co-worker non claiming all hours worked 33

[shacked]

So, I work in a small structural engineering office where everyone knows everyone else. My boss owns half of the office that we work out of, which is located in a very nice area. Therefore our overhead is fairly high, which explains why my boss is always pushing us to "Get it out" or complaining that we didn't make any money on this or that job.

To make matters worse, one of the other engineers does not clock all the hours that he works. Since we are paid hourly this makes me look like an asshat, because I clock all my hours therefore it takes longer for me to complete a project. Of course this other guy is the bosses golden boy, but I think he is just kissing ass by not logging all his hours.

He told me the other day that sometimes when he is working on a project and the phone starts ringing off the hook, and he gets tied up for an hour or two answering questions from contractors, architects... that he doesn't feel that he should clock those hours on the project that he is working on. Of course he shouldn't, log the hours under general office time.

Any suggestions as to how I should handle this?
Oh, not sure if the boss knows this, but I am pretty damn sure it is obvious.

 

[thruthefence]

"I would much rather go to work in shorts, take a long lunch & catch a few waves, then maybe finish up a project later that night. Ya, I get my work done, and I take a lot of pride in doing a good job, but I don't feel that need to waste my entire life working so much and not enjoy life now. Who knows I may die in a car accident tomorrow."

And you ask how people can judge your 'attitude' from words?

 

[dgowans]

moltenmetal,

If my post contained anything that could be interpreted as accusing someone of being a slacker that was not my intent in the least. I was just trying to make the point that we all need to exercise judgment.

I don't want to get too much further off track by getting into individual numbers, but suffice it to say that I do continually evaluate my own situation (and have done so again after your post) and still don't feel cheated. This is obviously a function of where I work, because I know there are people who could very easily make the case that they're being exploited. I realize that I'm quite fortunate in this regard.

We've all got choices; if for whatever reason someone no longer feels like they're being treated fairly by their employer isn't the burden on that individual to address the situation through whatever means they have at their disposal?

 

[SKIAK]

shacked, how many hours do you think this guy isn't reporting? I guess I assumed it was just a couple hours a week which is why I suggested letting it go. If its in the 15-20 hour range I could easily see any of the issues mentioned above.

 

[monkeydog]

SKIAK,
All this guy has to do is come in 30 minutes before, and leave 30 minutes later and tell shacked, he's putting in 14 hour days, and not charging.
;-)

 

[abusementpark]

You guys need to cut the OP some slack. What his co-worker is doing is aiding to the devaluation of our engineering services.

 

[Zapster]

A lot of the responses to shacked post, including shacked himself, sound like whining union workers. If some guy wants to work more hours and not bill for them, it his choice. If it makes you look bad, then its your problem. Seems like you are holding a grudge against someone who wants to ensure his employer is getting value. Some employees show value by the quality of their work, and other less talented folks do it by not billing all of their hours. No big deal unless you don't have much talent and you think your employer should pay for every minute of low quality work you produce.

 

[Bribyk]

I also see this as unethical if the boss doesn't know about the unlogged hours. He is dishonestly improving his image by making himself seem more productive than he really is. Depending on how employees are being evaluated he may be knowingly tampering with the evaluation data/system to falsely improve his image.

If the boss does know, he may expect this from you and it could make you look less-favorable. I would bring up the parallel between these unlogged hours and a client wanting unlogged (read: free) engineering services with the boss and see how he responds...

If the ethics don't get 'em on your side, money usually does.

 

[SomptingGuy]

One thing not mentioned here and the only thing I can think of that's a problem with donating time like this (working extra unpaid hours) is that it makes project planning difficult.

Jobs planned using historical booking records are underestimated. If the job is won, it can only be completed on budget if hours go unbooked. The cycle repeats. I saw this all the time when I was in the consulting business.


- Steve

 

[moltenmetal]

dgowans: it was the "eight and skate" comment that I was calling you on. I'm glad you clarified things.

Be careful how you do that "evaluation" you're talking about. Keep track of what you put in AND what you get out of it relative to others in your situation.

 

[JAE]

I don't agree that spending more time on a project and not logging in the hours is unethical.

There is nothing morally wrong with working harder.

Now if it is not unethical, it certainly could be considered problematic for the management.

There are two issues here:

1. Makes other workers look less hard-working.
2. Makes it difficult to estimate future projects.

The original post was focused on number 1 above - which I think has been adeqately responded to.

Number 2 is a legitimate concern but it doesn't fall under unethical behavior.

 

[SomptingGuy]

What's wrong with #1?

The other workers are less hard-working,

- Steve

 

[JAE]

From the perspective of the hard worker there's nothing wrong with issue number 1.

From the perspective of the boss/manager there's nothing wrong with issue number 1 (other than issue number 2).

From the perspective of the other workers issue number 1 is a problem for them in that they look less "hard working".

 

[GMcD]

Last time I looked, "hard working" did not also mean "efficient, cost effective results" or "high levels of quality" for the work product. Hard working doesn't necessarily result in "better" work products, depending on how one defines that work product. If an engineer can consistently turn out superior work product in an 8 or 9 hour day, while a "hard worker" puts out mediocre work product in many more unclaimed overtime hours, which is the better engineer and the one you want to keep around?

If an engineer puts in uncompensated overtime but turns out excellent work product, it's a management bonus- a person who works for lower net wages and still puts out a quality work product. That's the rub- that then gets expected by management of the rest of the herd.

Now the game becomes who defines the quality of the work product? Unfortunately in this day and age, most managers have little idea of what the work product IS, so the only measurement they have for productivity is "hours worked" as the measurable item, and assume all quality is the same.

Same mentality that has led to bidding of engineering services - the assumption is that all quality is the same - I mean, after all, we engineers all have to abide by the same rules, regulations, Codes, ethics, as all the other engineers, therefore the work product is all deemed equal, so the only discriminator between engineers comes down to easily measured dollars.