About breakfast at work

[WishingILivedOnAnIsland]

Every day without fail one of our senior administrators comes in on time, gets herself settled, then spends 10 minutes in the kitchen constructing a complicated bowlful of breakfast. She takes the bowl to her desk and slowly eats in the open plan office until around 9:30am. She then signals the start of her work day by returning her bowl to the kitchen. Anyone who approaches her regarding work prior to The Bowl’s Return is met with a withering look and an ‘excuse me I am eating my breakfast’ as though they’ve walked into her own kitchen out of hours and demanded a favour.

I’m her manager and I’m starting to get complaints. Both about her commandeering an additional 30 odd minutes break, and also about the tart rebuke she gives anyone who dares interrupt her morning ritual.

Here’s the thing- I don’t really care that she does this as in every other way she is a sensational employee. She is a proud set-in-her-ways kind of person and wont respond well to negative feedback. It would be a disaster if she quit and we had to replace her with a mediocre employee whose only advantage is that they eat their breakfast at home.

So AIBU to let this breakfast nonsense play on? My colleagues seem to think so and are salty with me for my inaction thus far.

The other staff should probably be careful what they wish for.
I'd imagine if you looked closely you find of lot of them faffing around for thirty minutes or more each day.

Piss of a "sensational" employee, you and the others might find you've all got more work on your hands!

Where I work a lot of us are on the road.....I won't lie, I'm very good at what I do and as such I often get twenty minutes here and fifteen minutes there throughout the day. Others rush for here to there never getting a minute, but that's not my problem, I get the job done.

Sounds like the women gets the job done, so leave here alone.

Most of the posters on this thread seem to be extremely petty and micromanaging regarding coworkers' time. You all must work in horrible office environments. This woman goes over and above what she's paid to do and seems to outperform almost everyone else in the office. It feels like misplaced and petty jealousy from the other workers.

The only real issue is the employee being somewhat curt to others while she's eating. And even then, anybody with basic manners knows not to approach someone while they're eating!

@WishingILivedOnAnIsland you are not a bad manager, contrary to what a lot of the posters are saying. You may have had a blind spot about her curt behaviour but you know how to tackle it now.

I would suggest that you ask her to eat her breakfast in the kitchen if she isn’t prepared to talk to other staff while she’s eating. Desk = available for work.
If you think people won’t notice if she’s late, that should fix things for them? They are probably fed up of the rudeness rather than the timekeeping?

Most of the posters here: their offices sound completely miserable

I dont work in an office. Certainly this kind of behaviour is not limited to offices. In fact I think it's probably worse in more "casual" environments like retail and pubs.

I've been in management roles for almost 20 years now so do have some experience. Someone earlier mentioned "culture" and for me that's key. I've always had teams where I treat people like adults, allow some flexibility and would generally say it's more important to do the job than to be seen sitting at a desk. I think the OP shares that view.

I'm disappointed at the volume of posts advocating a strict, rigid, rules driven management style. That may have been the preferred model 20 years ago but, in my experience, the best performing teams are those where they are trusted.

Telling someone they must work exactly 9-5 with set breaks is a sure fire way to ensure they are unwilling to work late when it's needed. You need engaged employees not clock watching.

The one issue I would have a chat about is rudeness. People should be allowed to eat breakfast, make calls etc but be willing to engage in work conversations if needed.

But if you can't have a laugh and an occasional cup of tea, in your working day, then that sounds soul destroying. Who is suggesting that this is the only alternative Oblomov?

BillMasen i think most of us agree with some flexibility in the workplace and I agree that some less rigid structures can lead to happier and more productive people. But it beholds people to at least be sensible about it. There is a difference between 10 minutes here and there and unilaterally deciding you aren't going to work for the first 30 minutes of every single day. That is inevitably going to get some people's backs up.

Add in the rudeness and it's no wonder people have complained.

I’m more with you OP than most posters.

In my workplace, we do officially have hours but I absolutely do not clock watch, people can start and finish whenever suits them, eat at desks etc. You can wfh at short notice, no one is looking over your shoulder. The key is outcomes, if you are producing what you need to, when you need to with the right behaviours - we’re good. Flexibility is open to everyone, not just the best performers. Criticism is reserved for not delivery, not unavailability at a particular hour of the day.

I think you’re right though that the rudeness is not ok.

I used to say that people need to be ready to work at 9am. If they are munching cereal but working then I'm fine with that. But actively doing nothing for 30 mins is not on. Can it really take so long to eat it?

anybody with basic manners knows not to approach someone while they're eating!

What rubbish. When they're eating in a staffroom, sure. But at their desk in work time? Please. When I last worked in an office I often ate at my desk. I would never dream of being rude to people approaching me. If you're at your desk you're fair game. If I wanted a break from work and colleagues I used to go elsewhere to eat.

There is a difference between 10 minutes here and there and unilaterally deciding you aren't going to work for the first 30 minutes of every single day

I’d be interested to know out of those complaining, how many take regular fag breaks. Far more disruptive to their working day than a single stretch of time.

YABU, do your job before your colleagues by pass you and go to your seniors.

Jacques And what if none of them smoke (no smokers or vapers where I am)?

I'm not a manager, I'm a very junior member of staff in my organisation, office based work. If you were my manager and I was on your team, the thing I would want addressing is the woman's attitude, Ie her being rude to people/refusing to do work whilst eating her breakfast. Actually eating her breakfast, even if she was taking ages and doing minimal work during that time, that wouldn't bother me if she is hardworking the rest of the day, which you say she is. As a team member I come at it from a holistic view of what people are doing. For example ages ago a group of my colleagues who were generally very lazy and spent hours of each day sitting chatting having conversations of 45+ minutes at a time, eating drinking etc without even looking at their computer, were all complaining about a very hardworking team member who often left between 15-30 mins early. This colleague also had recently had severe health problems and was off work for awhile. I was always of the opinion that I couldn't care less what time he left, especially given I didn't know the full story about his health, and thought it was seriously rich of lazy staff members who spent hours every day doing no work to be moaning about someone that otherwise worked hard. They wasted way more time doing nothing in a day than he did by leaving earlier. My line manager is lovely and eventually felt pressurised to talk to him about it, which he didn't take well, and I can understand why, when he could clearly see other staff members being so lazy. That's all that came of it though so it was a bit pointless and he didn't change his behaviour, but then he was going to leave soon anyway.

My day starts at 9.

I am usually in the office for 830 and have time to start up my computer grab a tea/coffee get settled etc. And sometimes either grab breakfast or eat a breakfast brought in from home.

If I’m still eating at 9 (because maybe I got stuck in traffic or delayed at nursery) I’m still working. Because I’m paid from 9-5.

The one issue I would have a chat about is rudeness. People should be allowed to eat breakfast, make calls etc but be willing to engage in work conversations if needed.

I dunno. I think it's rare that something can't wait 30 minutes - unless it's an emergency, I think it's a bit rude to expect someone to answer there and then (which is why, unless something's urgent, I use email)

This idea that everyone has to be treated identically, and available all the time is a huge problem - we're not all identical, we all have different strengths and weaknesses, and yes, that means we are going to be treated differently sometimes, and adults would be able to deal with that - equality of outcome, not treating everyone identically.

There are plenty of people that rather than have a quick scan through their emails, or google, will ask someone else for an answer - so for want of 2 minutes of their own time, they derail someone else's train of thought and waste 5 minutes of 2 people's time.

I've blocked off time before, so I have an hour to do something specific, or to catch up with emails, and yes, if people interrupt me during that time (for non-urgent issues) I'm going to ask them to come back later. You pick your time to ask questions, and unless it's critical, perhaps you have to wait a bit.

I would just have a word and say you don't mind her having her breakfast at her desk and that you recognise she gets the job done and that other colleagues spend time on personal matters, but remind her it's still in work time and so she does have to respond to work-related queries from colleagues during that time.

Jakers is this a nursery or an office.

Wow, the working culture in many of your offices sounds miserable! If she's being rude to people in her first 30 mins fair enough, talk to her about that. Are you certain she doesn't use that 30 mins to read through emails or docs before she gets going?

In my office, we're very much treated as adults- if you're a great employee delivering good work but there's a quirk to your routine so be it. Just communicate it clearly, practice some flexibility, and keep your team in mind.

@BillMasen I agree with you -- this is very much the management style I use.

There is clearly some issue with workload, though, if colleagues are approaching this person and receiving a Withering Response. It suggests that this is a time when the employee's colleagues need her to be on task.

In my team, this would be a topic addressed with everyone at once, probably at one of our team lunches so it's less confrontational. Then if it continued, it would progress to a one-on-one. I do have at least one employee who takes fag breaks, other employees who occasionally have to run out of the office for various things -- everyone takes a few minutes here or there. So I would address it as a group first, pointing out that we all have these moments and we do all try to work around them. And then, if we can't and that 30 minutes is super critical to production, progress it to a one on one.

The big issue now isn't the working hours. As others have said, it's your attitude to this 'indespensible' employee. I worked with someone
years ago who was similarly viewed (and consistently protected by their manager despite very poor behaviour). Their peers viewed them very differently from the management.

The team processes were rigid and built around the strengths of this one person. When they left (early retirement) we uncovered a massive mess and quickly made changes and became more efficient and innovative.

I can't stress enough how damaging this will be to your team morale. Start digging. See how indispensable she really is. Document her work processes. Implement some changes. You may be surprised. It is lazy management to rely on the status quo.

'm disappointed at the volume of posts advocating a strict, rigid, rules driven management style. That may have been the preferred model 20 years ago but, in my experience, the best performing teams are those where they are trusted.

And .... you took the words right out of my mouth. Rules? For the guidance of a wise woman and the obedience of a fool.

I suspect that some of the posters on here lack the management experience to offer anything constructive to the debate.

I sometimes eat breakfast at work but I also work at the same time. Your job as a manager is to manage ALL staff.

You sound like a good manager to me and those saying you sound bad obviously don’t have experience in the difficulties of people management. There is no such thing as a perfect employee and if this employees downfall is her breakfast then I think your totally right it’s a non issue. Obviously you want to ensure your whole team is happy but it’s naive to think managers don’t have a hierarchy in who is most valuable to the business and to keep happy - bonus structures just prove this.