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Being on time is the most essential thing that you can do at your job. It is the most basic, fundamental, and universal rule you will ever be presented with when you gain employment. It doesn't matter if you are the CEO of a major corporation or an overnight cashier at a grocery store, you need to be on time.

Why is being on time so essential in today's world? Perception is reality, and if you are late, you are basically telling someone that you don't care about the value of their time. That is very rude, and in business that can cost you a connection, or a client, which in business is a precious commodity. You are also telling someone when you are late that you don't care enough to be at work, helping your co-workers, and that whatever you have to do is more important than the job that you are getting paid to do. This is the one thing that apparently even pro football players aren't exempt from, as New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was fined for not calling coach Tom Coughlin when he was going to miss some practices, and got fined and suspended for it.

Punctuality gains respect because punctuality means that an employee or co-worker is prepared. If you at work at 755AM and you get to the budget meeting at 1020 when it starts at 1030, usually that is the sign of someone who is prepared and ready to go. Typically the person that is late, or is flying into the meeting at just the time when everyone is sitting down, with papers flapping around and breathing heavy, is the person who had to spend the time they would be driving to work, still at a computer, or in the shower getting ready to be at work.

Punctuality also means that the employee or co-worker is attentive to the value of others time. As stated earlier, if you are late to work, you are basically telling people that you don't care about the value of others time. If you don't care about other peoples time, will you necesarilly care about the customer on the phone? Will you care that someone has another meeting to go to in twenty minutes that may be actually more important than the one that is taking place at the moment? If a worker is on time for work, or for that meeting, that shows they value others time, and are probably more apt to value others, which is a huge factor is determining who becomes a manager and who is stuck mopping floors for a living.

To be blunt, the rule really should be come into work on time on friday, or don't bother coming in on Monday. There is just too much at stake in today's business world to be even a few minutes late. You have to value the time and importance of other people, to make the connections that will make a business run. This principle is universal and applies no matter what job that you have in any industry. Its an important thing to learn, and will be a huge advantage in this economy as well.

Learn more about this author, Cody Hodge.
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