Don't Be Tardy

A bad economy has a good side for managers—more employees are showing up on time.

Sixteen percent of employees admit to showing up late for work at least once a week, down from 20 percent last year. And 8 percent of employees are late twice a week, compared to 12 percent a year ago, according to a CareerBuilder report released Wednesday.

The Great Recession has likely caused more employees to be more conscious of being late and concerned for their positions. In the four-county Sacramento region, the jobless rate is a modern-day record 13.1 percent—with more than 125,000 people looking for work.

“Some workers may be more concerned with the nuances of their on-the-job performance these days, resulting in fewer late arrivals,” Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder in Chicago, said in a news release. “Regardless of the economy, though, getting to work on time can be more of a priority in some workplaces than in others.”

Arriving on time is a big-time priority for many managers—one of three have fired an employee for being late to work.

And the most often-used excuses for tardiness? One in three people cite traffic, while one in four blame a lack of sleep. Seven percent blame their kids and the same percentage say the weather.

The survey was conducted in November and reached more than 5,200 workers.

The McClatchy Co.—publisher of The Sacramento Bee and 29 other daily newspapers—is a co-owner of CareerBuilder. The Sacramento-based company’s other partners include Gannett, Tribune and Microsoft.