Worker lateness costs business £66m every year, according to a report by Peninsula.

The study found that Monday is the day when most of us are late for work, accounting for 65% of lateness.

Employees are on average ten minutes late for work and 77% admit to having lied about why they were late. 
Peninsula found the most common excuses for being late are public transport, heavy traffic, faking illness and lost keys.

Mike Huss, senior Employment Law Specialist at Peninsula BusinessWise says: “Lateness appears to have become a national epidemic, and bosses need to act sooner rather than later to minimise it.

 “It is worrying to note that bosses are not taking the issue of lateness seriously in the workplace. For it does not matter how capable the employee is, if they are not in the workplace they are no use to the employer, and thus have a negative impact on productivity. An absent employee, even for a few minutes, creates problems for management, other employees and customers.”

Huss says bosses should have systems in place enabling them to monitor the punctuality of the employees, in order to highlight any patterns such as particular days or certain times of the month. This therefore allows the employer to take any relevant action towards any individual who shows an unacceptable lack of punctuality.