As a manager, you have an employee whose performance-wise is fantastic and achiever but he/she has issues with adherence i.e. tardiness & absenteeism, what do you do?

First, self-evaluate such a high potent employee over a period with 'SMART' objectives against MBO (Management by Objectives). If the employee meets / exceeds the requirements, I would not be bothered for his current assignment.

Will certainly, openly discuss with the employee his / her plans and ensure the next role addresses the current adherence issues while facilitating with a corrective endeavour in due course.

As a manager, accommodating the unheard issues of employees is required and especially when a high performing human asset is involved.  Organizations rather work to be the best 'Person-Organization-Fit' vs. losing any High Potent employee in this competitive world.

A good performance is appreciable but, controlling and disciplining absenteeism and tardiness is equally important. Allowing one employee with indiscipline actions, because of his good performance sets wrong trend in the organization. There are a number of other critical actions that supervisors need to take to manage absenteeism. They should;1. Ensure that all employees are fully aware of the organization’s policies and procedures for dealing with absence.2. Maintain appropriately detailed, accurate, and up-to-date absence records for their staff.3.  Identify any patterns or trends of absences which cause concern.4. Conduct return-to-work interviews, and implement disciplinary procedures where necessary.5. Council with concerned employee, council, warn and discipline.  

Hi thanx for inviting my opinion on this.  Actually if the person is involved in absenteeism, then its a bit difficult for the employee to finish tasks on time and be performance-wise fantastic.  But again, in my opinion, an achiever can achieve and perform even without being seen in office on time. I had some of them.  Coming to the question, I guess office policies on tardiness and absenteeism would set him or her straight.  I usually call such personnel on an more informal meeting outside work at home or somewhere else and try to understand the cause of the behaviour and see if i can help him to overcome those issues and ALSO, let him / her know that I am very concerned about this tardiness and absenteeism.  If he or she is a top performer, i would give atleast 3 chances and work slow unless his behaviour has cost me losses. If he or she is a top performer then definitely the employee is interested in growth and if that is hanging in front of him or her, then clubbed with the after hours drinks or dinners might work.  i have tried and they worked.  i know this means spending my own money but then thats the cost a leader has to pay to keep good employees engaged.  Companies wont much contribute towards this.  Individual leaders / managers will have to do this.  Early morning and after lunch meetings work too as that is a pattern usually for people coming late.  Office policies play an important part in this and are expected to be covered during HR inductions.

Many factors are considered when looking into an employee's productivity. No one is perfect and everyone has an area that needs of improvement. If he is a fantastic employee and an achiever, as you mentioned, and his job is not associated with his business hours, I wouldn't care much if his absence is not affecting his performance or the performance of his colleagues. But at the same time, I will try to change his negative attitude and will always let him know that this behavior is not acceptable and that I'm keeping a blind eye about it because of his positive performance.

If his attitude is affecting the the overall business performance and/or his colleagues negatively, and he is not willing to change despite all our efforts with him, in this case the company is forced to take corrective measures. These measures should be taken gradually and might lead to termination, in the worst case scenario.

it Is a very important question.

This situation needs a corrective action that must be done by a wise manager who has to know the reasons behind the issues before taking any decision. Being close to his employee more than any other time and talking friendly with, may solve the problem in a short time.

Handle it like any other performance issue, the supervisor should consult with Human Resources prior to implementing disciplinary action.

For me, when an employee meets and exceeds the expectation of the management, the management is bound to address and look into his/her expectation.

Issues of adherence is a vital part of organisational culture and that will have to be met by all means. However is it not the responsibility of the manager to understand the cause of adherence issues and make him/her brought into inline with the rest with full consent of him/her voluntarily?