Situation: Business at the country club where you are the chef has been slower lately. To avoid overstaffing and high labor costs, you cut back on hours for your hourly staff. After the first week of changes, you notice it doesn't seem to be helping as much as you expected it to, since labor cost is over 25%.

You pull a report and examine the clock in's and clock out's of your staff. Upon closer inspection and comparing actual hours worked to your schedule, you notice there are 3 kitchen staffers that are clocking out long after they are scheduled to leave for the day, every day.

You review sales reports and you are sure their later-than-scheduled clock-outs are not due to working late.

That night after closing, you walk through and find those three employees, sitting outside by the loading dock, playing cards. They look surprised to see you, and quickly pack up the game. You hear one of them say, "Time to clock out!"

What do you do at that moment? What should be done before the next shift they work?

Should they be fired?

What are the short-term consequences of firing them? Not firing them?

What are the long-term consequences of firing them? Not firing them?