These employees should’ve just claimed that they were “sick.” Because even if they weren’t physically ill, you could definitely make the case that they’re at least a little sick in the head.
Tardiness appears to be becoming a bigger problem: 16% of workers reported they arrive late to work once a week or more (up from 15% last year), and 27% of workers arrive late at least once a month (up from 26% last year), found a nationwide CareerBuilder survey of 3,023 hiring and HR pros, and 7,780 workers.
But what’s more disturbing are the excuses employees are making for arriving late to work.
Here are the 10 most outrageous CareerBuilder choose to share from its survey:
- My cat had the hiccups.
- I thought I won the lottery (she hadn’t).
- I got distracted watching the TODAY Show.
- My angry roommate cut the cord to my phone charger, so it didn’t charge and my alarm didn’t go off.
- My commute time counts toward my work hours (it didn’t).
- A fox stole my car keys.
- My leg was trapped between a subway car and the platform (turned out to be true).
- I’m not late. I never start work before 9 a.m. (his start time was 8 a.m.).
- I had a job interview with another firm.
- I had to take a personal call from the state governor (turned out to be true).
The most cited (sane) reasons for arriving late to work:
- Traffic (31% of workers have used this excuse)
- Lack of sleep (18%)
- Bad weather (11%)
- Getting kids to school or daycare (8%)
Other common excuses: public transportation delays, pets, spouses, watching TV and Internet usage.
Info: The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com
