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).

When I am hired for a job, I do that job within the stipulated deadline. If I do it quicker than others but to the same level of quality, what should I do? A) Tell my boss, and thus be given more work, effectively punishing me for my efficiency, or B) reward my efficiency by using the spare time to do whatever I want with my life. A good employer would give you the same answer you give yourself.

Time against productivity is not a steady curve, that's the thing lots of employers don't understand. The 8-hour work day is not the most effective. Six-hour days would leave employees happier and equally if not more productive.

Pengggwn If you have time (not during working hours, of course!), look up the literature into productivity. Productivity is not maximised by working every minute possible. Proper breaks, both short term and long term, increase productivity. Giving employees as much work as they can physically handle does not maximise productivity.

The OP's approach of expecting her team to get their tasks done without worrying how they spend every hour of the day IS the way to maximise priority. I understand this isn't possible in your job and it must be galling, but your arguments don't work. If the OP spends every minute of her working day doing actual work, her productivity is unlikely to increase.

Check the literature. It sounds counter-intuitive but it's been proved time and time again.

Pengggwn, what is the ACTUAL issue if the OP's manager has not had need to speak to her about the quality, timeliness or any other aspect of her work?

If the work is done well, within time, without detriment to any member of the smaller or wider team, the only problem as far as I can tell is an arbitrary 'ethical' one that you and some other posters on here seem to want to impose.

RhiannonOHara I have no idea Maybe it's a video link to her home interior workspace.

Cross post with DiegoMadonna who said it far more succinctly than me

Obscured, what a terrifying thought, that your boss might be monitoring your home/loo.

if her employer knew they were paying her for 10 hours a week of surfing the internet they would give her more to do, I'm pretty sure

And this is a problem with a lot of employers, not employees.

I see no rationale for her to be paid for that length of 'downtime'.

Sigh.

Because it's a salaried job. She's paid to get tasks done, with the understanding that sometimes that means working beyond her contracted hours or on weekends, and sometimes that means not having enough work to fill her days.

It's how the majority of professional jobs work.

Pengggwn the likelihood is that her boss does it too, to a greater or lesser extent.

Pengggwn You clearly are upset/annoyed - look at the language you're using. "Pissing about" etc.

the likelihood is that her boss does it too, to a greater or lesser extent.

Quite! In all my jobs, my bosses and I have shared amusing/interesting things we've found on the internet during working hours. Everybody does it. It's expected.

If you're a computer user you're entitled to a 10 minute break every hour (away from the screen, not browsing the web). I have RSI so I take these breaks and make tea but I generally don't do other stuff. I'm only in the office for my contracted hours though, I think it's fine if you're doing unpaid overtime as long as you're not doing more web browsing than overtime.

I'm not even sure what you're arguing, Pengggwn. You say you've worked in salaried jobs, but you don't understand the concept of not being paid for time but being paid for tasks. You say you understand productivity but you think OP should work in a less productive way. I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree so you don't get more annoyed...

I have never worked in a job where 'all the work is done'.

I only have empty trays / inboxes on the first day in the job, and the last (after it has been handed to replacement).

So I am not recognising this scenario.

I do. We work flexibly so I'll suit often work through lunch or late to get things done, which means if I want to do stuff I need to during work hours I can.

I think more and more companies are realising that you get better results out of people of you allow them to work more flexibly - although obviously it's not possible for all roles.