Compared to their American counterparts, a growing number of Canadians are routinely arriving late for work armed with a litany of excuses, a new survey has found.
According to the results of a survey released Wednesday, 19 per cent of Canadian workers reported turning up late for work at least once a week in 2010.
That's up 2 per cent from the year before.
What's worse, 11 per cent said they sit down at their desk late two or more times a week.
The survey conducted by online job site CareerBuilder.ca found that nearly one quarter of the latecomers blamed their tardiness on lack of sleep. An equal number said traffic was to blame, while 15 per cent cited public transport for the hold ups.
Besides the 15 per cent who blamed bad weather, other common excuses included school- and daycare-runs or the worker's spouse.
"While workers will sometimes be late due to circumstances out of their control, they need to be aware of their companies' tardiness policies," CareerBuilder vice president of human resources Rosemary Haefner said in a statement.
"Regardless of the reason, workers who are running late should always be honest with their managers."
Considering the outrageous nature of some excuses, however, managers might have a hard time discerning fact from fiction.
One employee told pollsters a prostitute stole his car keys, for example, while another claimed he couldn't find his clothes.
While the survey results suggest more and more Canadians are having a hard time getting to work when they're supposed to -- for whatever reason -- American workers' timeliness appear to be improving.
Only 15 per cent of Americans turned up for work late once a week or more in 2010. That was down from 16 per cent the year before and 20 per cent in 2008.
"Whether it is a result of fear associated with the economy or just a shift in attitude, (American) workers over the last few years are doing a better job of managing their schedules and getting into the office at the designated time," Haefner said.
The survey found that one-third of employers in both Canada and the U.S. have fired workers for their lack of punctuality.
The online survey of 227 Canadian employers and 550 full-time employees was conducted between Nov. 15 and Dec. 2, 2010. The results are considered within a margin of +/- 6.5 and 4.18 per cent respectively.
Conducted at the same time, the U.S. survey is based on responses from 2,482 employers and 3,910 people with full-time jobs.
