IF YOU were late for work this morning and had blamed the traffic or your child for your tardiness, your boss might not have believed you - even if your reason had been genuine. If you were working in America, that is.

A recent survey in the United States revealed that nearly 30 per cent of hiringmanagers were sceptical about their employees' reasons for being late for work.

The online poll, commissioned by CareerBuilder.com, the largest online job website in the US, also showed that 15 per cent of workers said they were late for work at least once a week, and one in four admitted to making up fake excuses.

The most common excuse was traffic, cited by 32 per cent of the 6,987 employees and 2,757 employers polled from Feb 11 to March 13.

Only 17 per cent cited oversleeping as reason for why they were late.

Some of the more unusual excuses included trying to get a gun back from the police, going to a previous office in error and being indicted for securities fraud.

While most hiring managers would buy their employees' reasons for being late for work, more than 27 per cent said they did not quite believe the reasons given.

Still, 43 per cent of bosses did not mind their staff's lack of punctuality as long as their work was completed on time and done well.

Some employers, however, were stricter and would consider firing an employee who was late several times a year.

'Consistently showing up late can affect how others in the company view your work ethic and discipline, as well as affect your productivity,' said CareerBuilder.com spokesman Rosemary Haefner.