More than 12,000 cases of absenteeism and tardiness to work have been recorded at the Qatif Municipal office over the past seven months based on information from the municipality’s fingerprinting system which was installed early this year.
The figures registered over past seven months reveal 5,300 cases of employees showing up late for work and another 7,400 leaving the office before the end of the workday.
Moreover, only 359 municipality officials out of the 456 employees are enlisted in the fingerprinting system, which implies that many cases of absenteeism could have gone unregistered during the same period.
The figures are further compounded due to the fact that fingerprinting machines in some offices were found damaged. The report did not mention if any investigation were under way to ascertain the cause of damage.
The report also did not clarify why some officials are not registered in the fingerprinting system or whether the municipality planned to include the remaining 97 officials to the system.
Sharaf Al-Saeedi, a member of the Qatif Municipal Council, said he has not noticed any progress by the executive wing of the municipality to put an end to lax punctuality of its workers. The municipality has also not demanded any explanation from habitual latecomers even though the issue was raised to their attention.
Al-Saeedi added that the municipality office refuted the council’s official report regarding staff punctuality, citing arguments such as attendance not being the council’s responsibility.
The fingerprinting system was implemented at the Qatif municipal offices as part of the e-governance program of the government.
Many schools and other government offices have implemented the fingerprinting system with the aim of eliminating absenteeism and developing a sense of punctuality among employees.
The rate of absenteeism was noted to be particularly high on Thursdays or the day after a holiday.
The Control and Investigation Board has demanded strict action against absentees and tardy employees with the aim of curbing such an illegal tendency among government officials.
