I am now on to the third new associate in two years who seems to have a problem with working in the day and sleeping at night. FAOD am NOT talking about all nighters or closings, I’m talking about associates who, when work is steady, go AWOL for most of the day and then spam me with a ton of non-urgent replies around 4am. Repeatedly. My firm is pretty flexible about office evidence but when the latest guy does come in he is all band T-shirts, jeans and unwashed hair, never arriving before 2pm and has told me that he gets into video games and can’t make himself sleep at nights. He is the most extreme case admittedly but I have had two juniors before him who also seemed to be unable to appear or function in the mornings and couldn’t focus on anything urgently before midnight. One of them sorted it out after several pep talks followed by warnings, the other left. This latest one is the most blatant and upfront about it - his work when he actually does it is pretty good though and I would like him to succeed. As a Gen Xer I just don’t get it! Is it a Covid hangover from when daily routine in lockdown lost its meaning? I’m by no means a morning person but if I’m being paid to do a job I am available within the core hours to do it. How do I help him?