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I work for a small care in the community company, mainly caring for the elderly. I have worked for this company for 10 years; for the first 6 years I worked on a full time basis, but now work part time as my elderly mother has moved in with me so I can care for her as she suffers from Alzheimers.

Recently, Social Services has introduced a phone-in call for all carers to use the client's phone at the care visit and log in your personal number at the start and finish of each call so Social can monitor the correct start and finish times. The company I work for must hit a certain percent accuracy and attendance rate.

My boss has reacted to this by requiring all staff to text him on their mobiles at 6.30 am every work day to let him know a) we're up and awake and b) fit for work that day. If you forget to text him by 6:30am he either texts you or phones the house on the landline.

Many carers don't have a problem with this as they have calls that start at 7:00am. But because I am part time, my calls don't start until 8:45am but am still expected to text him at 6:30am. With mum now living with me, sometimes she has very bad nights and am extremely tired and would really benefit from that extra hour in bed before getting up at 7:30am. Having the house phone ringing and ringing until I answer it is driving me mad.

How can I address this issue with my boss to request that I be allowed until 730 to text him?

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    Have you spoken to him about it? Because that's where you should start. You can refuse whatever you want, but he can presumably also fire you. No, I very much doubt being asked to send 1 text would mean you get paid for any amount of time between that point and when you start working.
    – Bernhard Barker
    Dec 5, 2017 at 20:13
  • Yes I intend to speak to him about it. Not looking forward to it as everyone is moaning about having to text but saying nothing to him. I realise I won't get paid for texting him, just clutching at straws really. Not 100% sure he can fire me for refusing to text 2 hours before my official start time, hence asking here. Thanks.
    – Sandra Morris
    Dec 5, 2017 at 20:30
  • As an aside - it's a bit of a ridiculous policy because it does nothing to ensure an accurate phone-in time - but you have to deal with it, and Joe's advice is spot on
    – HorusKol
    Dec 6, 2017 at 1:44
  • @SandraMorris - I updated the question to be on topic, but the obvious question that seemed implied, actually seems to have a pretty obvious answer. Perhaps you can take a shot at flushing out the actual question at the end,
    – IDrinkandIKnowThings
    Dec 6, 2017 at 2:39
  • I do not want to submit this as an answer, but have a suggestion. Find a way to automate sending him a text, schedule it for a range of minutes so it won't look suspicious, and make certain that if you can't come in that you send a "real" message. There's no need to have random texts either. just "I'm ready and able" is good enough, and frankly, I think his demand deserves such a response. it's unreasonable, you aren't being paid to text him at that time, he doesn't OWN your time before your shift.
    – NOP
    Jan 15, 2018 at 18:17

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The important thing is to give your boss a punctual and reliable signal to ease his panic. When you talk to him, don't try to tell him that the early call-in is a bad idea; you'll only frighten him. Propose a more reasonable time to phone in, explain that it is sufficient, and promise to faithfully make the call.

For example, tell your boss that you are awake every workday morning at 7:30 and you have had no trouble arriving to work on time at 8:45. Arrange to call him every workday at 7:30 AM. Ask him to please call you at 7:35 if he has not received your morning call.

Remind him that your ailing and often confused elderly mother lives with you, and when your phone rings at 6:30 AM it sometimes disturbs her to the point where you cannot calm her down until 8:30, which will make you late for work.

IMO if you boss does not understand this, then he has no business supervising caregivers.

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