Tardiness At Work: Why It’s Not Okay

We have all had our share of being late at school during our younger days. It is just one of those things that happen even to the best of us. Although your tardiness at school does not imply any serious damage to your life, being constantly late at work can be a very different story. Around 16% of employed Americans believe they have been late at least once every week. This number can be of the thousands given that there were 157.54 million people employed in the US. 

Is Workplace Tardiness Harmful?

We may think that being constantly late has no harmful effects on our personal and professional lives. But as it permeates deep into our routine, its effects can go deeper too.

Missing Out on Important Work Details 

Chronic lateness may cause you to miss out on important work details. Companies that practice good culture often have their team briefings early in the work shift. This usually means they happen in the morning.

If you are constantly late at work, you effectively miss the daily briefings and orientation needed to align the tasks for the day. When you miss these briefings, you may be completely clueless about the urgency of some tasks and some events that may have been discussed while you were not there.

Late employees miss out on a lot of these. Although they can ask other coworkers for a recap, it is not their responsibility to fill you in on previously discussed details. This can be the cause for you to be inefficient at work. Being late essentially prevents you from being on top of things.

Some workplaces wait for everyone to be complete for the proceedings to commence. When you are chronically late, this may mean they have to hold up everything until you arrive. This is not only bad for your operations, but it is also disrespectful for those who are on time.

Being chronically late may imply that you do not respect your coworker’s time.

Starting Late Means Ending Late Too 

If you start your day late, best believe that you will end late as well. This can cause you to spend more time catching up on your tasks.

If tardiness becomes hard to control, it may cause your tasks to pile up. This may harm the overall operations of your workplace since work is not being done as fast as it should be.

Naturally, when you try to make up for a lost time, you are sacrificing personal time for yourself. Instead of going home early and doing the things you do to unwind, you are at work trying to cover for your backlogs.

This can not only be detrimental to your time, but it may also have negative effects on your health. Chronically working long hours can cause physical and mental fatigue, which can ultimately lead to work burnout. 

With that, employees who are chronically late should identify the reasons why they are often late. Knowing these can help them eradicate them and ultimately improve their timeliness.

Possible Causes 

Most reasons for inexcusable late habits can be remedied with a few tweaks to one’s routine. But of course, it takes discipline to avoid being late.

Poor Time Management 

People may have poor time management when it comes to their morning routine or their routine the evening before. They may spend too much time preparing without thinking about the time at all.

People who go through this can address it by making a timetable for their morning routine. This will help them plan out every activity of their morning and help them better manage their time.

Oversleeping

Others also have the habit of not waking up in time to prepare for work. With that, employees who oversleep should make sure they sleep on time the night before. They can also employ alarm clocks to help wake them up at a certain time.

Distance 

For some, the distance from their house to their workplace may be the problem. Living far from your workplace essentially means taking more time to travel.

Employees who live far can wake up earlier, so they can start their commute earlier. Starting their commute early may also mean they can avoid the traffic that the rush hour brings.

Living far may mean they have to ride several vehicles to arrive at their destination. Public transportation can be unreliable at times, so it is best to have a car when you live far for speed and convenience. If a car is too expensive at the moment, you can always apply for a car loan to help you finance your vehicle.

Apart from that, these employees can also choose to move nearer to the workplace. Although this takes more money and time to do, it can surely be worth it if it means avoiding being late.

We are not defenseless against being late. Although this may true, it does take sheer will and determination to avoid this habit. With good discipline, you can always be on time.

Meta title;Addressing Your Tardiness at Work
meta desc: You might be able to get away with being late to work for the first few times. But when it becomes a habit, it’s hard to stop it.