Fun times - "I don't get paid to work"

[mywayorcyway]

The company I work for has a small crew of people who do data entry/data cleanup work for us. It's not a difficult job but it is tedious. Most are folks who want to earn a few dollars when they can - they don't have scheduled hours. As long as they're not going over 40 hours we don't care how much they work.

The manager of that group was comparing invoices to output and there are two people who are far below the output of the others (I'm talking 5-10X less than average). The manager discussed it with one person and she said her toddler has been at home with no babysitter and hasn't been able to get anything done. When asked about the invoice she sheepishly said she has babysitting arrangements now and will do better, and offered to revise the invoice without being asked.

The other person claims we're straight up wrong and that she's done far more than it says. That's a tough argument to make because we track everything down to the click in the system. Lots of denials and blame shifting before the evidence was even shown to her. The evidence was put in front of her and she states:

"I don't get paid to work, I get paid to think. I don't care what your numbers say."

You're right, you don't get paid to work. Your invoice makes that pretty clear. Here's your final invoice paid in full. Account terminated.

 

[Primetime26]

lol that must be the same train of thought my co-workers who are WFH have too

 

[CtownCyclone]

"I don't get paid to work, I get paid to think. I don't care what your numbers say."

Bold strategy during a pandemic.

This reminds me of a guy I used to work with many moons ago. He was a chemist at the chemical plant I was working at. He was an odd duck who worked odd hours, but he got his stuff done and management basically let him come and go as he pleased. Until one day, they reviewed his hours against his badge-in/badge-out records. Sure enough, he had only been at the plant for something like 4 hours one day. When asked about it, he replied that, "I was thinking about it for 4 hours laying in bed, so that's when I started working on that problem."

After that, he was told to keep a normal daily schedule.

 

[mywayorcyway]

lol that must be the same train of thought my co-workers who are WFH have too

This same thing happened last year in August, but the person doing it wasn't as bold as also made it even more clear she wasn't doing anything. She would login and every 30 minutes or so she would refresh the page she was on. This would happen for a few hours and then she would log out.

Two weeks go by and she submits her invoice. She had completed a few profile updates, 30 minutes worth of work tops. Manager challenges her on it and lays out the numbers.

"Oh, I didn't know you could track that." Fired.

Seriously, who at this point doesn't know if you login to a system that your actions are being logged?

 

[somecyguy]

Sure enough, he had only been at the plant for something like 4 hours one day. When asked about it, he replied that, "I was thinking about it for 4 hours laying in bed, so that's when I started working on that problem."

After that, he was told to keep a normal daily schedule.

If he was still getting his work done, I'm not sure I see the issue. If he is hourly, then I can understand, but otherwise, it seems legit. I've worked with people in the past who are more productive at weird hours, but as long as they completed the work and were available when face time was required, I never worried much about them.

 

[Rabbuk]

Seems like both people should be fired.

 

[mywayorcyway]

Seems like both people should be fired.

The first person knows she is on thin ice, and her numbers previous months were much better. She's getting another chance.

The second person had her account terminated before the manager got off the phone with her.

 

[Rabbuk]

The first person knows she is on thin ice, and her numbers previous months were much better. She's getting another chance.

The second person had her account terminated before the manager got off the phone with her.

I mean I feel like if you steal from the company like the first lady did so blatantly, you're probably going to do it again, or are doing it in less blatant ways already.

 

[CyTron]

"I don't get paid to work, I get paid to think. I don't care what your numbers say."

Reminds me of an infamous Deion Sanders quote

“Deion don’t get paid to make tackles”

 

[wxman1]

This same thing happened last year in August, but the person doing it wasn't as bold as also made it even more clear she wasn't doing anything. She would login and every 30 minutes or so she would refresh the page she was on. This would happen for a few hours and then she would log out.

Two weeks go by and she submits her invoice. She had completed a few profile updates, 30 minutes worth of work tops. Manager challenges her on it and lays out the numbers.

"Oh, I didn't know you could track that." Fired.

Seriously, who at this point doesn't know if you login to a system that your actions are being logged?

Reminds me of myself at my previous job before they finally laid the rest of us off. I literally had no work to do so I would sit there and play on my phone all day while moving my mouse every few minutes so to not appear as inactive or whatever. My boss knew it and understood the situation so I was all good there. I was a direct hire where the lady that sat next to me was a contractor. When they finally cut her they surprisingly let her log back on to write a goodbye note. Half of it was directed at me for what I was doing.

 

[mywayorcyway]

I mean I feel like if you steal from the company like the first lady did so blatantly, you're probably going to do it again, or are doing it in less blatant ways already.

You're probably right but it isn't my department so I'm letting them handle it.

 

[mywayorcyway]

Reminds me of myself at my previous job before they finally laid the rest of us off. I literally had no work to do so I would sit there and play on my phone all day while moving my mouse every few minutes so to not appear as inactive or whatever. My boss knew it and understood the situation so I was all good there. I was a direct hire where the lady that sat next to me was a contractor. When they finally cut her they surprisingly let her log back on to write a goodbye note. Half of it was directed at me for what I was doing.

When I worked for a large telecom based out of Overland Park, KS (hint: run at fast speed) they told us we were going to be laid off. Fine, whatever. We sat around waiting to find out what severance was going to be. Week went by, then a month, then two months. We had no work we could do even if we wanted to. We had to come into the office and sit there, management was on the way out too so no one cared about anything.

It got to the point where we worked in shifts a couple of hours a day. The partiers would come in for the afternoons, others would be there during the morning browsing the web. It was ridiculous, I didn't know it could be so frustrating being paid to not work. The only time we had to do anything was if a system went down and that didn't happen often.

I can't tell you how many games of pitch were played at work. I finally quit after four months and had found a new job. The layoffs came a couple of months later.

A lot of amazing friendships were formed at that job, but not very much work got done.

 

[Mr Janny]

There's a woman I work with who does next to nothing but browse Amazon all day. She put in a work ticket once because her computer wouldn't boot up, and when the help desk collected information, they found that her UPS had been tripped 3 full days prior. The battery might have been able to sustain her for 2 hours, but as for the other 70 hours, she had just sat at her desk staring at a blank machine. When they asked her about it, she admitted that it had stopped working a few days before. She just didn't want to "bother" anyone.

She works in IT, btw.

 

[MuskieCy]

 

[somecyguy]

She works in IT, btw.

An IT person who doesn't know how to fix a tripped UPS? Yikes.

 

[Clonehomer]

Seems like both people should be fired.

The first person I can see because of the circumstances. There are a lot of people WFH that do not have daycare right now and must juggle home life with work life. I would think most employers understand this and know it is temporary in these times. Maybe it comes down to this person's history and ultimately how replaceable they are.

 

[SpokaneCY]

This same thing happened last year in August, but the person doing it wasn't as bold as also made it even more clear she wasn't doing anything. She would login and every 30 minutes or so she would refresh the page she was on. This would happen for a few hours and then she would log out.

Two weeks go by and she submits her invoice. She had completed a few profile updates, 30 minutes worth of work tops. Manager challenges her on it and lays out the numbers.

"Oh, I didn't know you could track that." Fired.

Seriously, who at this point doesn't know if you login to a system that your actions are being logged?

Porn story but its related. We had a guy always wanted to work overnights. Same thing - odd duck, got his work done, etc... Then found out he has a taste for porn at night (who doesn't????) and did some surfing on the company system. It was flagged somehow and he was fired (there were some other transgressions as well - morphine, handgun in his work briefcase).

Few weeks later he marches back in with his LAWYER saying he was fired for being old and he wanted agism money. The boss (also my best friend) pulled up his key stroke history (did you see I used "stroke"?) and walked the lawyer thru the key strokes needed to linger and navigate and pause and rewind and view. Lawyer slowly collected his papers, said thanks and we never heard from that former employee again.

 

[CtownCyclone]

If he was still getting his work done, I'm not sure I see the issue. If he is hourly, then I can understand, but otherwise, it seems legit. I've worked with people in the past who are more productive at weird hours, but as long as they completed the work and were available when face time was required, I never worried much about them.

1) He was hourly
2) The nature of his job (handling chemicals, running tests, etc) prevented him from working from home regardless

 

[VeloClone]

In a previous job I was brought in to clean up a big mess. We had people regularly making nests in closets and storerooms so they could sleep on the overnights. People were terrible to each other. I had been at it for several years cleaning it up. I had a guy grieve his firing (fired because he constantly was out of work area not working). He stated that he had been there a long time (one of the longest tenured employees) and the new guys do the work. He was a long timer and didn't need to work anymore.

His grievance was denied.

 

[SpokaneCY]

If he was still getting his work done, I'm not sure I see the issue. If he is hourly, then I can understand, but otherwise, it seems legit. I've worked with people in the past who are more productive at weird hours, but as long as they completed the work and were available when face time was required, I never worried much about them.

I fight this with my current boss. I'm salaried and "at will" but she like the optics of people watching clocks while seated at their desks. While I'm right, she is my boss and I'll do most everything I can to make her job easier. PLUS I retire later this year.