Most employers understand that employees will be late on occasion and won’t penalize them when this happens. However, some employees use their imagination to come up with some of the most outlandish excuses.

According to CareerBuilder annual survey, these incredulous late-to-work excuses include:

• I thought of quitting today, but then decided not to, so I came in late.
• My hair caught on fire from my blow dryer.
• I was detained by Homeland Security.
• I had to chase my cows back into the field.
• A black bear entered my carport and decided to take a nap on the hood of my car.
• My lizard had to have emergency surgery in the morning and died during surgery. I had to mourn while deciding whether to have the lizard disposed of by the vet or bring the lizard corpse with me to work.
• There was fresh powder on the hill. I had to go skiing.
• There was a store grand opening and I wanted to get the opening day sales.
• I had to finish watching “My Name is Earl.”
• All of my clothes were stolen.
• I was confused by the time change and unsure if it was “spring forward” or “fall back.”
• A Vaseline truck overturned on the highway and cars were slipping left and right.

Many of these excuses are a little extreme and may have more to do with the creative imagination of these employees. However, you can bet employers are going to hearing more late-to-work excuses, because of; Daylight Savings Time, US Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday parties.

Many employers have taken the necessary steps and deployed a time and attendance system so, they can observe tardiness patterns and figure which days in particular, certain employees are absent from work. And, in the case of the employee who occasionally has his friend punch in for him when he is not at work, these employers have replaced the punch cards with a biometric time clock so, buddy-punching is out of the equation.

To learn more about ATS go to our website. You can also view a demonstration or attend one of our weekly webinars or call; 866.294.2467.