“Punctuality is not merely arriving on time. It is a quiet declaration that another person’s time matters as much as your own.” – MJ Martin
Time Is a Measure of Respect
“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late,” Shakespeare wrote in The Merry Wives of Windsor. The line is spoken by Ford in Act 2, Scene 2, but more than four centuries later its message remains remarkably relevant. (Royal Shakespeare Company) Being punctual is not really about clocks. It is about respect. When I agree to meet someone at 10:00 a.m., I have effectively made a small contract with that person. I have promised that their time is as valuable as mine.
That principle applies equally to a business meeting, a dinner invitation, an airport departure, a medical appointment, or simply meeting a friend for coffee. Habitual lateness sends an unintended but unmistakable message: my schedule takes precedence over yours.
Punctuality Builds Professional Capital
In business, reputation is accumulated much like money in a bank account. Every commitment kept makes a small deposit. Every unexplained late arrival makes a withdrawal.
Canadian employment practices demonstrate that punctuality is more than old-fashioned etiquette. Employment and Social Development Canada specifically recognizes habitual lateness as conduct that can lead to progressive discipline and, under appropriate circumstances, termination. (Canada) Research on employee behaviour also supports the connection between attitudes toward lateness and actual workplace tardiness. One validated study found that employees’ attitudes toward lateness significantly predicted both how frequently they arrived late and the duration of their lateness. (ScienceDirect)
The lesson extends beyond employees. Imagine two sales representatives competing for the same Canadian municipal contract. One arrives ten minutes early, prepared, composed and ready. The other arrives twelve minutes late, apologizing about traffic while searching for the presentation on a laptop. Before either person begins speaking, both have already communicated something about how they might manage the contract.
Competence is demonstrated before the meeting begins.
Canadian Realities Are Not Excuses
Canada certainly presents legitimate challenges to punctuality. Weather, congestion, distance and public transit can all introduce uncertainty. Statistics Canada reported that the average Canadian commute reached 26.7 minutes in May 2025, while Toronto averaged 34.9 minutes. (Statistics Canada)
But predictable uncertainty should be planned for. If Highway 401 is frequently congested, congestion is no longer an extraordinary event. If a Canadian winter can produce snow, leaving additional travel time is simply prudent risk management.
A good project manager builds contingency into a schedule. A punctual person does exactly the same thing with time.
Early Does Not Mean Absurdly Early
Shakespeare’s three hours should not be interpreted literally. Arriving three hours early for someone’s dinner party is hardly considerate. The objective is not extreme earliness. It is creating enough margin that foreseeable problems do not become someone else’s inconvenience.
For most business meetings, being ready five or ten minutes beforehand communicates preparedness without disrupting anyone. For airports, important presentations, or events involving complicated logistics, the appropriate contingency should be considerably greater.
Your Reputation Arrives Before You Do
There is also a larger personal principle involved. We cannot control traffic, weather, delayed trains or every unexpected event in life. We can control how much margin we build around commitments and how quickly we communicate when something genuinely unavoidable occurs.
Being occasionally late is human. Being habitually late is a choice that eventually becomes a reputation.
And reputations are difficult things to repair.
Questions Worth Considering
Have we become more tolerant of lateness because smartphones allow us to send a quick message saying we are running behind?
Should businesses enforce punctuality more rigorously, or has hybrid work made traditional concepts of time less important?
Is arriving late fundamentally disrespectful, or can cultural and generational differences change how punctuality should be interpreted?
Most importantly, when we keep another person waiting, whose time are we really valuing most?
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees – in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven major certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 80 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) [aka Micro Learning] continuous education programs in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Power BI, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.
Martin is a volunteer, a photographer, a learner, a technologist, a philosophizer, and a romantic optimist.