The Power of Punctuality

"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late." These wise words of William Shakespeare still hold true today, especially in the workplace. As someone who has always valued punctuality, I find it frustrating on how common it is for working professionals to be late. Given our fast-paced work environment and constant multi-tasking we have come to accept lateness and the excuses we use to justify it.

While I know that life brings the unexpected and common justifications for tardiness, such as, traffic, lost keys or alarm clocks not going off, happen to the best of us. The frequency is which many of us qualify this as a legitimate reason for being late is unacceptable. In fact, a CareerBuilder.com survey found that 20% of workers arrive to work late at least once a week; and 12% arrive late twice a week.

If the same traffic or alarm clock brings you into work late every week, then it's time to look at your habits and make some adjustments. Just the simple act of being on time speaks volumes about your dedication, professionalism and accountability. As a supervisor, to see employees present and ready to work in the morning, demonstrates their dedication to their job and the organization. Having colleagues start a meeting on time with everyone present, shows that they value my time and the goals of the group. Both examples demonstrate a level of professionalism that gets noticed.

Finally, with all the other things that we are judged on at work, punctuality is the least of our problems. The last thing you want is to be called into your boss's office to talk about poor attendance. So rather then better late than never, adopt if I'm early I am on time, and if I'm on time, I'm late" as your new motto.

We have all heard, and probably used, the common excuses at some point. But here are some ridiculous excuses that employers have heard:

• "The line was too long at Starbucks."


• "I feel like I'm in everyone's way if I show up on time."


• "My father did not wake me up."


• "I was too tired to come in on time, so I decided to sleep in and rest up to me more productive."