I think you should let this go, it's also okay to be openminded and thoughtful about whether you're in fact being singled out and treated differently--but this is not the same as convincing yourself of this fact from the get go, and after many months if you still feel this way there are strategies for approaching this with your employer that sometimes yield more productive results than what you've suggested here).

Just an anecdote that might put this in perspective: I work in a place that really does put employees first. We can be like a big family. New employees are supervised a little more closely because there is a provisional period for new hires. I had two friends who were new hires. They were both close with the rest of the cohort hired around the same time. One of my friends regularly came in about 10 to 15 minutes late. After a month of it, the other friend sat down with the supervisor and explained how this regular lateness felt disrespectful to the rest of the cohort. They had children and illness and various personal reasons for lateness as well, but they still managed to get to work on time every day. Meanwhile, they not only had to wait for the other friend to arrive, but it made their jobs seem less meaningful to know that people were held to different standards. Even if those 15 minutes are not impacting the amount of work done in terms of widgets produced or clients helped, it still has an impact on everyone around you.

Wait, they wrote you up without even having an informal conversation first? If that's the case then you might want to start looking for another job even if they're not trying to get rid of you. That's crappy management. However, to minimize damage: don't give them excuses about sickness or long commutes, especially not in writing. Those are your personal problems. I wouldn't want to hear this from an employee, particularly after a write-up. If you'd talked about these issues earlier as a reason for establishing the 10 am start time, maybe. But now is not the time, it comes across as whining and dodging responsibility. Sure look into the ADA / FMLA thing if you can but keep that quiet for now. All your manager wants is for you to get in on time. That's now 9 am. Apologise, commit and do it. No further explanation needed. And don't rock the boat in any other way for a while. You're on shaky ground here, just keep your head down and work for a while.

Yeah, they don't care why you're consistently late, just that you are consistently late. They gave you a pretty flexible window of start times when you started the job: 'pick a time from 7am to 10am when you'll be in'. Okay, you picked a time that worked for you, but you don't sound like you're even trying to meet that..... instead, you want to give them a list of why you're not. ** The commute length: the harsh truth is, they don't care how long it takes you to get in, just that you are there on time. Ten minutes or ten hours: your commute isn't their problem, it's entirely yours. And being consistently late for anything, work or pleasure, is rude to the other people involved. ** Your medical condition: not saying your condition isn't real, but that's what it'll sound like to them --- all of a sudden, after getting written up for your constant daily latenesses, you're going to tell them you have a lifelong nausea condition? Like the commute, it comes across as an excuse rather than a valid reason. ** Your previous job was very flexible: that's nice, but you don't work there anymore, you work at NewJob, and they want you in when you agreed you'd be there, full stop. ** They should cut you some slack because you do a lot of work at home: is this clocked-in hours? Authorized in advance, or just your own choice? Because if it's not 100% officially authorized and pre-approved, then all it'll sound like to them is both an excuse for being late and an admission that you're unable to complete your assigned duties on schedule. I don't know if it's them or you, but this job sounds like a poor fit, and perhaps you should look for another one elsewhere.

Being hyper-vigilant about timeliness (in a non-shift job) is one way poor managers demonstrate their authority and feel like they are doing their jobs. They get to act tough, and it requires no judgement on their part. "You made me do it." They don't care that you're getting the work done or that you're better than most of your peers. Figuring that out requires time and skills that most managers don't have. Seeing you walk in 15 minutes late is easy. If you've got a clock-hawk manager, you've gotta be on time while you look for an exit. That said, are you getting dinged because 10:00 is a hard stop? Do the people who have a 9:00 start time get grief when they get in at 9:15?

I am a manager at a company that is very flexible in terms of timing - we are allowed to work from home regularly, and it's not uncommon that someone comes in 15-20 minutes late and then works longer than 8 hours. I am supervising an employee right now who has a 10am start time and very often comes in 10:15 or 10:30am. This is problematic for several reasons: 1) Everyone else's start time is 8 or 9am, so she's coming in even later than everyone else already. 2) She regularly goes into long meetings by 11am, so often times no one gets a chance to speak with her before she goes into her meetings. 3) I started scheduling a 9:45am daily meeting and she's typically late for it; more than once she has been late enough that she missed the entire meeting. 4) She misses out on the important discussions of the day around the coffee machine and as everyone is settling in. Informally, people tend to talk about what they're worried about doing today, what's bothering them, what they're excited about, etc. as the day begins. By 10:15am, that's all over, and everyone is settled in. My guess is that their concern with you getting in 15 minutes late has less to do with you getting your work done and more to do with one or more of the reasons above. The employee I'm referring to regularly stays late, which is fine, but it doesn't have an impact on her initial lateness. I agree with everyone else - you need to get there early for awhile to prove to them that this is important to you, and you need to avoid making any excuses.

The company likely doesn't care why, and will see your explanation as "here is why I will continue to be late in the future, because there are things outside of my control". If there is a way you can be on time, then take that option. If you can't get there because the bus doesn't get you there until 10:15AM, then start looking for another job ASAP. This company won't put up with the situation for much longer, it seems, and it's better to jump than be pushed.