Some bosses pride themselves on leading by example. When it comes to hours worked, they believe they should come in early and stay late. Other bosses (myself included) have hired people to do particular jobs that require them to come in early or stay late or both. I didn't always feel this way, but after 29 years in business, I feel as though I've earned the right to come and go as I please -- as long as I am taking care of my responsibilities.

I now come in at 10 a.m. to miss rush hour. I work until 6 or 6:30 to miss it on the back end. I call it semi-retirement. And I don't believe any of my employees are complaining about it -- in fact, I think they are enjoying it, too!

I think it makes a difference if you have three employees or 100. My theory is, if you have 100 employees and you always need to be there for some reason, you are doing something wrong. You obviously haven't learned to delegate. If all else fails, it's not like you can't be reached by cell phone. What do you think? Do you believe the boss should be the first one in and the last one out?

Jay Goltz is the author of The Street Smart Entrepreneur. You can buy his book here.