to take my 'downtime' during work hours?

[wishfortime]

By 'downtime' I mean nice easy things, like online shopping, coffee breaks, and a bit of random internet surfing.

I work full time and have a 90 minute standing/rushed commute.

Mornings are a rush with early start and nursery drop off etc, My DH picks up DC from nursery between 6 and 6.30 pm, and i reach home about 7pm, spend an hour doing bath, bedtime routine with DC while my husband cooks, we eat at 8.30 then its cleaning kitchen, laundry and general housework, and getting sorted for next day while my DH catches up on work emails. Weekends are also quite jam packed as both our families live far away, so more often than not we either are travelling 300 miles (at least once/twice a month), or family/friends are staying with us.

So I don't get any 'free time' at home, hence i feel i need to take some 'down time' at work. My workload isn't always 100% capacity, but its the type of job where i need to be there and available or it impacts the team. Its paid well and often things kick off i do need to work late into the evening, and sometimes at weekends from home. (I don't get paid for this 'overtime', which is how i justify to myself that the downtime at quieter times during the day is ok).

I work in HR. Trust me everyone does it, and the more senior people are the more they get away with.

I do it. But I also work a lot of hours outside of work and we don't really do TOIL or paid overtime.

Two things;

• make sure your internet activity and keyboard aren't monitored. They do this in some corps.

• make sure nobody can see your screen. Invest in a privacy screen filter!

Is whether her boss would happy or not slightly beside the point though? If you are doing your job well and meeting your targets, then crack on. The privacy screen filter is a good idea:) I have worked incredibly conscientiously on my uni project this morning - loads of good high quality work - but still kept up with mumsnet in between! I work by doing high intensity work in bursts, then having little 5-7 minute breaks. If I was being paid, I'd still do my best work that way. If I have to do that by hiding it from my boss, then so be it. Ultimately companies may think they care about hours worked, but in reality their bottom line is jobs done well, however that happens. The more enlightened ones are just the ones that make that overt.

Is whether her boss would happy or not slightly beside the point though

I've tried to say this so many fecking times.

In my entire career I never met a manager who would sack someone who was meeting all their professional and personal objectives, solely because of the hours they worked.
It just wouldn’t happen in my industry.

I would sack somebody for repeating the same argument ad infinitum.

It's one of my interview questions.

Imagine you get involved in a discussion on an internet forum. You disagree with other people. Do you:
a) make your point and then leave things be, remembering the old adage that "You can't change anyone's mind on the internet", or
b) repeat the argument 146 times over the course of at least one or more day/s?

It would be totally perverse, as ecureuil said. It would be a rare boss who tried to sack an efficient and productive employee. And to be strictly accurate, no, it would very rarely be your boss who paid you, unless it was a very small company, or you were very high up! This insistence on strict by-the-book working is a bit odd. The world doesn't work like that!

I would sack somebody for repeating the same argument ad infinitum.

But is it not also true that many people believe themselves to be doing a good job, whilst their bosses think they're performing averagely?

I’ve never encountered this actually. In the organisations I’ve worked in there has always been a policy of regular feedback, performance reviews etc. I’ve always known exactly what my mangers think of my performance, and likewise my reports have also known.

Is it not also true that many people do do a good job, but their bosses don't like them?

Yes I’m sure that’s true, it’s not possible for everyone to like everyone. However most professional people I’ve worked with wouldn’t allow personal opinion to influence their professional relationship. That, in my opinion, is a sign of a bad manager.

Is it not true that many people do a reasonable job when in the office, but they are frequently ill?

Yes... what’s your point here? Is the OP frequently ill?

Is it not true that many people do a competent job (meet their objectives) but their bosses have their eyes on someone better/more dynamic?

Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve never been sacked in favour of someone more dynamic, and within the teams I managed I wouldn’t move someone on in favour of someone more dynamic if I was happy with their performance. I’d obviously look to recruit them if I had a position available.

I’m not really sure what point you’re making the above?

"And can I just confirm that the reason you're giving that advice is that this could be a sackable offence? (I definitely don't want the OP to be fired!)"

• If you are going to wile away hours- you wouldn't want other people to be able to see your screen and raise false concern / ask questions.

• If your computer is monitored like often is in financial services etc... if at any point down the line there was any issues you wouldn't want them to say you violated your contract for " using social media on a work computer" or whatever you've done OR they've been able to see that you aren't working productively.

Without knowing the kind of company you work at, hard to say but I like to minimize risk. I have a privacy screen, I sit where nobody can really walk behind me and I know my comp isn't monitored so I can bash away at MN and nobody has the foggiest.

Also I work to the pomodoro technique anyway, working in small bursts and having lots of short regular breaks so.

I think given the industry I work in, we are super flexible and people get away with murder. Very "current" and skills short so we can't dismiss our staff willy-nilly as it is a nightmare to replace them.

Although it does annoy me when we have contractors in the companies teams earning £400+ a day that I can see sat planning their weddings for days on end as they aren't been kept busy- but then that is the fault of their line managers. Also given the sector we are in, the skills are in such high demand that we pay them to be in our office, what we do with these people is "our lookout"!

Sorry, just catching up - been one of those no downtime/no lunch break days!

Is the OP frequently ill?

No is the answer to that - I’ve never been ill enough to be off work in my 12 year career. The only time I’ve been away from office was 2 x 6 months maternity leave, and then I worked every day up to my due date both times and the probably an illegal amount of ‘kit’ days during my leave.

No absolutely not. You need to negotiate free time, not take it

Being paid to play? I'd be pissed off if I was your boss. No play time in my job; it would be pretty difficult to ignore a class full of teenagers to surf the net or do some online shopping.
Previous to my teaching life I worked in industry. I didn't spend any time playing there either because I was being paid to work. I did appreciate being able to ease my foot off the pedal and do some quiet work, answering emails etc. No such luxury now, plus an hour's work (at least) every night and 4 hours on a Sunday.

No such luxury now, plus an hour's work (at least) every night and 4 hours on a Sunday

Which is why a lot of us would never choose to be teachers!

It sounds very much like my job when I edited a magazine. I had to be there, sometimes late into the evening, as pages were being laid out because I would have to pass them, but wasn't necessarily working full out all that time. I think YANBU OP.

*No such luxury now, plus an hour's work (at least) every night and 4 hours on a Sunday

Which is why a lot of us would never choose to be teachers!*

The main reason I wouldn’t be a teacher is because of the holiday issues

The main reason I wouldn’t be a teacher is because of the holiday issues

Just to clarify - I mean the inflexibility on holidays and the cost of going on holiday in the school hols, even for teachers who don’t have kids (and yes I am one of those parents who will, once my DC start school very occasionally take them out of school for holidays if they wish - please don’t judge)

Is the unpaid time in your contract. If it is then YABU. Basically you would be skiving. If nothing contractual then why are you doing the unpaid time? Do you need to see family so often? Perhaps cut it down to half the number of times and how inconsiderate of folk to constantly be staying when you work full time. Think a bit family conferencing is needed.