5 Best Excuses For Being Late to Work

As a small business owner, do you ever stop and think for a minute how your workers’ being late for their jobs impacts you?

Nearly everyone is late for work at one time or another in his or her adult life. Some people make it a habit.

Being late to work is found out easily by employee time tracking. The time clock will always tell you if an employee made it to work on time. Sometimes the employee forgets to clock in, that's happened to many workers. That can be discovered when the records are checked and the employee clocked out on time. Many employers offer a notebook for employees to note when they came in if their cards are not working or the time clock didn't register their swipe.

However, some employees always have an excuse.

Let's take a look at 5 of the best excuses offered by late employees, something that can have a negative impact on your revenue: 

The faulty alarm clock gets them everytime.

“My alarm clock didn't go off.”

This is probably the most common excuse used by late employees. The reason why – it's often true. Alarm clocks malfunction, we program the alarm for the wrong time, or there's a power outage in the night that we missed. It happens. If an employee uses this excuse all the time, then he or she doesn't have an alarm problem, they have a 'want to work' problem.

Technology has advanced beyond the alarm clock. Smart phones have alarm settings that can be set well in advance. Laptops and desktops have alarm functions. If these aren't doing it for the employee there are free phone call services that will call the employee to wake them up on time. Employers can buy their employee an alarm clock or avoid the hassle and let a chronic 'alarm avoider' go.

“My _____ was sick.”

This is another top excuse. Again the reason being that this is often true. For employees with chronically ill family members (or terminally ill) this excuse is to be expected. You can discuss telecommuting or part time employment if the worker needs it. Employers that get to know their employees can often gauge the validity of such claims. Illness of a close family member can result in a legal battle if the employee is denied time off or fired, as long as it is a spouse or child. Talk with the employee and review federal regulations before taking action.

“I woke up sick.”

The actions here are similar to the above. If the employee has a chronic illness, take slow action. Talk about how your time tracking software has picked up on their lateness. Ask how you can help them. If the employee is just a chronic 'Late Larry' – talk about discipline.

“I was kidnapped by aliens. I just got back.”

While this might seem funny, employees with no excuse for their lateness are taking advantage of you and the other employees. Don't laugh it off more than once.

“I woke up in the hospital.”

Did he or she? This is only acceptable if the employee is actually calling from the hospital. The worker's family members are much more likely to be the person calling in.

Waking up dead is another excuse used by employees trying to be funny and if the worker is a great one don't let it slide more than once.

If the employee has a history of tardiness, terminate them.