Sorry…I Slept In Again!

Most people have slept in at some time or another. Some lucky people are able to master the art of rushing around in those precious few minutes before the deadline of work looms and whilst their hair may be slightly tousled and they find themselves eating cold toast on the journey to work - they still make it in on time. A study which surveyed over one thousand people, found that just over a third of them regularly oversleep at least once a week with three quarters of those being late for their job because of it.

However -  some people - for whatever reason are still snoozing when they should be arriving at their place of work. We have all heard the excuses, haven’t we! One of the more common excuses in the workplace is that ‘the alarm didn’t go off’. Perhaps an employee ‘forgot’ they were on an early shift, the ‘ car wouldn’t start’ or ‘got muddled up and thought it was a day off’.

Lateness disrupts the working day of your environment, affecting not only yourself but also your colleagues as it is unprofessional and shows a distinct lack of respect.

Most employers will have heard a variety of reasons (or excuses) why an employee is late for work and of course, many people do give valid reasons which are perfectly acceptable.  Examples are when there are unexpected traffic queues, vehicle failures or personal or family issues that may cause a delay in getting to work on time. If you follow your work policy and contact your place of work as soon as you are aware you may be late then all should be well.

Yet, sleeping in is a totally separate issue and one that may be accepted once (depending upon the level of understanding from your employer) but twice is twice too many. So if you are a habitual over sleeper and it is affecting your work, you do need to address the situation immediately.

It must be said that employers are usually fairly lenient if there is a genuine underlying reason why you tend to sleep in and many are able to lend a sympathetic ear and work with you to work out a solution to the problem. Additionally, you may feel you could benefit from talking to your health professional as stress, worry, anxiety and underlying health problems - both physical and mental - can cause lack of sleep and staying awake until the early hours which culminates in fatigue and exhaustion.

If you are late to work, apologise and be sincere. Give a reason and assure your manager that it won’t happen again! Timekeeping, a healthy attitude and a good work ethic is essential in maintaining a positive relationship with your job…and of course, a reliable alarm clock.