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I worked with a woman in a law enforcement agency who was chronically late. She was progressively disciplined right out of a job (the last discipline had been a 3 month suspension, or something like that). The last time she was late, she had a McDonalds bag in her hand, so everyone knew she had stopped there before work. Like me, she lived about 30 mins from the job in good conditions. She was fired.
Just curious has anyone ever been late to work due to traffic reasons? is it a good excuse?
What if an accident happens on the road, you forgot something at home, or maybe you need to go to the DMV real quick?
Tardiness policies will vary from employer to employer. On one end, you have super strict where you get questioned immediately for coming in just 3 minutes late, and will probably be fired after repeating that a few more times. On the other end of the spectrum, come in more or less whenever you want, and get your work done. It also depends on the job. Average case is it's not. If you're in a job where presence is important, such as opening a restaurant, shop, etc., then not being on time can have averse effects.
In regions where traffic is lousy, AND they have other ducks in a row to line up (e.g. tech degree, 5 to 20 years experience, certifications, education, security clearances, background investigations, etc.), then they tend to much more forgiving about being late. Especially since some of these jobs don't require you to be in your chair for 8 to 9 hours a day. You're paid to solve problems. Not make widgets.
In some companies I've been with, they're fine with you being late or leaving early. Life happens. Just let them know ahead of time so they can "keep fires from starting rather than putting them out".
Other areas, work out (probably as part of salary negations stage) that you'd like to have alternative hours. For example, one place, a couple of folks come in at 5am, and leave at 1pm to avoid traffic. At another place, a few employees had an agreement that they can come in at 7am and leave at 3pm. When they tried to hold a meeting at 5:30 pm, they made a huge stink about it. Last but not least, folks have taken large pay cuts to be able to drive in during off peak hours and avoid traffic. Saved one person 15 hours of commuting time per week
Once in a while (depending on the nature of your job): yes.
But if you're chronically late due to "traffic", then you need to get up early.
Sometimes, a major accident causes an extra hour or two to be added to your commute. Do you really need to arrive 2 hours earlier to work on most days just so that you'll still be on time in spite of the rare 1 in 1000 accident that causes an abnormal delay?
Yes. According to most folks here, everyone should be at their job at 7am sharp for a 9am start time.
Employees will frown if you are late, but could care less when you have to work over your shift. The way I see it, life happens, sometimes you will have an errand to run, child can hold you up, or just hit traffic or bad whether on the way to work, but this shouldnt be daily.
An old colleague of mine, once said, 95% of a job is showing up on time & being reliable.
I think that is the case with many employers. Of course anyone can have a family emergency or hit bad traffic, but not every week.
An old colleague of mine, once said, 95% of a job is showing up on time & being reliable.
I think that is the case with many employers. Of course anyone can have a family emergency or hit bad traffic, but not every week.
Okay, but what if John shows up on time every day and is inefficient while Bob who shows up 15 minutes late almost every day (and stays 15 minutes late to make up for it), yet he is highly efficient?
If I were an employer, I'd prefer Bob. I guess a clockwatching tool would prefer John. Come to think of it, I've worked for a number of managers who would prefer John.
An old colleague of mine, once said, 95% of a job is showing up on time & being reliable.
I think that is the case with many employers. Of course anyone can have a family emergency or hit bad traffic, but not every week.
In any actual job requiring a modicum of skills - NO.
There have been many people from jobs I've had that showed up earlier than me and left later, and got fired/let go for lack of performance.
If it's a "show up" job then show up.
If it's a career role then make sure they act like it and don't clock you.
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