Excuses for being late to work

CareerBuilder, a Chicago employment services firm, shared some of the findings from an online Harris poll of 2,100 human resource managers and 3,000 workers.

“Some places need to be stricter on employees clocking in, as the nature of the job demands being on time, such as retail, customer service, hospitality and transportation industry jobs, to name a few,” said Mary Lorenz, corporate communications manager for CareerBuilder.

Other industries may be more flexible than in the past, she said, citing both technology that lets people work outside the office and a growing emphasis on trying to let people achieve a balance between their jobs and their personal lives.

Overall, 38 percent of the younger group said they never got tied up in traffic, delayed by bad weather, had problems with day care or anything else that would make them late, while 55 percent of the older group counted themselves as reliably punctual, according to the British market research firm.

The Chicago firm’s research identified traffic as the most common reason cited for being late, followed by lack of sleep and battling Mother Nature’s vagaries.

Instead of excuses, Lorenz recommended that workers who find themselves running late offer a sincere apology and an honest explanation.