Bangalore: A cranky roommate, cat hiccups, and a governor's phone call are among the most unusual excuses employees gave for being late, reveals a new CareerBuilder study. The survey was performed between November 9th and December 5th, 2011 by Harris Interactive amid more than 7,000 U.S. employees and 3,000 employers across nationwide industries and company sizes. The survey highlighted that sixteen percent of employees said they arrive late to work once a week or more, which is a little up from 15 percent last year. Whereas, twenty-seven percent of workers arrive late to work at least once a month, up from 26 percent last year. Although, the recent job market depicts that employers are more flexible about start timings and work schedules, excessive delay can have serious effect. As over one-third (34 percent) of employers stated they have fired an employee for being late. According to careerbuilder.com Rosemary Haefner, Vice-President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder said Punctuality - or lack thereof - can impact how your commitment, reliability and performance are perceived by your employer. One of the best ways to make sure you get to work on time is to get organized and plan ahead. Lay out whatever you will need for the workday the night before, plan to be at the office early, account for expected commute delays and eliminate distractions in your morning routine she added. Furthermore, according to the employees Traffic (31 percent), sleep schedules (18 percent) and bad weather conditions (11 percent) are the top three causes for late arrivals to the office. The other common reasons for reporting late included public transportation delays, pets, spouses, watching TV and Internet usage. The most outrageous excuses employees provided for being late as revealed by the hiring managers were employee's cat had the hiccups, employee thought she had won the lottery (she didn't), employee got distracted watching the TODAY Show, and Employee claimed a fox stole her car keys