And yet, several companies today are doing just that, launching what have become known as ‘hack days’ at their organizations. While the specifics differ for every company, generally, a hack day is one day set aside to let employees (primarily engineers and information technology workers) work on anything they want outside of the scope of their regular responsibilities and everyday tasks.

For companies like Yahoo!, Twitter, Facebook and the Federal Communications Commission, hack days not only successfully generate new business ideas, but also (and perhaps more importantly) boost employee morale, promote collaboration across teams and departments, and enhance the customer experience.

CareerBuilder can certainly attest to the benefits of hack days. CareerBuilder launched its first Hack Day in August of last year, followed by another one in November, and kicks off its third Hack Day today, taking place in offices across the world.

“You’re starting to see companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon, where they utilize technology to drive innovation, and that sparked conversation about, ‘What can we be doing?’” says Roger Fugett, Senior Vice President of Information Technology at CareerBuilder, about what inspired the idea.

With the company’s long history of using technology and innovation to help companies source and retain employees – as well as a desire to “give people an entire day where they can explore their passion”- hosting a hack day at CareerBuilder just seemed to make sense.

Encouraging employees to pursue their passions is part of the culture at CareerBuilder. Every year, every employee has the opportunity to pitch a new business venture for the Ideas from Everywhere contest, and compete to receive the financial backing and resources to run the new business line. The addition of Hack Day, Fugett says, offers employees “just another–slightly less formal – path to innovation.” And just like with Ideas from Everywhere, participants can enter the projects generated from Hack Day into a contest for the chance to see their idea fully realized.

CareerBuilder’s Hack Day isn’t exclusive to its technology workers, either. Every employee in the company is invited to participate as a business partner in the process if he or she has an idea or simply wants to get involved. The business partner is then paired up with a member of the technology team prior to Hack Day to create a plan of action. Not only does this exercise generate a broader range of ideas, but it also promotes collaboration among teams that might not normally work together.

Going into Hack Day, Fugett explains, the goals were simple: “It was really to spark creativity and get people thinking about bringing new ideas to the table – whether that meant addressing market needs or what they’ve talked to sales reps about.” So it was a pleasant surprise to see just how passionately employees took to Hack Day. Over 300 employees actively participated in the first two Hack Days, resulting in a total of 75 new business ideas.

“The volume of participants exceeded our expectations, as did the ideas that generated from it. We started out thinking we’d probably pick just one idea from the first set of submissions, but we ended up picking fourteen – the quality of ideas was just that good,” says Fugett.

As for advice he would offer other companies that want to implement their own hack day, Fugett says, “You have to have a tolerance for failure. If you project manage stuff to death and need everything to have an ROI, pulling this off is going to be tough. If you’re going to be innovative, you have to anticipate some failures.”

He also adds that communicating the idea that failure is okay is crucial when encouraging employees to participate. “You want the ideas. You don’t want people to keep ideas to themselves in fear of being chastised for failing.”

True engagement goes beyond job satisfaction and loyalty — instead, it delves into an individual’s personal satisfaction. From a company’s perspective, true engagement ultimately contributes to the organization’s bottom line.

What makes engagement work for employees? The equation is simpler than you’d think. For workplace engagement (or happiness), a job needs to provide meaning, enjoyment, and not surprisingly, a paycheck.

At WorkSimple, we love offering tips and trick to encourage employee engagement. However, there are only so many ways we can share the dos. What about the don’ts? After all, it’s just as important to know what to avoid (not mention, it’s kind of fun).

Here are six don’ts every manager (and executive) should keep in mind when working on employee engagement:

Don’t limit feedback
Limiting feedback to annual (or even more sporadic) performance reviews is harmful to employee engagement. It catches employees off-guard and usually pulls from specific instances instead of providing an overall picture. Ultimately, limited feedback keeps workers on their toes (in a bad way).

Engaged employees love frequent feedback. It gives them confidence and helps them move forward. More importantly, feedback helps them understand how their work fits into the team and the bigger company picture.

Don’t stick to long-term objectives
Picking one massive project for everyone to work on is not good for employee engagement. After a long day’s work, only a fraction of the project will be accomplished, leaving employees stressed and feeling unimportant.

Engaged employees prefer a combination of long-term and short-term goals. In reality, short-term goals reflect what is going on in the workplace today. It helps workers deal with shifting priorities.

Short-term goals can, however, contribute to a long-term direction. This leaves employees feeling more accomplished and less stressed.

Don’t go all-for-one
When management forces their employees to work separately, engagement goes out the window. Competition outweighs collaboration, leaving employees to feel like it’s them against the world.

Engaged employees prefer to work together in a group for most goals and projects. That way everyone’s best skills are used appropriately and a team dynamic is inspired.

Don’t stay by the book
Religiously following an original business plan can work against employee engagement. It allows no room for new ideas and your employees will feel like they’re a cog in the machine.

Successful companies that have existed for 10, 20, or even 50 years learn early on that change does happen from time to time. An engaged workforce will shift goals and techniques instead of remaining stagnant. Flexibility encourages innovation and the company as a whole will thrive.

Don’t criticize
A manager or executive who consistently focuses on where employees fall short is working against employee engagement. Constant micromanaging and layering on work without praise keeps employees tense and powerless.

In an engaged workplace, employees hear praise and constructive criticism often. This instills a sense of trust that they are improving and that they matter to the company.

Don’t keep management and workers separate
If there is a rift between management and staff, engagement won’t be able to thrive. Employees will have the distinct feeling that management is “above” them and management will lord over employees. In this scenario, employees feel condescended to and disengaged.

To increase employee engagement, turn managers in coaches. This encouraged the overall “team” feel throughout the company. Employees feel more comfortable working with management and vice versa.

What do you think? What other don’ts would you add to this post? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Morgan Norman is the Founder and CEO of WorkSimple, putting an end to performance reviews by providing a better way for coworkers and teams to share goals, work together, get and give feedback, and make each other shine. Connect with him and WorkSimple on Facebook and Twitter.

As your company grows, make sure it doesn’t leave behind the culture that makes it so great.

Organizational culture is one of those things that you don’t really notice – or appreciate – until it’s gone. Unfortunately, losing sight of one’s organizational culture is a common side effect of growth: You get so busy growing your business, you tend to forget about working to maintain the unique workplace culture you established as a smaller business.

Maintaining culture through growth is a difficult – but necessary – effort. Recognizing this, CareerBuilder and Inc. recently created “Geared to Growth: Building an Infrastructure for the Long Haul,” a new report designed to help companies deal with the common challenges that accompany organizational growth.

The following excerpt from “Geared to Growth” offers three tips to ensure that as your business grows, your culture doesn’t get left behind.

Dealing with the Cultural Issues Growth Brings
Although it’s nearly every company’s goal, growth doesn’t always bring with it positive change. Unless your company is prepared for the accompanying cultural shifts, growth can spark serious disruptions in your organization. Here are some tips for dealing with the changes growth can bring:

Account for emotion. Businesses often encounter particular emotional resistance to changes in the decision-making process, not only in the C-suite but throughout the organization. “In my experience, it hasn’t been as hard for the CEOs as it has been for the next level down,” says Barbara L. Davidson, Ph.D., a change management consultant and faculty member at Villanova University.

Prepare the entire organization for change. For that reason, it’s essential to prepare everyone in the organization for change and solicit staff input on growth plans before they’re put in motion. “It doesn’t guarantee failure, but it’s a set-up for failure if you don’t involve representatives from all functional areas and all levels of the organization in actually helping to design the change as well as execute it,” Davidson says.

Communicate the vision. Communicate the company’s organizational objectives and the impact those goals will have on employees’ responsibilities, job performance expectations, and prospects for advancement or new opportunities. Make sure they understand their roles in upcoming changes and are motivated to meet the challenges growth brings. That’s a critical strategy for maintaining their sense of investment in the company’s growth.

What does your organization do to foster culture?

Want to know more? View previous excerpts from “Geared to Growth” here, here and here, or simply download the entire report here.

While administering employee feedback surveys can feel like you’re putting both your company and your performance as a leader and manager in front of the firing squad, it also happens to be one of the most efficient and effective ways to understand the internal workings of your organization. Consider the following benefits to employee surveys (and take the ‘evil’ out of ‘necessary evil’).

Five Benefits of Employee Feedback

1. Turning lemons into lemonade (or lemonade vodkas, if you prefer). Yes, the chances you’ll receive some negative feedback are about as good as the chances E! will soon create yet another Kardashian-focused reality show, but negative feedback provides the opportunity to change things at your organization for the better.
2. Winning over new fans. If your organization were a television network, employee feedback time would be sweeps week for you. Just by virtue of taking an interest in your employees, you’re likely to see an increase in morale and productivity; however, those effects may only be short-term. If you want to retain those new fans (i.e. foster long-term employee morale), you must continue to meet the expectations you’ve now set forth (see #5 from the checklist below).
3. Reigniting that old feeling. Instead of just asking employees what they would change about the company or their jobs, ask them to vocalize what they love about these things, as well. Chances are they don’t often stop to think about these things, and it serves as a good reminder as to why they come to work each day, again boosting morale. Bonus: You can use this feedback to enhance your current employer brand message.
4. Saving money. Employee feedback can also give you better insight into how to better allocate your resources and enhance your benefits package. Be sure to ask about the benefits or employee-focused programs they take advantage of, which ones they don’t (you might find you’re wasting money on programs employees don’t want) and which benefits you should consider implementing to make them happier and more productive (and more likely to recommend you to prospective candidates).
5. Bring out the Steve Jobs in everyone. In addition to the above, employee surveys can build your bottom line by generating business ideas. Because they work closely with customers, your employees have a much closer pulse on customer needs. Thus, they’re likely to have suggestions for how to improve certain aspects of the business, services or products to meet these needs.

Administering Employee Surveys | A Six-Step Checklist
In order to get the best return out of your employee survey, the following actions are a must:

1. Ensure anonymity. If your employees think there’s any chance their feedback will be held against them later on, they might not be completely honest in their answers. In the end, that won’t help anyone.
2. Clarify your goals. Explain your reasoning behind administering the survey, what you hope to get out of it, and why your employees’ participation is important. Be sure to emphasize how these surveys will benefit them.
3. Get buy-in from all levels of leadership. From the CEO to your employees’ direct managers, everyone should be encouraging participation in the survey to reiterate the importance of participation.
4. Make it easy. The easier you make it for employees to give feedback, the more likely they are to participate. Keep the survey brief (according to Inc.com, the ideal length of an employee survey is between 35 to 55 questions and takes only 15 to 25 minutes to complete), and easily accessible. If possible, create an online survey that can pre-populate data such as name, department and title to save your employees time filling out these fields. Also, be sure to include a direct link to the survey through email invitations and reminders, as well as the homepage of the company intranet.
5. Live up to your promises. The most important part of the employee feedback process is also, unfortunately, one of the most underutilized. Don’t let your time and efforts to gather feedback amount to nothing. Follow up with your employees to go over the results of the survey, reiterate your goals and outline the next steps. Not only does failing to follow up mean you’ve essentially wasted everybody’s time, it’s also huge blow to morale, because it sends the message that you really don’t care about your employees’ wants and needs.
6. End on a high note: Remember, employee surveys are also a chance for you to reaffirm what’s great about your organization.  Take this opportunity to recognize those things that make working for your organization great. Use the follow-up meetings as a chance to say, “This is what you said you love about working here, and we take pride in that. Let’s celebrate this.”

How do you solicit employee feedback? What methods do you recommend?

Run the Ultimate Fly Pattern Sweepstakes
“Like” CareerBuilder for Employers on Facebook and then enter your name, address and e-mail for a chance to win $1,000 in complimentary airfare from CareerBuilder; the ‘Run the Ultimate Fly Pattern’ sweepstakes runs from January 30, 2012 to midnight, February 12, 2012.

We know your work is important, but everyone deserves to take a break to unplug, kick up their feet and get lost in a good book. And many (including CareerBuilder’s own VP of HR), say traveling across the world or just setting up camp in your house — and away from your office — is good for your health and may translate to better work while in the office:

“Taking advantage of vacation or paid-time-off benefits is critical not only to your well-being, but to your overall job performance,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.  “Workers who set aside time for R&R tend to have less burnout, more creative energy and higher quality output.  While financial challenges and heavy workloads may make vacation planning difficult, it’s important to find time to recharge away or at home.  It can ultimately translate into a more gratifying work experience that benefits you, your family and your employer.”

Where would you go if you won $1,000 in complementary airfare?

Creating a better benefits package isn’t just good for employees. It’s good for business, too.

Growing Pains: it’s not just a classic TV series desperately in need of a reunion show. While growth is a blessing for many companies, it also brings with it many challenges. With this in mind, CareerBuilder and Inc. have just released “Geared to Growth: Building an Infrastructure for the Long Haul,” a new report designed to help companies deal with the growing pains they may experience over both the short- and long-term.

The following excerpt from Part III of “Geared to Growth” (you can check out part I here and go here for part II) discusses how benefits are critical to attracting and retaining employees – and how you can deliver the benefits employees want (without breaking the bank).

Benchmarking Your Employee Benefits Package
Benefits play a crucial role in attracting and retaining productive employees. So how do you know if you’re offering a compelling benefits plan? Start with one question:  Are employees using it?

“One important factor is utilization,” says Professor Martocchio, who is author of Employee Benefits: A Primer for Human Resource Professionals. Take stock of which benefits employees are actually taking advantage of. Perhaps your company can replace some benefits employees don’t want or need with new benefits that they’ll appreciate more. “Before you invest in those benefits and spend the money, you need to do a needs test to find out what the employees will use.”

Don’t neglect non-traditional benefits like flex-time, telecommuting, and domestic partner coverage, which many employees today consider essentials, not extras. They expect employers to recognize and respect their personal and family obligations, even in the current economic environment.

It’s not just employees who get perks from these types of benefits, either. Offering those nonstandard benefits gives you a competitive edge in attracting highly in-demand workers – and in retaining your current employees.

Benefits don’t have to break the bank.
Some of the most valued employee benefits are also some of the most cost-effective to execute. Options include:

• Providing space for weekly weight-loss program meetings.
• Offering education on use of flexible spending plans.
• Bringing in counselors to help employees assess their financial planning and insurance positions.

“These are really critical issues,” Martocchio says. “Most of us do not know how to deal with long-term wealth building or long-term care, because it is so complicated.”

Be careful, however, not to endorse or sponsor financial or insurance advisors (which introduces the potential for liability) and make it clear that the company receives no commission on these referrals.

Staff members should have a voice in designing the plans. Several strategies can help you to gather and implement their input:

• Conduct periodic surveys of employee preferences.
• Invite feedback through use of a physical or virtual suggestion box.
• Create a representative employee advisory committee that reflects a broad cross-section of job titles and employee backgrounds, both personal and professional.

These strategies not only provide a simple, inexpensive way to gauge employee concerns—they also give executives and management a way to demonstrate that the company cares about and does its best to respond to employee concerns.

If you choose to launch an employee advisory committee, make sure you have a clearly defined purpose for it. Make sure the members understand the metrics the company will use to evaluate the committee’s effectiveness and contributions to corporate-wide productivity.

These metrics should measure concerns that “play to the success of the organization,” says human capital management consultant Paul Belliveau, SPHR, HRIP. These metrics should measure success “against the problems that need to be solved to achieve strategic goals and objectives from a corporate standpoint.”

For more information, download a complimentary copy of “Geared to Growth” – and check out the Infrastructure-Building Resources on page 15 for further assistance in evaluating and enhancing your existing benefits plan.

 It’s true that your company, no matter what other aspects you may excel and grow in, is only as good as its people.

Below, check out a sneak peek of Part II of “Geared to Growth” (and if you missed Part I about getting the right policies and procedures in place, read it here) — it’s all about the long-term people standards your company needs create to prepare for significant growth.

In reexamining your candidate selection process, where should you start?

1. Targeted Job Descriptions

First and foremost, take a look at your job descriptions–they may be harming your prospects more than you realize.The quality of your job descriptions can have a huge impact on your opportunities to attract the most qualified candidates and make them start thinking of your company as their employer of choice.

The U.S. Small Business Administration outlines these job description essentials:

• Job title and objective
• Description of the function and scope of the position
• Review of duties and functional responsibilities
• Overview of relationships and roles within the company

Following this formula for all job descriptions makes it easier for employees to understand not only what is expected of them and their colleagues, but also how each person on the staff contributes to the company’s overall success.

Even with these four main points in place, don’t forget to offer a short description of your company culture and make an effort to personalize your company further. For example, you might say something like, “We reward original thinking and ideas, encourage our employees to grow professionally and personally, and support their efforts to take on new challenges, whether it’s to learn a new language or run the Chicago Marathon.”

This can help you to attract candidates who will go above and beyond the responsibilities outlined in the job description and who want to work for you — not just any company.

2. Standard versus performance-based pay scales

Salary: It can sometimes feel like a never-ending headache trying to get it right. As your business grows, a standardized pay scale is a great way to manage employees’ compensation expectations in a way that encourages and rewards their contributions to corporate growth. Several formulas can help you to do this:

• Key compensation to skill development—for example, acquisition of advanced skills in certain computer programs—rather than tying pay to a particular job title.
• Implement competency-based pay for employees whose value rests more in what they know than tasks they perform.
• Employ broadbanding, which groups similar jobs (for example, administrative staff) within a pay range for the group as a whole, rather than as individual jobs.
• Create performance-based pay scales that match compensation to the employee’s success in meeting established objectives.

Alternatively, performance-based compensation strategy keys salaries to employees’ value in meeting revenue and profitability goals. This approach creates another opportunity to motivate employees to exceed expectations in their job performance. It ties compensation and incentives to:

• Productivity
• Work quality and results delivered
• Success in meeting difficult challenges
• Willingness to work under dangerous conditions

There is no one best approach to compensation. Choose the strategy that best supports your business model and protects your company’s ability to attract and retain the
employees you need. That’s true even in a job market that favors employers.

Catch Part I of Geared to Growth: Building an Infrastructure for the Long Haul here, and stay tuned for Part III on benchmarking, coming soon.

If you find yourself complaining that you can’t find the qualified candidates you need for certain positions at your organization, the good news is you’re not alone – by a long shot.

According to a recent Manpower survey, 52 percent of U.S. employers can’t find the skilled workers they need to fill open positions.

Dire as these findings may seem, the situation isn’t hopeless. In a recent editorial for Harvard Business Review addressing how companies can navigate the growing skills gap, CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson mentioned that companies need to take the initiative to reskill workers themselves. After all, many out-of-work Americans have skills they could easily transfer to a new career “if given the opportunity to build them,” according to Ferguson.

The question then becomes, how can you provide that opportunity? Consider the following ways organizations can take it upon themselves to reskill workers – and help close that ever-widening skills gap.

5 Ways to Train Workers for the Skills Your Organization Needs

1. Set up an internal training and development program. It’s no accident that some of today’s most successful companies also happen to make leadership development a priority. General Electric, for example, invests roughly $1 billion annually on training and educational opportunities for employees, while both Intel and McDonald’s have company-specific ‘universities’ where employees to go to learn new skills and develop existing ones. Don’t have the means to create an internal training program? Look into using a third party resource, such as CareerBuilderInstitute, which enables businesses to train their employees through online courses that range from hard- and soft-skill development to professional certification.
2. Create a mentorship program within the organization. Mentorship programs are a great, cost-effective way to prepare employees for leadership and management positions. But the benefits don’t end there. Research suggests that mentorship programs have a positive effect on morale, boost productivity and increase retention rates, as well.
3. Partner with local colleges to offer training and recruit. In hopes to reverse the trend of an increasing skills gap and labor shortage, companies across all industries are partnering with local colleges and universities to offer programs that ensure workers get the specialized skills they need for various industries.
4. Promote current employees first. When looking to hire for a new position, don’t overlook your current employees. Chances are you’ll have to train whoever you hire to some extent anyway, so why not have one of those people be someone you know is already the right fit culturally? Promoting from within not only saves time and money bringing in someone new, but it can also improve morale and increase retention, as it sends the message that you value your employees and provide growth opportunities.
5. Consider rehiring former employees. This can be a tricky one, depending on the circumstances surrounding the employee’s original departure, but rehiring a former employee could be a viable option to fill certain open positions. After all, rehired employees understand the company culture, and you don’t have to retrain them.

What is your organization doing to reskill workers?

Related posts: Four Things Great Companies Do to Develop Their Leaders

Below, check out a sneak peek of Part I of “Geared to Growth” — it’s all about the policies and procedures your company needs to put in place to prepare for significant growth.

The employee manual

One critical component of a planned approach to growth is the sometimes dreaded, always indispensable employee manual. As Lisa Guerin, legal editor at Nolo and co-author of “Create Your Own Employee Handbook: A Legal & Practical Guide for Employers,” says, “The actual process of sitting down and writing an employee handbook is really valuable for a company. Many companies make the mistake of creating ‘scattered policies as they come up.’”

Sound familiar? Not only does this backwards approach make it much harder to create consistent policies for things like performance reviews, vacation time and employee leave, but it also leaves companies open to legal action. “The inconsistent treatment can lead to suspicions that there may be discrimination going on, or that there may be some kind of ulterior motive,” Guerin adds.

As a general guide, an effective employee manual:

• Covers internal policies .
• Includes your company’s statement of compliance with laws and regulations like the Family Medical Leave Act.
• Sets the standard for company behavior and employee conduct—for example, by stating that your company prohibits discrimination and harassment.

Guerin adds that the above three criteria handle part of companies’ need to comply with Title 7, the federal law prohibiting discrimination. “But,” she adds, “it’s also
letting employees know what kind of behavior is not acceptable, what kind of
behavior they should report, the complaint process, and what happens when
a complaint is filed.”

Note: Because the employee manual gets into legal territory, make sure your corporate counsel reviews it before you finalize and excitedly distribute it to Every. Employee. At. The. Company.

The manual is ready to go–now what?

Even though your employee manual is finalized, both your company and the world around it are likely to change from time to time. Consequently, you’ll need to review it annually and also when your company:

• Reaches certain milestones in staff size.
• Expands its operations or lines of business.
• Experiences significant competitive or market changes.
• Is affected by new laws or regulations.
• Faces cultural changes like the rise of social media.

Though a 2010 National Labor Relations Board ruling limited
the extent to which companies can restrict their employees’ personal activities
in social media, it is still important for employees to be aware of your policies and vigilant in using common sense in their social media activities.

How to get the employee manual to the people it’s meant for (hint: your employees)

Like the manual itself, how you choose to deliver your shiny new employee manual should fit the needs of your employees (if you want them to read it). For that reason, it’s best to
make it available in a variety of formats:

• Online is a good option for people who are comfortable with receiving information electronically and have access to a computer throughout the workday.
• Print is preferable for people who have limited exposure and access to computers.
• Employees with disabilities may be best served by another delivery system, like one that interfaces with an audio e-reader for people with visual impairments.

Did they get it — or did they get it?

Distributing your employee manual is only half the work — the real work comes in making sure your employees understand and comprehend its contents. Otherwise, what’s the point? Your goal should be for your employee manual to serve as a tool for corporate and individual growth and success.

Once the manual is distributed, schedule time for supervisors to conduct training sessions/grievance sessions. Yes, this is where employees can air any concerns or uncertainties they have about their rights and obligations within the company — and supervisors (or whomever you deem as point people) can give them the answers they’re seeking.

Get your complimentary copy of “Geared for Growth” and check out the Infrastructure-Building Resources on page 14 for more tools to help your company create its employee manual — and all the essentials on preparing your company for a period of growth.)

2011 versus 2010

The percentage of workers arriving late to work has increased slightly from last year, according to the nationwide survey, conducted by Harris Interactive^© among more than 7,000 U.S. employees and 3,000 employers: 16 percent of workers reported they arrive late to work once a week or more, up from 15 percent last year. 2010 represented a dip in late workers, perhaps in part due to aftershocks of the recession and workers fearing losing their jobs over tardiness; 2011′s increase may reflect the fact that hiring has starting to pick up this past year and workers aren’t as worried about repercussions.

Here are 2011′s most unusual (and very candid) excuses for being late to work, rounded up from hiring managers themselves:

1. “My cat had the hiccups.”
2. “I thought I had won the lottery.” (She didn’t.)
3. “I had to take a personal call from the state governor.” (This also turned out to be true).
4. “I got distracted watching the TODAY Show.”
5. “My angry roommate cut the cord to his phone charger, so it didn’t charge and my alarm didn’t go off.”
6. “I believe my commute time should count toward my work hours.”
7. “A fox stole my car keys.”
8. “My leg was trapped between the subway car and the platform.” (This turned out to be true.)
9. “I wasn’t late because I had no intention of getting to work before 9:00 a.m.” (His start time was 8:00 a.m.)
10. “I was late because of a job interview with another firm.”
11. “I had to take a personal call from the state governor.” (This also turned out to be true).

The main causes for late arrivals to the office (aren’t so unusual)

Traffic, sleep schedules and weather conditions are the top three boring causes for late arrivals to the office, according to workers:

• 31 percent said they were delayed by traffic
• 18 percent said they were late due to lack of sleep
• 11 percent blamed the bad weather
• 8 percent said they were delayed because of getting their kids to daycare/school
• Other common reasons included: public transportation, spouses, watching TV or using the Internet, wardrobe issues, or dealing with pets. (With the frequency of pets being involved in so many unusual late excuses, that last one somehow doesn’t surprise me.)

In how many households is that snooze button being abused?.

More than a quarter (27 percent) of workers arrive late to work at least once a month, up from 26 percent last year. Hey, we all have rough mornings, and winter fully upon us, it’s sometimes hard to scrape down the car or trudge through the snow to make it to an 8:00 meeting.

While many employers are more flexible about work schedules and start times today than in the past, understanding that life sometimes gets in the way of work, 34 percent of employers surveyed said they have terminated an employee for being late (up 2 percent from last year’s findings). Are you one of those bosses?

As Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, points out, punctuality – or lack thereof – can impact how an employee’s commitment, reliability and performance are perceived by an employer.

Communication is essential

While punctuality can impact how an employee’s commitment, reliability and performance are perceived, it’s also important to remember that perceptions don’t always equal reality. I would stress that as a boss, it’s your responsibility to be open and communicative about policies and preferences for work tardiness–let employees know what you expect while breeding an environment of honesty and understanding.

• Let your employees know what your expectations are in the case that they are running late to work. Open lines of communication will mean more respect from your employees — and fewer headaches for you. And chances are, if you trust and respect your employees, they will return the favor.
• Make sure employee handbooks and guidelines are readily available to employees — and offer to answer any uncertainties or get employees in touch with the person who is able to answer their questions if you can’t.
• Give your employees the benefit of the doubt – they may be stuck wrangling keys from a sly fox, exhausted from being up all night with a screaming child, or going through a rough personal time. While these reasons don’t mean you need to give them free reign to do whatever they want, listening to your employees and trying to compromise a plan that will better fit their lifestyle while still satisfying your business requirements is a win-win in the long run: As I’ve said before, improved balance between life and work = happier employees = better business.

What are the most unusual late-to-work excuses you’ve heard from your employees — or that you’ve used yourself? And do you think employees feel comfortable enough with you to honestly communicate their lateness issues?