Most bosses don't mind lateness

Being late for work may not be the sin it used to be -- most European and US employers say they don't mind late-arriving employees, a survey indicates. The survey of 1000 US, British, German, French and Irish employees and employers by Mozy, a provider of data protection, found 73 percent of bosses have a relaxed attitude to time keeping, since they trust their staff is working long before they actually get to the office. However, this may surprise most workers as more than half of employees are under the impression that their executives definitely will mind if they are late. The average employer is willing to turn a blind eye to employees being up to 32 minutes late, the survey found. Russ Stockdale, general manager of Mozy, said the study confirmed the long-held suspicion that the urge to check e-mails first thing in the morning is overwhelming for some -- by 7 am, 1-in-5 employees worldwide have already checked their e-mail. However, some countries prefer a gentler start to the day. One-third of all British employees log on by 6.30 am, compared with 18 percent of US employees and 13 percent of French employees. The global results show that the average employee starts checking their work e-mail at 7.42 am, gets into the office at 8.18 am, leaves the office at 5:48 p.m. and stops working fully at 7.19 pm, meaning employees are "in work mode" for nearly 12 hours a day, Stockdale said.