Can habitual lateness hurt your career?

Habitual late arrivers to work can hurt their careers in many ways. In many Western societies, workers who are consistently tardy for start times, meetings, conferences, appointments or returns from lunch hours, can be looked upon as unprofessional, incompetent, disrespectful and even rude.

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Once a person gets a reputation for being late all the time, he or she could not only place a current job in jeopardy, but also blacklist themselves from future opportunities. In cultures where a high value is placed on time, it would be pretty difficult to obtain a good recommendation or reference from an employer who was displeased with habitual lateness.

Hurt one's professional reputation

A worker who is constantly late in the work environment is likely going to annoy bosses and colleagues and quickly gain a poorly perceived reputation in the workplace. Other people may perceive them as unprofessional, incompetent or as not being a team player. Aside from current bosses being displeased, it's important to consider colleagues today may be tomorrow's bossess or hiring managers somewhere else. If a habitually late person finds their resume on one of their desks at a point in the future, this could play into the decision-making process when it comes to making new hires. 

Harm an organization's reputation

Habitual lateness can overlap to the external environment and impact a customer's or partner's impression of a business, ultimately leading to potential career damage because every member of an organization is a representative of that company. A habitually late employee is going to likely give outsiders a bad impression of the organization. Those running the company are not going to take kindly to an employee presenting the business in a poor light to the external environment because it can hurt the company's reputation and, ultimately, productivity and profitability.

Negatively affect deadlines

Being routinely late for deadlines is another problematic issue that can occur when attention isn't paid to the time. Again, this is an area where lateness not only reflects poorly on the employee, but on the organization as well. Imagine an assignment that hinges on a financially lucrative deal that ends up not being completed by the deadline? How is the boss is going to react? The impact on a career can be disastrous.

Punctuality is very important in the professional environment. People who do not observe good etiquette in the workplace are likely going to end up causing themselves trouble in their careers. Many organizations take habitual lateness seriously, document it and will not hesitate to take action against an employee whose lateness is causing work to be delayed or causing a negative impression on the environment.

There are many people in the world who are habitually late as a part of their inner nature. This is usually workable in social or personal situations, but in work scenarios, it is important to try to create strategies to reduce and eliminate the lateness. Often this can be accomplished through learning good time management skills.

Ignoring the problems that arise at work due to habitual lateness can most definitely hurt a person's career. It's best to try and get a handle on consistent lateness before it spirals out of control.