The Best Way to Tell Your Boss Youre Coming Late to Work - The Muse

The Best Way to Tell Your Boss Youre Coming Late to Work - The MuseThe Best Way to Tell Your Boss Youre Coming Late to Work Luck is elend on your side today, and youre running late to the office. Maybe you dont have a meeting scheduled for 8 AM sharp- or maybe you do and youre already stressed- but regardless, you know your babo isnt going to be happy to see you waltzing in behind schedule.Whether your tardiness is completely out of your control or due to a fault of your own, heres exactly what you should do.Catch Yourself as Early as PossibleYou never want to get to the point where youre walking into the office at 11 AM and your boss has no idea where youve been and why you missed half the day. Chances are if youre running late, not only do you have the means to warn your manager ahead of time (hello, thats what a cell phone is for), but you also know pretty early on how late youre actually going to be.If the conductor hops on the mic to tell you your commuter trains going to be hel d at the station for 20 minutes, you should try to find a signal and contact your boss right then and there. If you get a notification the night before traveling home saying that your flight may be delayed, its worth sending your supervisor a note before heading to bed. If your child starts coughing up a storm and you know that means youll need to pop into the doctors office, whip out your phone.Matthew Brochstein, The Muses own CTO, notes that he always wants folks on his team to notify him in a way and timeframe that allows me to react. Sending me an email two minutes before a meeting effectively ensures that I will have no idea that youre going to be late.Use your best judgement- you may decide that even with your delayed transportation or detour to the nearest health clinic youll totenstill be able to make it in at your muster time (or at least youll only be a tad late). But know that theres absolutely no harm in preparing your boss for your potential tardiness. Worst case, you actually show up on time and alls forgotten.Dont LieAs tempting as it is to say, But this crazy thing happened There was a 50-car pileup right in front of me and I literally got out of my car and climbed over the heap to get here youre better off going with the truth or giving no reason at all (unless the pileup thing actually happened to you). The risk of getting caught in a lie is too great, and when something actually happens to you where you need their trust theyll be less inclined to give it to you if youve fibbed before.So opt for honesty, even if its terrifying to say you slept through your alarm or forgot to put gas in your car. It may not resonate well with them now, but when you arrive on time every other day after that, theyll more often than not let a mishap or two slide.ApologizeIf youre going to miss something, you need to be apologetic and acknowledge that youre impacting others, says Brochstein. Oops, Im late wont cut it, and certainly wont make your manager forgive you sooner. Even if you have zero regrets about getting an extra hour of sleep, still say youre sorry- after all, your lateness affects your boss and co-workers, too.Emphasize Youre Committed to Making It RightYoure going to be late- you cant control that at this point. What you can control is how you react to it. Besides sending your boss a proactive note (see below for what that looks like), youll want to make it clear youre ready to compensate for this small mistake. Maybe thats as simple as doing your work, and doing it well- starting with answering emails on the train while you wait for it to get moving. Or maybe you stay a bit later that day to make up for lost time. Or maybe you immediately offer up solutions to fix the fact that you missed an important meeting that morning. Whatever you think will impress your boss enough to convince them to overlook this minor inconvenience, do it.Also, when you contact your manager, you should address any tasks that are expected and set ex pectations for timelines and delivery. Make it very clear that youve got the day under control despite this hiccup, says Muse career coach Steven Davis.Thank ThemIt might be wise at the end of the workday to give your boss a quick thanks for being understanding of your lateness. You certainly dont want to keep bringing it up if your manager has moved on, but if they were especially receptive or accommodating its worth acknowledging that.Be Cognizant of How Often Youre LateShowing up late to work happens. Everyone does it, and usually when it occurs once or twice its no big deal.But make that three, five, seven times, and youre bound to become someone everyone expects to be tardy. More importantly, youll begin to lose the respect of your boss.Remember that being a full-grown adult means, among other things, being on time to stuff as much as possible. So set your alarm to full volume, leave your house 10 minutes earlier, or if you really need to, talk to your boss about adjusting your schedule- just do whatever it takes.What a Late for Work emaille Looks LikeHow you choose to contact your manager to let them know whats going on- phone call, email, text, Slack- depends a lot on your relationship and their communication preferences. If email seems appropriate for your situation, heres what you could writeIf You Have a Valid Excuse for Being TardyHi Boss Name,Due to reason, Im running minutes late this morning. I hope to get into the office by time.I apologize for the inconvenience. Just so youre aware, I have whats on your schedule and still plan to get projects that are due today to you by deadline for today.Please let me know if theres anything else I can do in the meantime- Ill be available via phone/email until I get in.Your NameIf Its Purely Your Fault Youre Running LateHi Boss Name,Im really sorry, but Im going to be minutes late this morning. I realize this is a big inconvenience for you and promise not to make this a common occurrence.In the meantime, Im s till shooting to get projects that are due today to you by deadline for today and make the meetings you have for today. Ill be available by phone/email if you need anything from me before I get to the office.So sorry again,Your NameIf Youre Missing Something ImportantHi Boss Name,Im so sorry, but Im running minutes late this morning because of reason. I hope to arrive to the office around time.I know we have meeting scheduled for time. If I cant make it in person, would it be possible to move it to alternative time/call in via phone/get the notes from someone/revisit the discussion in our one-on-one meeting? I also still have on the docket to get you projects that are due today by deadline for today and have no doubt those will be ready in time.Again, my sincerest apologies- Im very much planning for this not to be a frequent occurrenceYour NameIf You Need to Call or Send Them a Text InsteadIn certain cases it might make more sense to contact your boss more informally- whether becau se thats how they tend to communicate their tardiness, because thats what they asked you to do, or because youre not going to be so late that you want to make a big deal out of it. It also might be a better strategy if you want to be sure your boss gets your message before its too late (like if theyre about to have back-to-back meetings).So you could say in your messageHi Name, just wanted to let you know that Im running minutes late due to reason. So sorry for the inconvenience, and I promise to keep you posted on my whereabouts.OrIm really sorry, but Im running late this morning because of reason. I expect to be in by time but will let you know if that changes. In the meantime Ill be available by form of communication for anything urgent. I hope to make it by meeting but if not how youll make up for missing it. Again, my sincerest apologiesOr, if you also emailed them, you could sayI sent you an email, but wanted to again apologize that Im running late this morning- I should be in by time. Thanks so much for understanding