A day I approach with some trepidation. Today marks the start of a new, all-online timeclock system at work, replacing not the old-fashioned kerchunking gadget that stamps a card, but a pen-and-paper "honor system" that has been in use as long as I have been working for the place.
It will be a big change, and one that will require a lot of getting used to. I wouldn't want to be the accountant or manager who has the explain the sudden uptick in overtime, as workers accustomed to working over fifteen or thirty minutes a day and "forgetting" to report most of it when they fill out their timesheet at the end of the week are suddenly obliged to keep track; but the flip side is that Federal wage & hour regs frown on unpaid work and tend to blame employers for it. The edge of that coin is that a lot of the "forgetters" are highly creative types, who become engrossed in projects and lose track -- or who have so many going at once they they have no choice but to work over. They and their work are difficult to replace and we'll be finding out how well that square peg fits into a round hole.*
So chalk up another win for the forces of piling up laws and more laws, ever more detailed and yet supposedly one-size-fits-all. I just don't know yet what the prize will be.
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* Ah, but here's the thing-- How do you suppose they held wooden ships together? Everything from ropes and pitch to a kind of proto-rivet consisting of big iron nails clinched over a flat washer inside the hull were used, but one of the most popular methods used "trunnels," which are big squareish hardwood pegs...that are hammered, quite securely, into round holes! On the other hand, this is the trade that developed the "whimble," a kind of offset bit-brace that is operated in a manner akin to rubbing your stomach while patting your head, so....
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
6 comments:
I got hired into a place that was using the honor system for time and when I started turning in time sheets they asked me why I was working so much more than everyone else.
I've gotten meticulous about recording over the years, between contracting and issues with HR. I said "I'm not, I'm working just about the same as everyone else." They checked logs, not maliciously just out of curiosity and figured out the old hourly guy was shorting himself an average of 2 hours a 2 week pay period.
Where I'm at now, they went from paper timesheets (for plebs; healthcare professionals had Service Activity Logs that got pored over for billing purposes) to a fully-computer-based system...
...that allows a simple timesheet entry as an option. :V
I flex it around, so eight hours logged is legit, even if I'm in a bit early (for parking/systems prep) and out likewise (traffic, mostly). If I ever have to do anything more than five minutes off, it's logged (and OT would have to be approved anyway).
The previous two jobs (plastics plant and CSR phone monkey, respectively) both had straight-up computerized time-clock systems, and mandatory logging out when taking lunches - and so every day you burned a few minutes, every login/logout, dealing with the system. Plant had a very few (and very aged) computers for this use, and so lines formed; call center had individual (undercapable) terminals, and sluggy network combined with slapping all the assorted crapware into one big pile of system hog.
And yet, those two previous neato-burrito electronic time systems still required a paper slip for every vacation or sick-time request. :facepalm:
One fine day, new boss waltzes into my department and begins to berate a very frazzled-looking co-worker as to why he didn't clock out on the computer the day before.
With bloodshot eyes and a two-day growth of beard, he replied the reason he didn't clock out before going home was because he never went home in the first place.
His shift's relief and his relief's relief didn't show up. He muscled through 32 hours straight. We called him a cab and drove his car home for him...
My partner is routinely clocking an extra hour each day, unlogged in the paper honor system and therefore unpaid, because otherwise (after round three of 'retirements' of the boots on the ground staff) it is the only way to get the work done. Overtime having been cut to emergencies in an industry which has no middle ground between 'it is working' and 'let's be on national news'. Interestingly the two salaried people in the office never show up on time and always leave early. I rather wish that they would hurry up and set up the key card system, since both hourly and salary people would be logged into the system. Not that I really expect the high and mighty to notice the discrepancies or to figure out who is or is not actually working.
Cue the accountant screaming in three, two.... When they see the actual OT people are working to keep the shop running.
Yes, Old NFO, "The Law of Unintended Consequences."
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