Many managers complain that tardiness (or lateness) can be worse than sickness. Being genuinely ill is never someone's fault, but being late? It's usually a sign of bad time management and organisation. Here are some examples of how people manage to be late, and some suggestions to correct it.
Many managers complain that tardiness (or lateness) can be worse than sickness. Being genuinely ill is never someone's fault, but being late? It's usually a sign of bad time management and organisation nine times out of ten (the other one time out of ten will be genuine, such as being stuck in a traffic accident, which happens to the best of us).
Here are some examples of how people manage to be late, and some suggestions to correct it.
The snooze button
If you're nodding in agreement, you're probably very familiar with this scenario. You wake up, groan, turn over to face the shrill alarm, think "just ten more minutes", and press the snooze button.
The problem is when you end up pressing it several times. Sleeping in snatches is as bad for you as being awake, so you are only making yourself more tired by snoozing. Why not set the alarm for an hour (yes, an hour!) earlier than your usual time, then allow yourself the luxury of 30 mins of snooze button hitting, which is enough for anyone. This will still mean you're half an hour ahead of your usual time. They say habits take 20 days to form, so try this one, and you may give up that button all together.
The route and method to get to work
If you car-share and someone is always late to pick you up, it may be time to look at getting yourself to work without relying on other people. The same can be said of public transport - if your train seems to constantly get hit by delays and engineering work, check out the timetable and take the earlier one, so you're not left in a froth of panic if you miss it.
If you drive yourself to work, then try to set off before the traffic jams - you may get to work very early (doesn't this also mean you can leave earlier?) but you'll arrive a lot more calm rather than having had an hour in a jam, honking at the person in front of you or at red lights. Your stress levels will go down significantly, too.
What you do when you get to work
Very few of us dash straight to our desk when we arrive at work. Whether it's chatting to a colleague, re-doing your make-up in the toilet, grabbing a coffee... this is all wasting time before you are a) seen to be at your desk and b) people register your arrival. All these things can be done AFTER you have clocked in or said hello to your colleagues (or especially your boss) so that they know you've got there on time.
Start multi-tasking straight away
If you sit twiddling your thumbs while your computer powers up and your email loads, why not do the above at the same time? Then you won't be in a mad rush by the time you sit down at your PC - it will all be there, waiting for you. Being on time means less stress, and less stress means more time for you - the best time of all.
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