Articles

Simple Steps to Take to Avoid Being Late to Your Office

by Julie Clements Promoter
Showing up late for anything can be stressful, disrespectful, and costly -- one estimate is that tardiness costs U.S. businesses more than $3 billion annually in lost productivity. Despite this, between 15 and 20 percent of people admit that they’re constantly late. For instance, coming late to a meeting and making excuses is an insult to the meeting organizers.  Meetings or conferences are inevitable for any organization. It is a platform for face-to-face discussions between people to exchange ideas, opinions and views, and make informed decisions that are important for the growth of the organization. These meetings can be recorded and transcribed with the assistance of a digital transcription agency for future references. It is one of the best ways to keep track of what the employees are doing, review the progress of each task, solve any organizational issues, and decide on organizational objectives. Meetings can improve the productivity of employees and can be used to give them the motivation they need. But often employees and even employers arrive late for meetings. Not only for meetings, some people are regularly late to the office, which can create a bad impression on the other staff and also affect productivity to a great extent.

So to avoid such situations and be on time here are some steps to follow.

  • Think about why you want to be more punctual: When you are launching a business, you and your employees should be well aware of the reason behind the action and this will keep you motivated. It also helps you identify potential roadblocks and solutions to overcome them. The same reasons can be used to understand why you should be punctual in your organization. Think about why you want to stop being late and about how this is going to make your life better, once you become punctual.
  • Know yourself: If you are always late to office, then you should analyze what is making you late like commutation, waking up late, or underestimating the time taken for you to get around. So, find out the root cause of your delay and it should be rectified.  To avoid delay, you can set the alarm 15 minutes earlier in the morning. 
  • Start scheduling: Another major reason for late coming may be issues with time management.  The best way to correct this is by becoming a master at scheduling. You can begin by tracking your time and then include everything from the length of your commute, the time spent responding to emails, and how long it takes you to complete your work. It may take about two weeks for you to get a clear and accurate picture.  Once you get an idea about how much you require, you can schedule everything into your calendar to prevent conflicts.
  • Overestimating is right: If you are scheduling, then it is better to overestimate to tackle unexpected issues like getting stuck in the traffic etc. It is better to leave early and arrive early and the extra time can be used to read the mails, prepping for the day.
  • Consider account transition activities too: Most of us consider just enough time to switch from one task to another and this can sometimes lead to delay. So overestimating is one way to handle unexpected events and many do not take into account the time required for transition of activities. It is best to keep time buffers between your calendar entries. This way you have extra time in case of an unexpected event, and thus avoid scheduling conflicts. 
  • Plan ahead: Planning a night before is a better option instead of rushing everything in the morning because it gives you more time to prep for the next day. This will even give you enough time to practice in case you have a presentation and keep all the documents ready.  
  • Set your watch later: Consider setting your watches and clocks five or ten minutes later than the actual time. This will serve to trick your brain into thinking that you are running late. This will motivate you to do things more quickly and manage all activities better.
  • Set reminders and notifications: Reminders and notifications are automatic and whenever you want you can feed events into the calendar and you will receive a reminder when it’s time.  
  • Rethink your semantics: There is a huge difference between being in your seat for the meeting and having technically arrived but still cruising around looking for parking at the appointed hour. You have to manage your time so that you reach ahead of time and are in your seat when the meeting begins.
  • Don’t try to squeeze more things: Sometimes we decide to do something and end up wasting valuable time. So, it is important to keep that urge under control to avoid being late for meetings or appointments. The solution to this is to get up and leave when it’s time and stop whatever you are doing instead of squeezing in one more task. 
  • Schedule events during off hours: Right before 9am and a little after 5pm are the busy hours. So try to avoid scheduling events during these hours.  Set your schedule so that you come into work after 9 and leave around 6. If you wake up early, then leave your home before the rush hour begins or work from home until it’s time to go. Plan an early lunch meeting when it will be less crowded on the roads. 
  • Stick to your time: When you have set an event or scheduled something in the calendar, then the focus should be on it. This will help you stick to the time.  
  • Be the host: The best way to avoid travel time is to host more events. So you will not have to leave the room and risk getting stuck in the traffic.  
  • Prioritize your sleep: Oversleeping is one of the most common reasons why people become late. So make sure that you go to bed early and wake up early. Make it a point to get between 6 and 8 hours of sleep each night. Avoid blue light at least an hour before sleeping and keep your bedroom cool and dark. 

Being late for meetings can have a negative impact and create a bad impression among the participants. Make sure that you are always on time by scheduling properly and planning your diary appropriately. Make punctuality a priority by creating a realistic schedule and this will benefit you and those around you.  Identifying roadblocks to an effective meeting is important.  Being on time for meetings helps you focus on the meetings and ensure they are more productive. To enhance the efficiency of your meeting and having everything on record, consider getting your meeting proceedings transcribed with the help of general transcription companies

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About Julie Clements Freshman   Promoter

7 connections, 0 recommendations, 42 honor points.
Joined APSense since, September 4th, 2012, From Tulsa, United States.

Created on Nov 25th 2019 00:31. Viewed 400 times.

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