Work: Billable Hours vs. Internet Fora Hours

[pokey07]

I'm too scared to go on the internet and browse while at work. I'll go on at lunch if I REALLY need to look something up.

 

[Toiletduck]

i spend an inordinate amount of time flipping between styleforum & emails.

 

[voxsartoria]

Someday, I hope to have Internet access and post on distinguished forvms like teh StyleForvm.

I hope that day will come soon.

- B

 

[warmpi]

I got used to doing nothing but surfing the net when business was slow last year. It's picked back up, but my number of billable hours haven't.

 

[crazyquik]

Originally Posted by RSS

We have (had, at this point) a new employee in the office ... beginning in August. As with any new employee, his productiveness was rather low at first, but with this fellow, it never really picked up.

Well, he was fired ... at which time he finally confessed, "I'm sorry, I'm addicted to 'Internet Forum Debate' and can't stop."

So . . . you're saying you have an opening?

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by RSS

Fellows ... I started this thread
... and it's NOT about Foo.
Please. ​

Originally Posted by Piobaire

You're right. It's about the poor chap you fired for having an addiction. Did you seek help for him? Is this not covered under the ADA, and did his disclosure not compel you to offer him help rather than termination?

So whatever happened to this poor, addicted, terminated young man? Was there any legal repercussion for not attempting treatment? Also, you do not relate progressive discipline, but rather it seems like a sudden firing. Any fall out over that?

Yours inquisitively

 

[zissou]

I think I am somewhere in between this guy:

Originally Posted by Teacher

Lord knows I spend my fair share of time on SF, but I also get my work done. Also, I'm salary, so there's no conflict with any hourly I may/may not be billing.
and the dude who got fired.

Thing is, for the most part I am a bit bored with my job, and no one pays any attention to me at all except for my annual review, which always goes well. Hell, I even got an award recently! I try not to think of myself as a slacker, rather more French.

 

[mrchapel]

Originally Posted by RSS

No ... he wasn't. He worked our standard office hours ... 8:30 to 4:30*. Moreover, he usually arrived a few minutes late ... took a bit more than an hour for lunch ... and left a few minutes early. He really wasn't his resume ... which implied dedicated professional.

* Correction: I should have said he was turning in 7 hours of billable time a day ... as our work day is 7 billable hours. With 8 hours I was remembering days of old.

I work in IT and this sounds like my entire department (arriving a few minutes past the scheduled start time, taking longer than an hour for lunch, etc). I'm usually one of the first to arrive. Although, most here are salaried and end-up putting in 8 hours of work anyway, be it in the office and from home.

 

[fwiffo]

I try to go by the rule that if you get your work done and you're not over budget, I don't care. For my own directs, I drop by their desk from time to time to chat with them about stuff I just got from a meeting or something we ought to do that we never get around to or ask their opinion on something. That usually gets them off whatever site they're posting. (big one here is redflagdeals but I already rif-ed one of the guys who visited that place for hours on end)

The worse is in the morning when everyone comes in to eat breakfast in front of their desks. I eat and I get in at 7:30 and don't leave until 6:00 so I have no idea why these people surf the web, eat, ask people what they did between 8-9:30ish and leave at 4:30.

 

[sho'nuff]

...

 

[Crane's]

I get paid to be here along with a few dozen more sites.

 

[unjung]

I was doing really poorly for a while, but then I realized that it was because I wasn't being challenged at work. Shortly after some stuff changed, people got turfed, moved on, etc., and I've gotten a lot more put on my plate, so I surf less. Still go through Reddit every morning and check SF intermittently.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by pokey07

I'm too scared to go on the internet and browse while at work. I'll go on at lunch if I REALLY need to look something up.
This is smart. I would think that most large organizations have websense installed. They can not only see what sites you look at, but how much time you waste on them down to the minute. When I deployed it people hated me. Oh reports are conveniently categorized so that adminstrators/managers can see how much pr0n you're fapping to at a glance.

Anyway, the software really pays for itself in increased productivity.

 

[RSS]

Originally Posted by An Anonymous Style Forum Member

So whatever happened to this poor, addicted, terminated young man? Was there any legal repercussion for not attempting treatment? Also, you do not relate progressive discipline, but rather it seems like a sudden firing. Any fall out over that?

Now now ... you submitted seriously fraudulent timesheets and were reprimanded for your misdeeds on three separate occasions. Each time you flatly denied any wrongdoing and claimed to have worked the hours submitted. Your last week with the firm you spent 29 out of 35 hours visiting a non-work related Internet site and yet your time sheet indicated a total of 35 hours divided between two client projects ... which you had the audacity to mail to us -- via the USPS -- after you were terminated. You not only lied ... you broke the law. We simiply couldn't afford a liability the likes of you.

Your employment was terminated only after the firm consulted its lawyers who advised us to take that action against you. As to your Internet addiction, it was only after you were "let go" that you alluded to any potential addiction. Had you possessed an ounce of integrity, we might have acted differently. But, you absolutely refused to admit to any wrongdoing even though it was plainly obvious.

You were well paid for work you didn't do. We owe you nothing. However, we wish you well in your future endeavors.

PS Stop refering to yourself as young and poor. You're over 40 and have a "comfortable" trust fund to keep you going.

 

[Teacher]

I wish I had a trust fund.