Is this allowed?
Discussion
The company I work for, has grown fairly rapidly over the last 5 years since I joined, effectively going from small to small / mid sized.
They have brought a few rules in which I doubt the legality / morailty of.
We have to be at our desks ( I work in IT Support) and ready to take calls 5 minutes before our shift starts. If we are not, we are classed as being late. If I arrived at my desk at say 3 minutes before my shift started, was logged in and ready to work before my official shift start time, I would STILL be classed as late. There is no direct consequence of being late, apart from the fact it is indicated on a staff rota for ALL to see ( my 2nd bone of contention, surely this information should be kept private?)
My only concern is, should the company decide to start reducing numbers in a recession, it could work against who has been "late" the most.
Now I realise that there are several millions unemployed, and I am grateful for the job, so I am not going to start going on about how hard done by I am. I am just curious.
They have brought a few rules in which I doubt the legality / morailty of.
We have to be at our desks ( I work in IT Support) and ready to take calls 5 minutes before our shift starts. If we are not, we are classed as being late. If I arrived at my desk at say 3 minutes before my shift started, was logged in and ready to work before my official shift start time, I would STILL be classed as late. There is no direct consequence of being late, apart from the fact it is indicated on a staff rota for ALL to see ( my 2nd bone of contention, surely this information should be kept private?)
My only concern is, should the company decide to start reducing numbers in a recession, it could work against who has been "late" the most.
Now I realise that there are several millions unemployed, and I am grateful for the job, so I am not going to start going on about how hard done by I am. I am just curious.
thatone1967 said:
Scott330ci said:
Leave 5 minutes earlier.
Not allowed.. got b0ll0cked for leaving 1 minute early last week to catch the bus..Was told that the buses run every 15 minutes, and I should wait for the next one.
Wait, you take the bus?
How do your colleagues feel about it? Seems a little harsh, but then again you are on a helpdesk so where do you draw the line?
It's only 5 mins - if they're asking for an extra 30 mins a day I can see the need to worry, but is it really worth fretting over for the odd 5 mins? If you're a good worker and in before 9am for the first call then I doubt you'll ever get fired. If they are a good company they'll factor in the quality, speed and cost of your work before moaning about being 2 mins late once in a blue moon.
From a management perspective there could be other reasons for doing this, such as your colleagues coming in late every day and some poor chap having to cover for them. There is always two sides to every story.
It's only 5 mins - if they're asking for an extra 30 mins a day I can see the need to worry, but is it really worth fretting over for the odd 5 mins? If you're a good worker and in before 9am for the first call then I doubt you'll ever get fired. If they are a good company they'll factor in the quality, speed and cost of your work before moaning about being 2 mins late once in a blue moon.
From a management perspective there could be other reasons for doing this, such as your colleagues coming in late every day and some poor chap having to cover for them. There is always two sides to every story.
rog007 said:
It seems reasonable that to be able to respond at 9 on the dot, you would need, as a minimum, to be ready 5 minutes before to guarantee you're ready.
That's the point though... We had to be READY to respond by 5 minutes before the start of out shift. With a 48 week year, that is 20 hours a year, or almost 3 days that we have to work unpaid? thatone1967 said:
That's the point though... We had to be READY to respond by 5 minutes before the start of out shift. With a 48 week year, that is 20 hours a year, or almost 3 days that we have to work unpaid?
What about tea/piss/smoke/chat/lark/dream breaks...swings the calc t'other way...employment is a two way street, give a bit, get a bit
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
What about tea/piss/smoke/chat/lark/dream breaks...swings the calc t'other way.
..employment is a two way street, give a bit, get a bit
Yep, agreed, think of all the time you spend having your daily s..employment is a two way street, give a bit, get a bit
t and add that up.5 minutes is nothing if you want to progress in your career.
thatone1967 said:
Not allowed.. got b0ll0cked for leaving 1 minute early last week to catch the bus..
Was told that the buses run every 15 minutes, and I should wait for the next one.
I smiled at this. I think it's very telling that you interpreted his remark to mean clocking off earlier rather than leaving home earlier in the morning.Was told that the buses run every 15 minutes, and I should wait for the next one.
I don't remember the last time I got to work 5 minutes before my start time. Its normally at least an hour early, sometimes 2 (I'd rather start early than work late).
I need to work these extra hours (unpaid) to get the job done, and delivered on time. Its just expected of me, nobody has to ask, or indeed tell me. Thats why I get a reasonably good salary.
Unfortunately if you are worried about having to get to work 5 minutes before your start time, I suspect you will be in low end jobs for the rest of your life
I need to work these extra hours (unpaid) to get the job done, and delivered on time. Its just expected of me, nobody has to ask, or indeed tell me. Thats why I get a reasonably good salary.
Unfortunately if you are worried about having to get to work 5 minutes before your start time, I suspect you will be in low end jobs for the rest of your life
One assumes you have a contract of employment with set hours on it, I also assume if you were the employer and footing the wage bill you would expect your staff to actually be operational for the time you were paying them, bottom line is get there early so that you are actually "working" the hours you are renumerated for. If you bought a gallon of petrol would you be happy with less then the amount you had paid for !! Sorry it's a hard world out there now and employers want their monies worth
just be happy with it
we used to get told to log on bang on our start time so thankfully not even 5 mins before
but we've all been given our redundancy notices and they're taking the jobs to india to save costs.
we outshone the indian call centre in everything. there wasnt a single target that our outsourcer set that we didnt exceed but it still wasnt good enough and now 250 ppl are job hunting.
we used to get told to log on bang on our start time so thankfully not even 5 mins before
but we've all been given our redundancy notices and they're taking the jobs to india to save costs.
we outshone the indian call centre in everything. there wasnt a single target that our outsourcer set that we didnt exceed but it still wasnt good enough and now 250 ppl are job hunting.
Menial jobs like this treat their staff like animals/kids because often they are such cretins they are not pushed and
spoon fed everything they will get it all wrong.
A mate used to do what you do (by the sounds of it) and he was treated like
an idiot, he said he took it on the chin as his colleagues were complete retards incapable of their own thought.
spoon fed everything they will get it all wrong.
A mate used to do what you do (by the sounds of it) and he was treated like
an idiot, he said he took it on the chin as his colleagues were complete retards incapable of their own thought.
okgo said:
Menial jobs like this treat their staff like animals/kids because often they are such cretins they are not pushed and
spoon fed everything they will get it all wrong.
A mate used to do what you do (by the sounds of it) and he was treated like
an idiot, he said he took it on the chin as his colleagues were complete retards incapable of their own thought.
+1spoon fed everything they will get it all wrong.
A mate used to do what you do (by the sounds of it) and he was treated like
an idiot, he said he took it on the chin as his colleagues were complete retards incapable of their own thought.
I once over heard some of our TS staff discussing sick leave during lunch break.
New TS guy: "How many days do you get?" [Clearly new guy can't be bothered to read his contract]
TS guy: "We get x days, it's great, I use all of them"
They think sick leave is like a holiday allowance.
If headcount is going to be 'adjusted', staff who think like the above are high on the list.
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