dimtimjim wrote:Get in...
I had this a few years ago in a job, the girls in the office I worked with were kicking off to management about a couple of extra hours they had been asked to work that they hadn't 'got back yet' ('cos all jobs involve downing tools at exactly 17:30, for example!).
So, knowing how many extra hours I had done over the precceding months and wanting to make a point to the girls, he issued a form for everyone to claim 'extra hours worked'.
So, the girls put down the 2-3 hours extra they were so aggrieved about, while I was gifted an additional week off thanks to my efforts. The girls really didn't like this (but still walked out at 17:30 every day, regardless of how much work was left).
Depending on their job, I have a certain amount of sympathy for that actually. If they are contracted to do a certain number of hours a week, and they are given a volume of work to complete in that time, and it isn't being done in that time, there are two possible scenarios - either they are being given more work than their hours allow for, or they are not completeing their work in a timely fashion. The responsibility sorting for BOTH of those scenarios would lie firmly with their line manager, whose job it is to manage their workflow.
Of course in management positions its less common to find that kind of clock-watching, but for most non-supervisory roles, I think its perfectly acceptable to insist that if you are employed from 9 - 5.30, you work from 9 - 5.30. If you are lazy or incapable and not getting your work done in those hours that's for your manager to sort out. Likewise if you have too much on your plate and can't get it done in those hours that is also for your manager to sort out - no-one should feel obliged to work extra hours if the reason for it is that their workflow isn't being managed properly.