Is lateness a problem in your office?

閱讀中文版本

According to a new CareerBuilder survey, a quarter (25%) of employees report being late at least once a month, down from 29% last year, and 12% admitted it's a weekly occurrence for them.

The survey conducted online by The Harris Poll spoke to over 1000 hiring and human resources managers (of which, 888 are in the private sector) and more than 800 employees working in the private sector across the United States.

The research showed that 60% of employers expect workers to be on time daily and in fact, 2 in 5 (43%) of employers have fired someone for being late, up two percent on the previous year.

The most often cited excuses for being late to the office include; traffic (51%), oversleeping (31%), bad weather (28%), too tired to get out of bed (23%) and forgetting something (13%).

These, however, are the most bizarre reasons HR departments have received for being late last year.

• It's too cold to work.

• I had morning sickness (it was a man).

• My coffee was too hot and I couldn't leave until it cooled off.

• An astrologer warned me of a car accident on a major highway, so I took all backroads, making me an hour late.

• My dog ate my work schedule.

• I was here, but I fell asleep in the parking lot.

• My fake eyelashes were stuck together.

• Although it has been five years, I forgot I did not work at my former employer's location and drove there on accident.

While lateness in the office is frustrating it might be time to move past the nine to five according to employees; 63% believe working 9 to 5 is an antiquated practice, and 88%  think start and end times should be flexible.

ALSO READ: An employee will be late for work 141 times in a lifetime