Our trainees are getting into the swing of things... except a few who are having trouble turning up on time!

Larks and owls
Are you a lark or an owl? Larks love the morning. They can hardly wait to bounce out of bed and greet the day. Owls take a quick look through half-opened eyes before rapidly burrowing back under the covers where they stay until something forces them to get up.

The trouble with owls
Larks usually have little trouble getting to work on time but for owls, it's a struggle. Unless they're celebrities or working the night shift, they have to force themselves to get up in time for work. It's a hard life.

Owls need shedloads of motivation to emerge from their beds before mid-morning. Alarm clocks can help but one is rarely enough. Relatives are more effective. They flood the room with light, bellow time checks and threaten to use cold water as a wake-up call.

Excuses, excuses
Occasionally owls will admit that they overslept. But, nine times out of ten, they'll use another excuse. It might be a vague illness like a sore neck, headache, backache or stomach ache. When illness wears thin, they turn to events beyond their control - we had a power cut and the alarms didn't go off, we had a new bus driver who got lost, the dog chewed my travel card so I had to walk.

Strangely, even the most entertaining excuses fail to impress employers. Gregory is an owl and detests early starts. He has to be on site by 8am but doesn't always make it. His explanations land him in hot water. Dr Phil recognises 'bull****' when he hears it.

Punctuality counts
Why employers value punctuality is often a mystery to owls like Gregory. But the explanation is simple. When people are habitually late or absent:

• it costs the business time and money - other people have to do the missing person's work and it slows things down
• it stops the person from doing a good job - time out makes it harder to learn or improve anything
• it ruins team work - people don't trust someone who's hardly ever there
• it causes arguments - people react defensively to criticism and pretend they don't care, which irritates everyone else
• it can be catching - why bother turning up on time if nothing happens to the people who don't?

Tips for owls

So what can you do if you're an owl who wants, or who has, a career that involves working before midday?

• kick the habit of turning off the alarm before you get out of bed
• organise your work stuff - do it the night before so you can grab it and run
• sort out your sleep pattern - go to bed five minutes earlier every day until you hit on a time that guarantees that you'll be up in time for work
• stop cutting things fine - don't lie to yourself about how much time you need to wake up, get up, get ready and get to work
• stop thinking that work's a pain - concentrate on the good things like money, your mates, the jokes, the gossip, the perks, your reputation and career
• smile if you can - it fools your brain into thinking that you're happy to be up and about
• don't give up - if at first you don't succeed...