A reader writes:
I’m a relatively new manager (4 months). I am coming from the position of teammate to most of the staff I manage, but they all seem to have adjusted well to my new role and respected my move from peer to manager.
I seem, however, to be having an issue with one of my staff sneaking out 10-15 minutes early from work. I’ve started to catch on, and when I ask, the person says that they didn’t take their 15-minute break so that they could leave early (which, if that’s the case, needs to be arranged and agreed upon with me), then proceeds to talk my ear off about the weather and everything they did that day and then rush out the door before I can get a word in edgewise. I can’t seem to get across to this person that it’s not acceptable, because if they did skip their break, they still technically worked the amount of time they were supposed to, and there are other people to cover should they be needed (the work time at my organization is split – half-day of customer service, half-day of office time), so there is no real need for them to be there other than they’re scheduled until a certain point in time.
I feel that I should be more assertive but I don’t know how to prove my point when this person has basically found a loophole. I would be okay with this once in a while (and if we discussed it first), but I don’t like the sneakiness of it.
Yes, the issue is far less the 10-15 minutes and much more the sneakiness, because it goes to trustworthiness and integrity.
And she hasn’t “found a loophole.” You say above that your rule is that if she wants to leave early in exchange for not taking her break that day, she needs to get your okay first. She’s not doing that, so there’s no loophole here. She’s just not following your policies and hoping she’ll get away with it.
And the reason she’s getting away with it is because you’re letting her. It sounds like that’s because you’re not yet comfortable with the authority of your position. Letting someone do something they shouldn’t be doing just because they start talking rapidly about the weather is not an effective management technique.
Set up a meeting with this person. Say the following: ”I want to clarify our rules on leaving early. If you want to leave early to make up for not taking a break that day, you need to talk to me about it first so that I can clear it. If you don’t have explicit permission to leave early on a particular day, you need to work until the end of the time you’re scheduled for.”
Then, stick to it. If you see her leaving early again without your permission, you need to call her on it. You can do this in two ways: You can stop her on the spot, tell her it’s not time to leave, and send her back to work, or you can talk to her about it first thing the next day. Either way, you need to start setting up consequences at that point.
So you might tell her, “Sue, I was extremely clear about this when we talked last week. Where did we miscommunicate?” Then, assuming that she doesn’t explain that she was rushing out the door because of a gunshot wound or something, you say, “By continuing to do this after we’ve talked about it, it’s turned into something more serious. You’re now violating a policy that I’ve warned you about. I need to be able to trust you to follow our policies. This is a very easy thing to correct and I hope that you will, but if it continues to happen, it could jeopardize your job.”
If that seems like an extreme consequence for leaving 15 minutes early, keep in mind that the issue here is integrity, not 15 minutes of time. It’s about integrity because she’s trying to do something without you noticing it, and she’s continuing to do so after you’ve already warned her. This is a much, much bigger deal than 15 minutes of time; you can’t have someone working for you who deliberately tries to get away with things behind your back. (And I can almost guarantee you that with someone who operates this way, there are other problems with how she approaches her work.)
The bigger-picture issue here, though, is learning how to deal with situations where the people working for you aren’t performing in the way that you need — being comfortable raising the issue, correcting the behavior, setting consequences if it continues, and then enforcing those consequences, and doing it all in way that’s direct, straightforward, and fair (not defensive or insecure or overly harsh). These are essential pieces of being a manager.
More situations like this are going to come up — and some of them will be more complicated than what time someone is leaving — and you’ll need to be prepared to handle them. So I’d recommend starting to think about how you’re going to handle other types of performance problems, like someone who’s bad with customers, or someone who’s trying really hard but just not doing a good job, or someone who doesn’t follow though on things you ask them to do. Your job now is to handle this stuff, and you don’t want to wing it.
Update: Several people have pointed out in the comments that leaving early shouldn’t be a big deal if the employee is getting all her work done. This is absolutely true in certain types of jobs and with certain types of performers, but I’m assuming for the sake of answering this question that this is a job where physical presence is relevant. If that’s not the case and the employee is otherwise performing well, I’d agree that leaving 15 minutes isn’t a big deal, as long as it’s not inconveniencing others and as long as it’s not being done in a sneaky, “I hope no one notices this” kind of way. But that’s not the sense I’m getting from the letter.
{ 69 comments… read them below or add one }
When I worked at a large bank, the policy was you could not leave the property if you were on a paid break. If you left the property while on the clock, and were injured, the company didn’t want the legal issues of that could go with it (worker’s comp, lawsuit, etc.). Simple rule = you leave the property for your own personal business or quitting time, you clock out. Period.
I suppose this is tangential issue, but the question I have is: “What’s the problem with this person leaving early?” Is he or she getting all the work done? If so, what does it matter whether they leave a few minutes before the official leave time?
Admittedly, there are jobs where this doesn’t apply. (Receptionist, retail clerk, bank teller, etc.) But for your typical office job, I’d think that the amount of work getting done would matter more than if his or her butt was in a chair until exactly 5:00.
You might also want to ask *why* the employee is leaving early. It might just be a matter of impatience, but it might also be that they have to pick up kids from school, catch an infrequent bus, or some other time-sensitive thing where those 10-15 minutes really do make a difference. (For my first office job, the bus came once an hour. I had the option of arriving 45 minutes early or 15 minutes late. Eventually my boss agreed that I could shift my schedule later by 20 minutes and avoid the conflict.)
These are both points I had in my original response but took out because I think the fact that the employee is deliberately trying to be sneaky is a bigger problem. This also sounds to me like a job where be on site for the scheduled hours probably does matter (although I hope the OP will weigh in on that point), and there are coworkers who are going to resent one person always leaving early while the rest of them stay.
If the issue IS that she has to pick up her kids or something, she should raise it to the manager directly, not be sneaky, and they can see if there’s a reasonable accommodation that can be made that doesn’t unfairly impact the other employees (who might enjoy leaving early themselves for all kinds of reasons, kid-related or not).
Exactly. People are adults. They have to ask to leave early? So demeaning.
Now I do understand (as Julie said) some jobs – where you need to be available it’s different. But most office jobs – what difference does it make if you leave 10 minutes early and work through a break. Or maybe sometimes you work half an hour late because you are trying to finish something. Doesn’t it all even out?
There might also be the ‘sneaking’ factor because of the unspoken realization that you have to ask. And seriously it’s demeaning. People aren’t in grade school. They are adults with families, who vote, are old enough to drink, have mortgages, etc and you have to ask to leave 15 minutes early? I could see it if the person was leaving at noon.
I got into trouble once (regular office job in accounting) for leaving at 4:25 pm and I had started work at 7:50 am that day. Needless to say I no longer work there.
What difference does it make? Do you think it makes a difference if an employee works through their break and takes $$$ out of the till at a restaurant? I would hope you would see it as theft. It is EXACTLY the same about working through a break and leaving early, remember that breaks are not required by law. As such, if you decide to work through your paid break, that is your choice. The company does not have to let you move the break to a time that is more “convenient” to you. This is every bit as much stealing as taking supplies from the office or taking money from the till. Just because everyone else does it does not make it right.
I see it differently. An employer is hiring you, presumably, to get a job done. Let’s leave aside jobs where physical presence is absolutely required (receptionist, waitstaff, masseuse, whatever) and stick with typical office jobs. Let’s say I’m paid to process an average of 100 documents a day, which the company figures will take about 8 hours. If I’m a very fast worker and finish all 100 documents in 7 hours and leave early, is that stealing? I’d say it isn’t: I’ve done everything required of me.
Contrarily, if I stay in my chair precisely eight hours — or even nine or ten hours! — but only process 75 documents, I’d say THAT’s closer to stealing. I’m taking money for 8 hours of work but only producing 75% results.
To my mind, time spent sitting at your desk matters far less than the results you produce in that time.
Exactly. I don’t understand why people are so hung up on hours spent at desk instead of results.
I’m curious why you guys are assuming this is that sort of job, as opposed to one where the OP would have a legitimate reason for the policy.
“so there is no real need for them to be there other than they’re scheduled until a certain point in time. ”
There is no real need for them to be there? I can’t imagine why we would assume that then.
I know the OP said that the person needs to ask if it’s ok to leave early but I’m guessing that this person doesn’t want to do that because it feels really grade school.
I didn’t interpret it that way since she mentioned other people might need to cover it for them. In any case, I think these are some big assumptions to be making and I hope the OP comes back to clear it up for us.
I still think the core issue is that the OP needs to learn how to assert herself, not feel like she’s helpless in the face of behavior she doesn’t like. (And yes, one could respond that no, the real issue is her stance on how long people should stay at work, but again, we don’t know that here — and I think it’s semi-elitist to assume that everyone works in jobs where physical presence isn’t key.)
Reply to AAM (since I can’t reply to your post just above, it’s too deep in the comment stream):
I agree. In this particular case, the sneakiness is the issue, as well as the OP’s need to maintain authority and assert him/herself.
Oh! Then we’re in agreement :)
And I added an update at the end of the post itself to allow for this question.
As Samantha said, it’s partially due to the quote “…so there is no real need for them to be there other than they’re scheduled until a certain point in time.”
For me, it’s also just a matter of convenience. If it IS a job where presence is important, then we default back to everything you said in your original reply. If leaving early means tables aren’t being cleaned or cash registers are going unmanned, then you’ve gotta stay until the end unless you make previous arrangements.
As I said, it was a tangent, not so much directed at the OP, but more of an open question towards the general attitude of, “leaving 10-15 minutes early is BAD. Why? Because it is!” (Such as seen by “Disagree”, above.)
At my office, the majority of the staff are paid hourly, and because we are contracted to another company, we have business hours of 8 am-5pm for our clients. In my opinion, a person routinely skipping out before 5pm without telling anyone would be a problem, because if, let’s say, you lead a team with 3 people and at 10 til 5 an emergency comes up that will only take a couple of minutes to fix BUT your entire team has waltzed out early because they don’t see it as that big a deal, then it becomes an issue. ESPECIALLY if you didn’t know they were all gone and had already told your client you could handle it. If you want to leave before expected business hours end, the least you can do is give your manager the courtesy of knowing that you’re not going to be around to cover any work that may come in.
I agree with several of the comments below that in an office, all of the employees are grown-ups and should be treated as such. At the same time, I think communicating your availability and schedule to your supervisor AND being able to be in the office at the expected times are part of being a responsible and professional grown-up. If you can’t do those things, then you don’t really deserve your manager’s trust or respect, because you’ve only done things to prove you are untrustworthy and unreliable.
Our office policy of being available and at your desk until 5 is there for a reason. I know it’s annoying and inconvenient, and I’d love to skip out and get a 15-minute jump on rush hour traffic, too, but there you go. Part of being an adult and a professional is sometimes doing things you don’t like doing because it’s your job.
I agree. I am a receptionist (i.e. I have to ask permission to pee because the phone must be answered) in a business with flexible working hours for everyone else. A few of the lower level employees are always sneaking out before the end of business during the non-busy months. As a result, I am the one dealing with angry clients who want to talk to a human and not leave a voicemail. I once put someone through to 5 different people who had all left early. The only one I could eventually was a partner in the firm. The irony is that some of these people cannot understand why they never get promoted (they complain in the lunchroom in front of me because I am the receptionist and, by definition, invisible ).
Off topic – but I had to reply to your comment about feeling invisible because you’re the receptionist.
I’ve seen that before and it really sucks. A good receptionist worth their weight in gold – and all too often undervalued.
The problem is a good receptionist is the ultimate multi-tasker so you guys make it look so easy. That’s why people underestimate how hard that job is.
I’ve done it – I am REALLY bad at it – and fully appreciate what it entails.
That position never gets the thanks it deserves.
Are you an hourly employee or salary. If you are salary, the leaving in 7 but getting paid for 8 may be fine, if the company agrees. But if you are hourly, you are stealing. Just as the company would be stealing if they said we will only pay you for 6 hours instead of 8 because we expected 100 documents processed and you only processed 75.
If you’re asking about me personally, I’m a temp hourly employee currently on a one-year contract. I fill out a timesheet every week and get paid for the hours I work. If I decide to leave early because all my work’s done for the day, I simply fill in however many hours I worked, and that’s how many hours I get paid for. (My boss, naturally, has agreed to this.)
If you’re asking about people in general, I believe that’s up to the individual employee and their manager. I once had a job (salaried) where I routinely finished my work early but was not allowed to leave because “the benefits are calculated based on a 40-hour week.” (Note: I’m from Montreal, Canada. I have no idea what the laws are like in the States.)
Actually I live in Canada where the employment standards are different and we do get paid breaks regulated by law in the province you live in.
And I seriously doubt that leaving early and taking money out of the till is the same thing. Give me a break. By those same standards you can count all those people that spend time on the internet, or on the phone dealing with family issues or yakking with their co workers socially for 10-15 minutes at a time or taking smoke breaks as stealing too. They aren’t working then either. Maybe they shouldn’t be able to use the washroom either. After all they aren’t working *then* either.
Technically, those using the internet, or talking to family on company time or talking with coworkers while not working are theft. That they are socially acceptable does not make it any less theft. You are being paid to work, not surf the web, or talk to family on the phone or talk to co workers rather than working. Talking to them while working, that is fine, you are working.
Again, presuming hourly.
I think we are getting off on an elitist track by insinuating that chatting with co workers (etc) is only allowed for salaried employees, who, what, presumably work harder? Theres always someone in every office who bucks the system in their own way, whether it’s leaving early, taking longer than allowed breaks, or ” getting coffee” that somehow takes thirty minutes.
Lets not forget also that appropriate peer networking can be professionally beneficial.
Technically, since you want to be technical about it, wrongfully taking someone’s chattel without the owner’s permission is theft. Nothing else is. Using the internet, talking to family, riding the train without a ticket, extortion, blackmail, and running Ponzi schemes, none of those are thechnically theft. That they are socially unacceptable does not make them any more theft.
I can tell you like to steal from your boss, must have hit a nerve!
No the company doesn’t *have* to let you move the break. But then again companies do/offer a lot of things that they don’t *have* to hire good workers and have them stay.
I don’t think having to make sure you’re on the same page about your schedule as your manager is demeaning, I think it’s common courtesy. Sneaking around trying to “get away” with something you know is not OK *is* childish, though.
Many workplaces have an explicit policy about not taking your break in the first or last hour, to avoid exactly this situation.
Another consideration: at my current job, we more or less set our own hours, but we have to stick to it, because they need to know who is in the building at any given time. If there were an emergency evacuation and you had left early without telling anyone, you would be missing from your assigned meeting place, and they would have to assume you were trapped in the building.
I don’t sneak around trying to get away with anything (what I said was that the person in the OP’s original post may have been doing that). And I didn’t say I left without telling anyone. The receptionist always knows where I am and when I leave. We also have an in/out board that I mark myself in/out on. So yeah I’m really sneaking out.
And I didn’t say that being on the same page as your manager is demeaning. What I said was having to ask to leave 15 (or 10 or 5) minutes early is demeaning. If the policy is that you can’t alter your schedule (and staff know about said policy – which believe it or not they often don’t -which is what happened to me previously) then that’s fine. But if the atmosphere and the job is such that you are not dealing with customers or clients or coworkers on an on call basis there is no reason you can’t have flexibility. What crisis is going to happen in the last 5 minutes of the work day that can be solved in that time? And yes your manager should be on board with this. But just having someone *have* to be at their desk right until the end of the day – *just because* is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.
And another thing people have to realize is that not all work places are the same. I have to laugh at the emergency evacuation comment. In my work place they would probably just leave people in there to burn. (not kidding).
Sorry if it sounded like I was accusing you of sneaking out/being childish – not intended! I was referring back to the OP’s employee. Regardless of whether or not leaving early should be OK, if the employee knows it isn’t but is leaving anyway and trying to hide it, *that* is childish.
I do agree that generally, managers should focus more on performance and less on hours sitting at a desk in most office jobs, at least when it’s a question of only 10-15 minutes.
all agreed here. but as the spouse of a fire fighter, please know they will go in to look for you, even if it’s just a maybe that you’re there…which puts them @ risk. just something to keep in mind.
This is good advice, but if you see her leaving early, I would not wait until the next day to talk to her; as a manager, I’d talk to her there and then. Waiting until the next day sends a mixed message–if at first you let her leave without objecting; then the next day you say it was a problem. People like to be able to count on their managers to act consistently.
When I was a new manager coming from much the same situation, I was in a workplace where, as a supervisor, I was sorta expected to let a lot of things go. There’s a worry in a situation like this that because nobody else seems to think it’s a problem, you’re a bad friend or a bad boss if you decide to harp on it. Ignore that worry. I took my job more seriously than other people did. Eventually, if an employee decides that they want to get fired because they can’t hang an extra 15 minutes around work, then that’s their problem, not yours. That’s the choice they made.
Also, for the record, in most states (the state’s where I’ve examined the law, anyway), if the break is legally required, it’s not legal for the employee to not take the break and leave early instead. It’s a loophole (so to speak) that managers have used to avoid paying breaks. Nobody’s gonna call you on it, of course, but if it makes the convo you have with your employee easier (ie, having another reason for your policy), then have at it.
Yeah, I’d definitely mention the issue of missing the break. “What can I do to help you make sure you get your break earlier in the afternoon?” It sounds like a good opportunity to discuss time management and work load.
My immediate reaction was the same a Julie’s. The OP’s description is a bit hard to parse, but it does not sound to me like there’s a strong intrinsic reason that they employee’s job MUST be done at these particular times, just so long as it gets done. Are there days when the OP works a quarter of an hour later to get to a nice stopping point, such that it all evens out in the end? I have a feeling that the OP may have fallen into the easy trap of thinking his duty is to “keep underlings from cheating”, rather than to make his organization succeed?
Of course, now that you have picked this particular battle to fight, you cannot just let it drop and have any authority left. So it needs to be dealt with. Just be sure to remember that your success criterion when dealing with it is NOT “John never leaves early again” (which will paint you into a corner as Mr. Grinch for the rest of your tenure as manager there), BUT just that John works out an agreement with you before leaving early.
Doesn’t also make a difference if the employee is exempt or not? If we are talking about an exempt employee and she’s done her job, can the manager request that she doesn’t leave early?
These are almost certainly not exempt employees, since we’re talking about breaks.
Now, there are tons of jobs where caring if someone left 15 minutes early would be ridiculous, but there are also tons of jobs where it does matter (banks, customer service, receptionist, child care, etc.). I assumed for the sake of answering the question that she’s in the latter since it’s rare to have designated 15-minute breaks in, say, a law firm.
To me it’s not obvious that we’re talking non-exempt employees, and the reason it’s not obvious to me is I am an exempt employee required to work every day to 5:00 and of course stay late whenever there’s a need for me to stay late to get the work done. I’m working late most days and I’d love to be able to get out 10 minutes early once in a while to get ahead of traffic (I have a long commute through terrible traffic), but couldn’t get my manager and/or his bosses to agree. I wouldn’t want to make a big deal out of it and jeopardize my career, but it’s really annoying that managers don’t realize I am within my right to leave early if I finished my work and the business doesn’t need me to be there. Companies and managers tend to treat exempt employees as exempt employees only when the employees have to work longer hours.
I do agree that the manager should be in the loop about any changes in schedule.
Actually you’re not within your right to leave early. They can require you to be there during certain hours. Now generally they can’t deduct from your check if you leave a few minutes early, but they can discipline/fire you for it.
The issue is about courtesy and disclosure. As adults, we need to realize that we are part of a team and that our actions affect the other team members. Maybe someone needs to ask a question, and spends several mintues looking for the person only to find that they have left early. Maybe other people have to take up the slack if the person left early. But someone sneaking out without letting others know strikes me as 13 year old juvenile. Grow up! It isn’t all about you. Your actions affect others and you need to have the basic courtesly to let others know when you will/won’t be in the office.
I agree. Yes, they’re all adults, but it isn’t very “adult” to sneak out of the building without letting the boss know.
“they still technically worked the amount of time they were supposed to, and there are other people to cover should they be needed [...] so there is no real need for them to be there other than they’re scheduled until a certain point in time.”
OP swayed a lot of people to her side by using a charged word: “sneak”. Had she said “left” instead of “sneaked out”, would you have felt the same?
Yes. It is about courtesy and letting those affected know. How many seconds does it take to let others know you are leaving the office? Two? Three?
Even our directors and vice presidents let people know they are going to be out of the office. There is a realization that their actions affect others.
I never let my bosses know when I’m leaving, though sometimes they see me as I am walking out so they know I am leaving. (They have my cellphone # so if it’s urgent, they’ll call me and I’ll help them through whatever it is they need help with).
Is it considered common courtesy to let your manager (or supervisor) know that you’re leaving for the day? Should you also say goodnight to your fellow coworkers? It reminds me of a couple of our staff who stop by every office/cubicle each morning and greet each person hello/good morning. Seems like a huge waste of time and if I’m working on something (after all, we are at work), I’d rather not have to divert even the smallest amount of energy to saying hello. I know this is a very petty and ridiculous point of view, but it’s how I feel.
Depends on the culture and on the nature of the work.
It is also about taking some time to be “nice”. Let’s face it, the people that get promoted are the ones that perform AND get along with others.
Taking some time for pleasantries builds relationships and networks. If you are nice then people want to help you out and give a little extra than if you didn’t.
Several of the other engineers used to wonder why I never had problems getting a tech to work on my stuff while they waited for hours. Easy! I cared about the techs as people, helped them acheive their aspirations (recommendations for school), and brought them muffins on occasion. Being nice has benefits.
If you’d rather not divert energy saying hello, hmmm. I suspect that 10 years from now you’ll be at the same job or unemployed. And think of this – the higher up the ladder you go, the more it is about relationships and the less it is about technical.
There’s no need to run to every single cube and say hello and goodbye, but at least say it to the people you cross paths with on the way in or out. It’s about treating people like human beings. Those who can’t be bothered to extend a simple hello are often seen as people who think it’s beneath them to talk to other employees, like they are somehow better than them. I once worked with a manager who wouldn’t acknowledge anyone unless the other person said something to him. My tellers complained to me all the time that they felt like they were considered pee-ons and not worthy of a hello. It affects moral eventually. Once he started taking two second out of his day to say hello, things changed.
I agree with Dawn. I don’t send out an all users email to say goodbye when I leave, but I certainly to anyone with whom I’m crossing paths.
If I need to leave early for some reason I do let my boss know, as well as the receptionist. It’s just common courtesy in case someone is looking for me I don’t want her to waste her time tracking me down.
The age old argument for exempt personnel about whether hours matter if the job is being done will probably never be fully resolved. However, basics of common courtesy and complying with policy to be are non-negotiable.
If you leave early and someone has to cover for you – you let your boss know. Because it’s a slippery slope of Sally seeing Jane leave 15 minutes early every day so she does it too…then Dave…next thing you know the poor schmuck who works a full day is covering for everyone and those last 15 minutes become the worst of their day.
It’s just about manners.
You are assuming the person leaving 10-15 minutes early doesn’t let anybody know. I’ve re-read OP’s letter and haven’t found any indication that’s the case.
She isn’t letting her manager know, and that is the person she reports to. It seems fairly disrespectful to me. I’m amused that some commenters are complaining that having to notify the manager is demeaning. Yet those same people don’t seem to realize that keeping their manager out of the loop is disrespectful of her! I’m also amused that some people state that a flexable schedule is a perk. Well yes, it is – for employees that perform. It is NOT an entitlement that anyone can demand as their “right”.
I have to say that unless you’re required to be at your desk to serve clients, keeping an hourly system is far less productive than not. My husband is going through this now: his company’s owners are very old school and require people to clock in and out even though its a design company. Being a design company, the employees often work 60 hours one week to meet a deadline and work hard on facebook when there isn’t a project. PLUS the company doesn’t honor comp time. So what happens is there’s a deadline and his team will clock out at 5 and leave. Its all about the hours and not about the work. My point is that maybe she feels unfulfilled at her work, and of course its not the OP’s job to entertain her, but maybe the employee is interested in something like graphic design and she could give her an extra project to work on that is interesting to her and could benefit the company (website, etc).
Sorry for your husband, but that sounds like poor time management on the part of the bosses. If they are taking design jobs due the same week and have to have employees work over to complete on time, then they did not allocate enough time. If, on the other hand, they scheduled multiple weeks for the project and you have people using Facebook and playing computer games rather than working on the project, they need to be terminated and replaced by people who will actually work on the job they are being paid to do. I do not blame the team for clocking out at 5, the boss is not doing his job properly and they are having to cover up his mistakes by giving away work. That is every bit as bad as the stealing of 15 minutes a day by the employee (which adds up to an hour of pay a week). The company is stealing time from the employees.
Small, creative companies do the work as it comes in. There is no design company on earth that says, ‘Gee, we’d love to take your project but all our employees are already working 40 hours a week on this other project, sorry.’ That’s a recipe for going out of business. There are industries where it is understood that you work overtime regularly to meet deadlines. The good companies in those industries let their employees do flex time, take comp time when work is slow, etc.
I’m sure the fact that you had no direct management experience came up in your interview for this promotion… clearly the people in your company who gave you the authority believe in you. I’d recommend (from personal experience) that you go to them and talk through it – they get it, these conversations are hard at first. Always make sure to show and share forward progress with your management skills, though!
Of course, only you can decide if these individuals are willing to mentor you, or if the expectation is to just “get it done” – in which case, we’re here for you!
This happens all the time at our company 9do you work here?) It’s small and people have made up their own schedules. If I don’t take a lunch I can leave 1 hour early etc! Usually I get stuck sitting here alone while people leave early.. esp. when my boss is gone.
Have a talk with them, I bet that other people are getting frustrated when they see this!
I personally feel that once again, this all comes down to office/work place culture. There are plenty of situations where this could be acceptable or not. I know that at my place of work, if we plan on leaving early we have to clear it with our management staff. Usually they’re pretty lenient about our various situations, but then again, if you just walk up the stairs to another office, still the same company, but different management, it’s a whole new ballpark. If the OP feels that this situation is coming from a heart of “sneakiness”, then I feel it should be addressed, but then again there are people who are totally oblivious and just having a blunt conversation may turn them around. It’s probably best to go with the OP’s best discernment, and judgment based on experience with the individual.
If the employee leaving early is an hourly employee, she is stealing. Many companies that have hourly employees don’t allow them to rearrange their break time, because then there is no proof that they took their break.
The way I handled this with our hourly employees is I told them fine, come in late or leave early. But since you aren’t here, you have to use your personal leave time-vac or sick leave. ‘Cause I sure can’t be responsible for you being paid if you aren’t here.
Is it a paid break? Or an unpaid break?
Is this a salaried exempt employee or a time-based overtime-eligible employee?
Does the employee punch a clock or not?
Those matter, from a legal point of view.
The OP said “and there are other people to cover should they be needed (the work time at my organization is split – half-day of customer service, half-day of office time)” which would imply that other co-workers _may_ be inconvenienced by this person leaving early… if she’s leaving early from the customer service half of her day. I don’t see it for the other.
I also worry (as others here seem to) about the phrase “sneaking out”. We only have these words on that. Does she mean the employee is ducking, tiptoeing, acting furtive, dashing when no one can see her? Or by “sneaking out does she mean the employee didn’t ask permission? Would AAM call it “sneaking”?
I’d love to hear more from the OP to answer some of the questions that have been raised, but my sense from the letter was that, yeah, it sounds like “sneaking.” Not just because of her characterization of it, but also the whole “I’m going to talk really fast about the weather and then run” out behavior when she was noticed. If the employee felt above-board about the whole thing, why wouldn’t she just say, “By the way, I’m taking off”?
Even if the employee is an exempt employee, if everyone else is staying until 5:00 and this person is leaving early frequently that’s bad behavior. I think we’ve all left early every now and then. Some of us are in offices with different work schedules where this wouldn’t be noticed.
As an exempt employee, I don’t have to take a lunch and can leave “early” versus the hourly employees I work alongside. But personally having been an hourly employee in the past, I know how frustrating it is to work through your lunch (which you have to clock out for anyways) and watch all your salaried coworkers leave before you. The manager should maybe approach this from the side that it’s not good for the team rather than it being a disciplinary issue. I certainly don’t tell my boss when I come in earlier than normal and therefore leave earlier than normal. But I make sure I meet my obligations, and don’t sneak out. And I make sure I make up for it by staying later at other times.
I can’t believe this is a discussion, aside from advising a new manager how to handle it. She should quietly inform the offending employee verbally and in writing that leaving early without her express permission is unacceptable. If there IS a reason, other than because she thinks she can get away with it, then offer to allow her to come in early so she can leave early. Explain the only other alternative is that, in the future, her pay will be docked.
I’m not a manager but everything is based on a 35-hour or 40-hour work week. If the employer is paying for your time, you owe it. I see this quite often at my part-time job where some sales associates clock in but delay going to their stations for 15-20 minutes thus cheating the employer. It does not endear them to their supervisors OR their co-workers.
Come on folks, if the employer hires (and pays you) to work 8:00 to 5:00 p.m., it’s your responsibility as an adult to fulfill their expectations. Sneaking out early without telling your manager is not only sneaky behavior, it’s disrespectful.
I’ve never worked anywhere where I haven’t been able to receive permission to leave work early to take care of personal business once I asked my manager. I’ve never just assumed it was OK to manipulate my breaks and lunches in an effort to alter my work shift without talking it over my manager. For me, it all boils down to respect.
Ask A Manager, your response was right on target. It’s obvious the employee was trying to “get one over” on the supervisor as evidenced by their rushed small talk about the weather.
That was my thought, too. Frankly I’m surprised by how many people here think it is acceptable to not work the agreed schedule that your manager has set with you. If you don’t like your schedule, talk to your manager, instead of just deciding that your way is right and OK without their input. It’s mind boggling.
And, since this has been tossed around, I am an exempt employee. My job is sometimes worked around the need to have coverage in our department at particular times, but it is far more often based on getting certain tasks done that I need to do. I have never considered just leaving because my work is finished and I wanted to go home…I find other things that we need to have done and do them. Novel concept…
With your last sentence you have single handidly restored my faith in my fellow workers.
Novel concept, indeed.
+1
I love reading all of the responses on this site. You’re all a bunch of typical butt-kissing micro-managers.
I think you haven’t read much of the site in that case.
As far as I can see, 8 hours is 8 hours. If the employee isn’t dealing with customers, what difference does it make where the 8 hours come from? If she worked through her lunch to leave early, who the hell cares? You’re getting your 8 hours from her, so stop complaining.
If you are contracted to work 9am – 5pm then that is set in stone you cant have staff comming in and out “willy nilly” 9.15am-5.15pm!!! Thats not how businesses are run. If there was a fire and you had to do a head count and it was 4.50pm you would have firemen going into a building looking for this person, but would have already gone home!!!!!
If you have a time clock and a policy of punching in and out, you _may_ have a point. Otherwise,… I do hope you’re being facetious.
I know this is an old article but I need some advice if somebody can give it. I have been working at a shop for almost a year and have done my boss plenty of favours- I am the only person who trains new staff (without extra pay), on numerous occasions had to work whole day 9.45-7.15 (was given a paid break but had to eat by the till but never allowed to sit during the whole time) because someone was sick, asked the night before to work a different shift than I was scheduled for and many other cases like this. Now I am only working 2 days a week as I have college now (although I am still the only one who trains new staff). We are scheduled to work 6.5 hours with a 30minute unpaid break which we can take whenever we want. Recently I have been leaving work early without my 30minute break, my boss knew about this and said it’s fine but now, he is suddenly saying I can’t do this. I always ask my colleague if she minds me leaving early and there is always someone on the shop floor regardless of this break of mine. Business is also very quiet at the moment so I never thought it was a problem. I think this is very unfair that he won’t let me do this as I would like to go home early to do my college work, I’m working the full 6.5hours as scheduled.
Logically, I’m on your side. If you can take it “anytime” why not take it the last half hour and head home.
That said, it sounds like you work retail or in food service. If that’s correct, it could be a problem if everyone wanted to do that as you have no breaks mid-shift and everyone wants to head out early. Also, there is a chance that the co-worker said she was fine with it when you asked her, but complained to the manager. It sucks – but it happens all the time.
It could even be something that happened on another day/shift and the manager is just applying a new policy across the board.