Time Thievery!

[volcanicweather]

Are you employees full-time? We have a call center where I work and have dealt with a similar problem as yours. I'm not directly involved with the call center but what I believe we do is make people punch out when they go on break and punch back in when they return. Say you get a 15 minute break every 4 hours... if you take a 10 minute break, you're giving up 5 minutes of your break, but still getting paid for the whole 15 minutes. If you take a 30 minute break, you're getting paid for 15 minutes of it and the other 15 minutes are unpaid.

Just something to think about.

[Brill Weave]

All of them are fulltime. That's an interesting way to do it, but the problem is the service we provide needs immediate responses and actions. So I don't think it would be feasible to put a system like that in place. It is interesting though. I've never heard of a company using that method.

[Dimmauk]

I used to bribe my employees to exceed their weekly goals. If they exceeded their goal then I would buy everyone food. Buying food for 50-60 people was a nice way for the employees to stick it to the man.

[volcanicweather]

All of them are fulltime. That's an interesting way to do it, but the problem is the service we provide needs immediate responses and actions. So I don't think it would be feasible to put a system like that in place. It is interesting though. I've never heard of a company using that method.

Try it - you'll find people will be much less inclined to stand outside chain smoking when they aren't getting paid to do so.

[Brill Weave]

Not my call to make though. Any largescale policy changes have to go up the chain before they are even considered. It won't fly.

[guartz]

So you have a veteran of the company, who cannot be replaced and who does his job well. . . and you want to fire him because he is a little lazy and takes extra long breaks?

I don't think you are telling us the full of it or you are just an asshole.

[Tyche]

Somewhat related, I just put in for 56 hours of vacation right after New Years. So, essentially, I'll be off from about the middle of December til the 13th of January. Running the Goofy challenge at Disneyworld. Upon seeing that I'd be out for that long, they decided today to hand-pick someone for me to crosstrain.

Seriously Brill, you have to delegate someone to cross-train with this guy, so at least he'll be caught up through the weeks he's on vacation. I'm assuming the time thief has several weeks built up over the time he's been employed there.

[ferigor]

Here's what I don't understand about mohawk avatar guy's opinion: How is posting on BG comparable to taking extended smoke breaks? Its not like Brill leaves his desk to go post on BG, and its not like smoke break guy couldn't troll BG when he's at his desk, but its not like smoke break guy could smoke at his desk and work if he needed.
I am one of hardest working people in my department, and I surf the internet all day. If someone calls while I'm surfing the net, I can easily stop and take a phone call. If I'm writing a long reply to a post, it can take me hours to finish it because I get caught up in work. However, if someone is outside smoking, they can't snipe their cigarette and take a phone call. They will be out there for the duration of the cigarette(s), and its usually longer than the allotted 10 minute break (where I work, we get 2 10s and an hour lunch). I've got no problem with people smoking at work, but there is no reason he should get extra time just because he "needs a cigarette".

[volcanicweather]

Not my call to make though. Any largescale policy changes have to go up the chain before they are even considered. It won't fly.

Then why care so much? Or if you really do, you should actually talk to someone "higher up the chain" who can actually do something about this if you can't do anything.

[Brill Weave]

Why care so much is because he directly impacts my ability to do my job when he vanishes for as long as he does. He's essentially supposed to be my eyes and ears, alerting me to potential issues before they happen so we can be proactive about them. This is the one part of the job he doesn't do well. In fact, he's actually very bad at it. When he is missing for as long as he goes, I'm essentially flying blind until he returns. My job isn't to do what he does(I can, I was promoted from the same position on another shift to my current role.)

My responsibilities are to continue the training of the people under me, continue coaching them, deal with quality control as well as the QS# 12's. So when I get caught flatfooted by my boss and I don't have an answer because he isn't there, you get the idea. If he is able to negatively affect my ability to function and to negatively impact my interactions with my bosses, then yes, I want him fixed up or gone altogether Guartz.

FYI he's been here for a little over 25 years now I believe. So he's fairly set in his ways. He does take some coaching but it's usually only after three or four times of my approaching him with the same issue.

[Cyn]

What I want to know is if you're going to send everyone on BG a piece of your paycheck for helping you do your job.

Or did you just steal 10 minutes from me?

[Dimmauk]

What I want to know is if you're going to send everyone on BG a piece of your paycheck for helping you do your job.

Or did you just steal 10 minutes from me?

If it took you 10 minutes to post that, then..
http://rethinkamerica.blogosfere.it/...rump_fired.JPG

[Cyn]

What if I read it twice? I've been here 25 years, I'm allowed to make exceptions you know.

[guartz]

Why care so much is because he directly impacts my ability to do my job when he vanishes for as long as he does.

So next time your boss confronts you, bring up this smoking issue. If your management really cares about performance issues, they'll have to do something about it. right? Or do you think you'll take all the blame for it?

[Jakson]

7.5 years and still not in Management? I wonder why?

5 years in Management, actually.

[Brill Weave]

Sorry for the nonresponses. I was done for the day and the wife and I went to watch the Penguins game. In answer to your question, no Guartz I most likely wouldn't take the heat for it. But my issue is that I don't like throwing people under the bus. It's just not how I do things. But we're going to see how the vacation time deductions work out. He's going to have to punch in and out any time he's taking a break.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

I'd say give him a sound warning that he absolutely cannot make anymore mistakes or he is fired. He is obviously overconfident about his position's slack factor and thinks that he can take advantage because no one has stopped him up to this point and he has been there so long.

He might be in the stage where he hates his job and no longer has respect for anyone there. If that is the case, it is time for him to move on and likely the job market would be a complete shocker to him if he was forced into it for the first time after all those years.

edit: saw your update, making him punch in and out is a good idea. Just be aware that he will likely use this as an excuse to take more time off during the day than he is entitled to since he is officially clocked out while he is doing it.

[Brill Weave]

Well when he's punching in and out, it's easy as pie to track his tendencies and show them as visible proof. If he goes over the alotted time he has no legs to stand on.

[guartz]

Put this on his desk.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...rtz/lolcat.jpg

[Brill Weave]

Fucking cat actually looks pissed.