Is punctuality passė?

As the saying goes, time is money. Keeping one person waiting 5 minutes wastes their time and, more importantly, company time. Keeping 6 people waiting for 5 minutes wastes 30 minutes of company time. If you continue to make a habit of it, you may face the consequences of being late to work, like costing your company some serious dollars and doing damage to your reputation and career.

Although there may be a few instances where you have a genuinely good excuse, for the most part being habitually late reflects poorly on you. 

Instead of:

• pitying you for your long and terrible commute (whose commute isn’t painful?); or
• admiring what an important person you are to be so busy,

your coworkers might think:

• you have an ego problem (because apparently you think your time is more valuable than theirs),
• you are disorganized and have trouble managing your time,
• you’re not to be trusted to do what you say you will do, or
• you’re just rude and disrespectful.

We know that's not the case, so if you don't want an undeserved poor reputation, don't be tempted to use a lame excuse like "traffic was horrible." Some excuses are so common—and so predictable—they no longer qualify as good excuses for being late to work. Most common problems with punctuality can be solved with a little planning and discipline.