Lunch breaks and colleagues taking the mick

[baxterboi]

I have one colleague who just royally takes the piss with lunch breaks.

Say they leave the office at 12:30, they come back at 1:30 but with their lunch which they then heat up / prepare and then spend 30 mins eating at their desk whilst reading or facebooking. They only do this when both managers are out of the office. I am not this persons line manager, just sit right near them.

Twice a week they have to pop home to let their dog out and they live about 20 minutes away. They're often 90 minutes or more but again this happens to fall on days that both managers are out.

I just feel that if it was the odd occasion its fine but when it is 2-3 times a week (even worse when a manager is actually on annual leave!) it actually makes up a lot of time!! I tend to bring lunch with me and go for a quick walk at lunch time just to stretch my legs.

AIBU to either say something directly to them or even tell a manager?

Mention it to your line manager if it is affecting your own morale and therefore productivity. Then drop it and butt out--leave it to the managers to sort out in their own way. Don't assume that just because you don't see any apparent action that nothing is being done; leave it to them and butt out.

I'm pretty sure presenteeism doesn't cover not taking the piss with your normal contracted working hours.

That's obviously not the issue here.

If you work in a small office I'd say it's impossible not to notice when people take their breaks and lunch. It doesn't sound like the OP is having to take any time out of her day to clock the shirking

I can't believe so many people on here would 'report' their colleague.

Could easily bite you in the ass, OP.

No, the context in which it's being used there is in a discussion about low UK productivity, which other posters referenced. People being expected to do longer hours than the work justifies is a problem, and yet there were posters talking about someone who can do their work in shorter hours being typical of the attitudes leading to our low productivity in the UK. Which is obviously wrong, however much of a piss taker this woman might be.

By all means don't call it presenteeism culture if it's going on during (long) contracted working hours if you prefer.

It depresses me to know how many on this thread have such a poor work ethic. Maybe they're sick of being robots for the MAN.

Maybe they're sick of being robots for the MAN

They could start their own buisness ?

I agree with you, OP. I work with someone (same status level) who takes a late lunch but uses everyone else’s lunch break 1-2pm to do an hour of personal calls/holiday/puppy shopping etc. She then takes yet another full hour out of the office. She effectively has a two hour lunch break. She does all her personal stuff at work, during work hours, and has two bulging files full of personal papers sitting on her desk (I didn’t look!).

BUT. I get shed loads of work done, not missed a deadline yet, am always available for early mornings, late nights or weekend work if required to help the team, and have had 3 substantial payrises in the last 5 years.

how is this relevant in anyway to the OP's question where her colleague is skiving off when the boss is not around and not doing additional time early morning, evenings or weekends to make it up?

Unless it's affecting your workload or the workload of others OP, I don't see what the problem is. There's far too much focus on people being 'clocked in', or sitting at their desk rather that on whether they're actually getting their job done.

If they are getting their job done, meeting their deadlines and producing work of a good standard, what does it matter how long they take for their lunch or whatever?

It depends a lot on the nature of the job. If OP is a 'designer' then that type of work may well involve a certain amount of time where the person appears not to be doing anything, but is in fact thinking. Though if OP has the mindset of a clockwatching sneak, she's unlikely to be producing anything more than the most basic, derivative of designs.

I have had plenty of jobs where I might sit around half the day reading the paper or having cups of tea because I was waiting for the next task ie for someone else to finish their stage of the work and pass it on to me for the next stage. Plenty of workplaces are like this: you're paid to be there for the day but the actual tasks are not one thing after another and non-stop.
Unless OP knows for sure that her colleague is failing to get necessary tasks done, then OP should take the stick out of her arse and get on with her own work.

So what should people do when they have completed that day's work and there isn't anything else at present? Scrub the canteen floor or something, just so they can demonstrate their worship of The Management?

I have a job that is deadline driven and involves creating a product. I don't really give a stuff about office hours, lunch breaks etc. I just make sure I have a well crafted produce produced by the required deadline.

So what should people do when they have completed that day's work and there isn't anything else at present? Scrub the canteen floor or something, just so they can demonstrate their worship of The Management?

^^^

Yeah - that and asking for more MORE work according to some folks on here.

That does get back to what I asked earlier about whether there actually would be extra work for this colleague to do. I'd be surprised if there aren't a few boxes of papers that need sorting out, databases that need clearing up etc, enough to occupy her for her actual full time hours for the next month or whatever. In the long run though, is there more than that OP?

What I used to do on the occasions when I had f.inished everything and was just waiting for the next thing to come in, was go around my department and see if there was anything I could give a hand with.

YABU, it’s not impacting you and it’s None of your business really.

Also In my company we get paid to do a job.
So if I come in at 10am one day, I might be working from 7am the next.
I may leave early, I may leave late, as long as I do my job everyone’s happy.

In fact, yesterday I got a mani and pedi in the middle of the day and was gone about 3 hours... my line manager knows and doesn’t care so....

Firstly, yes tell your manager as she is taking the piss. The fact she only does it if they are not there is very telling.

It is not presenteeism. That is where you stay late and unpaid just to show your face in the hope it is noted you go over and aboard. It does not cover skivving off work for extra long paid lunchbreaks without your boss knowing!

Some jobs have flexi time so can be different. Most staff either get paid by the job (so do what hours are needed to get the job done and have flexibility) or they get paid for the hours worked.

Your colleague is paid for doing that number of hours. If she is not doing them then she should not be getting paid for them.

Some pps say they have flexibility in their job but the key is usually that your boss/line manager knows what is going on - she is doing it behind their backs when they are not there which is just sneaky.

Her poor work ethic will come back to haunt her at some point.

Just leVe it if it affects her work they will bring it up. It may be she has depression or some other work based disability and they are ok with her taking what she needs so long as her work is done. Maybe she's more efficient at time management than you as the fact you sit at your desk for lunch means your a martyr, inefficient with your time, or too high a workload.