By Kirstie McDermott
Traditionally, American business hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and your leadership could reasonably expect that you'd be at your desk at 9am, ready to start your working day.
The need for on-the-dot punctuality has long been a bugbear for both bosses and employees. On the employee side of the fence, something as basic as issues around traffic and transport can delay workers in the morning. All it takes is a canceled train or highway pileup to leave you rushing to your desk, late, stressed, and dangerously under-caffeinated.
And that's before you even consider family and caring commitments which can often take so much time in the early AM.
On the other hand, many managers expect punctuality, and for their teams to be either logged on at 9am or sitting at their desk, ready to go. Lateness for some leaders can indicate a lack of commitment––or even laziness.
3 jobs to apply for now
HR Operations Associate, The Travelers Companies, Inc., Saint Paul Employee Relations Specialist, Vaco, Columbus Human Resource Operations Specialist, Shawnee Community College, Ullin
In fact, more than 60% of hiring managers still think that arriving on time for work or meetings is important according to a
It is true that showing up is important; completing tasks within deadlines, being at in-person and virtual meetings on time and not holding other participants up, or being in the office when you're meant to be all point to a committed worker who is self-aware and ready to get the job done.
But the times, they aren't so much changing as irrevocably shifting. Those old-school notions of 9am to 5pm punctuality have been, in many cases, stretched to breaking point by managers who insist on contacting staff after hours and who bake overwork into their company cultures.
Even pre-pandemic, American workers struggled with overwork, putting in more hours and taking less vacation days than their OECD counterparts. That's why, for example,
Punctuality has new meaning
And thanks to remote working during the pandemic, punctuality has also taken on a new meaning for both employers and employees.
Now, according to
That means that for many companies and their workers, flexible working has changed the idea of punctuality. Workers may now log-on early, opting to come into the office later in the morning in order to avoid pointless time wasted during rush hour, or to be present for school drop-offs. Or, they may come in early and leave early, for similar reasons.
Pre-pandemic, this may have been seen as workers being "chronically late" or phoning the job in, but U.S. companies are now seeing the value of flexibility and are rewriting their rule books around it.
The crux of successful flexible working, however, is that the right people are present at the right times, in order to progress projects and get the work done. Nowadays, it's accepted that this can be done in a more casual, flexible fashion––but as before, workers need to be present and correct when it matters.
Consistently arriving late at meetings, ignoring set days to be in the office because it doesn't quite suit, or being uncontactable during working hours are all the new ways to show yourself to be a chronic slacker.
Of course, being so checked out of your job can be a symptom of dissatisfaction. That could be due to a lack of challenging work, an absence of internal promotion prospects––or just pain boredom if you've been there a while.
One way to put the spark back into your career can be a fresh start. If you're demotivated, and consistently late on deadlines, then
