141
Nonetheless, is it even appropriate to take a break while my coworkers
go downstairs to grab a hot drink?
Take a break when you need one. Otherwise keep working.
If you want to use your phone during your break, go downstairs (or at least away from your desk) and then use your phone.
117
Should I tell him I'll quit or just do it without giving an
explanation?
Don't bother.
Threatening to quit is extremely unlikely to cause the company to abandon the fingerprint scanner. And you were thinking of quitting anyway. Finally, you indicated that you don't want to get into a discussion about the issue anyway.
Just find a new job, give your notice, ...
103
For your case, don't bother. Better to leave on good terms and get a reference. It sounds like it's not a good place to work, and you're better off finding a better job.
As an aside:
Nighfillers at a retail store I worked took exception to a finger print scanner.
They tried all sorts of ways to get it removed, including complaining that it was sticky and ...
78
Without a constant monitoring or knowledge of the break-time pattern, anyone noticing you using your mobile phone while being at your desk may assume that you're getting distracted by the phone. They may not have the idea that you're trying to avail a break and utilizing that time to check your phone for updates. It happens.
Next time your manager mentions ...
77
I currently work in a company that has a workaholic culture.
I'm only asking if it's unrealistic to try to have a work-life balance with a workaholic team once you're already in the door. And if it's unrealistic, to what extent?
No, it is not unrealistic. For the most part I am able to restrict work time to 40 hours per week, give or take a few hours. On ...
72
From the 8-hour working days, I work on a software app (my actual job) between 6.5-7.5 hours, with good productivity and quality as attested by my supervisor. The rest goes for meetings, having issues (technical and otherwise), rest room visits, stretching and short walks near my desk ... etc.
An 8-hour working day should include whatever your employer ...
47
Jane (seductively): (Would you like to come up to my apartment) for a nightcap?
Frank: No thank you, I don't wear them.
-- Police Squad
Like poor Frank who just failed to score, I think you are missing the point. It's not about the tea, it's about the team. Teatime is a team-building exercise. They all do it together because they are a team.
Get ...
answered Feb 23 '20 at 0:42
Harper - Reinstate Monica
12.5k2 gold badges25 silver badges51 bronze badges
45
It's like the old joke about the mathematician and the engineer. What's the difference? A mathematician works with pencil and paper. The engineer works with pencil, paper, and a trash bin.
It's conceivably possible for developers to spend 80% of their time cutting code, if they have clear specifications that they understand completely, and if they are ...
41
The problem with working 50-60 hour weeks is that it is ineffective. Not just inefficient, but so inefficient (because you get tired, make mistakes etc. ) that you achieve less than in a 40 hour week, at least in the medium or long term.
If you have nerves of steel, then you can start in a "workaholic" environment, stand your ground not staying in ...
36
Benefits/overhead are not lower. The salary cost may be the same, but someone who works 40 hours a week and someone who works 32 hours a week will have the same dental expenses, same tech costs, etc.
It makes scheduling meetings messy. My team lets you take one flex day off every two weeks. Even with just one day off per team member, always a Monday or a ...
26
8:30 to 5:30 company and expressed how the boss and the sales manager come into work at 6:30 every day. The boss told them to come in at 6:30 am
The manager then went on to say it wouldn't be fair to others who start work at 7:30
worse than the traditional hours of the jobs having large base pay, which they turned down because of early hours and inflexible ...
24
I will assume you are hired to work 8 hours a day.
That means you should "work" 8 hours a day, where "work" is basically whatever you boss says. If that's program the app, then you program the app. If it's a meeting, then you go to the meeting.
In most civilized countries, normal routine of living applies to jobs, too: you can take ...
23
I very much disagree with the general tone of the top answers here which essentially amount to "give up and look for a new job".
While I agree with this being the right approach if the company is adamant about its position and so are you about yours; I would still suggest first talking to them. Not to threaten resigning over this, or to coerce them ...
21
You have asked and been declined. You have three options.
Both get up earlier so that everyone gets to work on time. This is the ideal solution as you take care of the issue in-house without involving workplaces. Most people handle it internally.
Or escalate the issue and take your concerns higher up the hierarchy in your company. This may be declined or ...
21
Is it a correct basis to calculate the work-time or mark their attendance on the basis of above mentioned factors?
No, it isn't. But you're not in charge.
21
They aren’t correct, but this is fairly easy to game
I don’t think you will find anyone on here who agrees with how they are measuring productivity. However, if management were consistently intelligent in evaluating people, we wouldn’t have many questions on here, would we?
I would be inclined to game the system. I would never leave my IDE during the ...
15
The "coffee break" or "coffee walk" is very common practice at my work, and a very common practice that I also, like you, do not engage in.
I also prefer to check my phone on my breaks, but the perception, as others have mentioned and you have realized, is that I am distracted during work time and not on a regular break.
If you don't want to step away from ...
15
Understand why the employee is working long hours (and their answer might not be sufficient);
Remind them of the official policy;
Evaluate if and how you can support them;
Measure the impact of their actions;
I had an employee that prefers to work long hours when they are going through some heavy stuff in their personal life. At first, I tried to discourage ...
15
Is there any possibility that your manager might make accommodation for you? Just say that you're not comfortable using the machine and you would prefer to track your hours in a different fashion. He might agree. I understand that some areas are more hostile to employees than other areas, but I've personally never worked with an employer who would not ...
13
Not all a business' costs are proportionate to the hours their employees work.
Let's assume employees work half their hours and get half their pay, and that they produce half the amount of sellable product (let's assume that for simplicity). Employee wages are variable costs.
However the company is still paying the full cost of building rental, insurance, ...
13
You 100% should, nay, you need to, have that conversation with your supervisor.
IMO, you are actually asking the wrong question. The question is not "what counts as 'close to' 8 hours", the real question is "what counts as 'working on the app'?". Your meetings should count as "working on the app"; if those meetings don't ...
13
If this team turns out to be a workaholic team, would I be risking my
new job if I hold my ground and only work 40 hours a week instead of
50+?
Perhaps.
I haven't worked in many companies that had an "only work 40 hours" culture. In those companies where everyone worked extra, someone who chose to strictly work only 40 hours wouldn't fit in, and ...
12
Having worked in this industry for (koff, koff ...) decades, my position on such things is simple: "I'll give you my best efforts during ordinary working hours, but the rest of my life is mine."
I found this out the hard way. (Long story.) "Quantity," whether we're talking about working-hours or anything else, "is not Quality." ...
12
The problem that managers have is that they are constantly in meetings. As one ends, they have to go to the next one. They rarely have any time to do any real work (but if they desperately need to do real work, they invent fake meetings to add to their calendar).
You asked for a meeting. The only way your manager could fit it in was to schedule it one ...
11
You should ask your boss what the core hours policy is.
An issue with working different hours to others is that you're not available for up to half the time they are working. Say you have a colleague who needs some information from you at 2.35pm. They might be working for another 4 hours, but they have to wait until the following day. If it's a time-...
10
First and foremost your friend should check the contract. If there is anything concerning the hours, they can explain that they are only obeying the contract. Otherwise, I only see two options:
If the employer is really as nice as they say, they should check with him if those early morning hours are only temporary. If so make it clear, that flexibility is ...
10
Think about the things that need to happen as part of software development. Analyzing and understanding user needs and expectations. Decomposing requirements into units of work. Coming up with or making modifications to an architecture or design to support user needs. Documenting the architecture and design of the software. Writing code, including test code. ...
9
You could ask your boss if they would be able to gives more than a days notice for meetings - which would be good etiquette from them anyway, especially if they're as long as you say.
If meetings are scheduled in through a calendar, just block out your time you're planning on not being at work as unavailable
If these meetings are setup verbally, just say ...
9
He told me I caught him at a bad time and to come in an hour early to
discuss it
While this can be a bit strange, arranging a time and place for a meeting is perfectly normal. Is it fair? Depends on what you call fair, a lot of reasons can lead to the manager's answer, being busy, not having something particular to say.
Isn't it the job of management to ...
8
Whenever management wants to do something like this, they should always ask themselves: what am I incentivizing the employees out of?
In this case... you might have a developer that has a problem which they could probably solve in 20 minutes by some googling... but why? They're going to get dinged on performance. Better to spend 4 hours bashing a head ...
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