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.

Why should colleagues, who this employee’s job is to support, put off asking for assistance until she’s finished her breakfast?

Because I’ve been on the receiving end of people asking queries when I was unavailable because they thought they had a point to make. It’s utterly puerile.

By all means if it’s an urgent query, knock yourself out but mundane stuff that can be dealt with at anytime would suggest some element of game playing.

We used to have this a lot with employees coming in then spending up to half an hour in the kitchen making toast/tea and chatting. Some staff would complain about it. We didn't mind so much because we had flexible working hours and most staff would work longer in the afternoon.

Oblomov19 - it's fine to eat at work as long as you work at the same time. That's called multi tasking. Not working whilst eating usually counts as a break like lunch and most lunch breaks aren't paid. therefore it's your own time to do what you like.

But she can't be expected to be paid for an extra thirty minutes a day while she eats her breakfast and refuses to work and engage with her colleagues.

She already does her job to a very high standard and then helps others out with their unfinished work.

The colleagues should accept that she actually starts at 9:30 and keep their noses out. They sound jealous and petty.

Unless she is performing brain surgery there are very few work issues that can't wait until 9:30 am to be discussed.

I wouldn't have a problem with someone eating breakfast at the workplace. But there's no difference between someone starting work half an hour late because they've been eating their breakfast at work, and starting work half an hour late because they don't get in till then. Either way, they're late. If she wishes to eat her breakfast in the workplace immediately before starting work, she should either come in half an hour earlier, or make up the time at another time. Or perhaps the first half hour of the day could be made into a working breakfast for everyone?

I like your ethos of not clock watching and micromanaging people. However, I think you need to say that while it's ok to have breakfast at her desk if someone comes over and asks a work related question she must be prepared to answer it. I have breakfast at my desk and can eat and work at the same time.

OP are you happy for everyone in the office to copy the sacred breakfast ritual and be unavailable to all staff and clients for the first half hour of the day? If not, are you prepared to explain to the others that only the favoured one is permitted to do this and why?

Half an hour is an excessively long time to prepare and eat breakfast.

If this colleague is affecting the team morale then I think Merryoldgoat's post is a good one to use.

@Gruzinkerbell1 Haha That would be interesting to see.

There is no 'breakfast policy' to overhaul. I hire good people and then treat them like adults, I don't tell people when to eat or how long to use the toilet for.

But as I said earlier- I agree that the rudeness impacts other people and so that aspect of it isn't on.

Her pre-breakfast morning grumpiness is just such a part of the furniture to me that I overlooked how it would feel to others, and that's a fault on my part.

This particular employee's job is not assessed on her time-keeping and the hours she is paid for, it is assessed on the quality of her work and her productivity whilst she is working. Her manager is more than satisfied with her output. The employee clearly is more productive during the time she is actually working than her colleagues who may work longer hours but not work to such a high standard.

monielove Wed 10-Jul-19 09:44:36
It's a tough one. I once asked someone to stop taking 30 min breakfast breaks and was informed that another colleague called the nanny 3 times a day for 5-10 mins, another was constantly responding to Air BnB bookings in her side business, and one man took a 30 minute shit every morning at 10.30am. I would monitor other colleagues productivity before saying anything then maybe refresh the 'rules' with everyone rather than target her.

@WishingILivedOnAnIsland Wed 10-Jul-19 09:49:50
monielove That's exactly the can of worms I'll be opening.

What are the others staff's timekeeping & management like?

Breakfast or lunch at the desk isn’t the problem, I can’t face breakfast first thing so either get to pret early and sit in, or I grab something to eat at my desk. Once I’m in the office though I’m there for work, and responsive to colleagues requests for my help. With a smile! 🙂

OP ibwork in a flexible environment.

However, it appears this woman is having an extra 30 minute break and being rude about people.

Honestly, no team or business should fall apart or be damaged if one person leaves.

I worked with someone who is similar to this woman. Everyone talked about how the team would fa part, irreplaceable etc. I kept pointing out, that wasnt a good thing.

Then it happened. She wasnt in the office and one of the pieces of work, she fiercely protected (because it meant she was irreplacable) needed doing and no one could contact her

Finally people listened that no one shod be irreplaceable. When she cam back we spoke to her about it and she founded when we told her there couldnt be work only she could do and she needed to train other to share the work loads we also changed her project focus to mutil skill her.

She retired 5 years later and whole the team missed her and her extensive knowledge, it didnt fall apart.

It was actually better for her to focus on new stuff. She realised she coildnt do what she wanted but also knee that we wanted her there because we liked her. Not because she had us backed into a corner.

@RedDogsBeg

I'm happy to allow every employee to manage their own time as long as the work gets done.

Unless she is performing brain surgery there are very few work issues that can't wait until 9:30 am to be discussed

Depends on the organisation, but it could be that reports need to go to senior managers ASAP, or stats need to go to a government department, or there’s a court deadline to meet, or a colleague could have a 9.30am meeting and need papers or info for the meeting...

OddHoleySocks Wed 10-Jul-19 09:26:27
As long as you are happy if everyone else starts doing the same thing, it's fine.

Ha! Exactly!

I eat breakfast at my desk but the difference is I am always in about 20 minutes early and I clear out my emails, etc while eating. Then I'm ready to actually start at 9am.

A colleague is 10-20 minutes late EVERY DAY and then pisses about in the kitchen making coffee and porridge, sits at her desk to eat it without working, then does her washing up. She wanders in and out for fag breaks when we don't actually get them, takes her full lunch every day, etc. Her manager knows but if anything is said she'll go off sick (again).

I haven’t read tft, is there a separate area to eat? If so tell her to make use of it for her breakfast break but if she’s at her desk then she has to be accommodating of people doing their jobs some of which require her. If there isn’t then I’d just leave that offer out of the conversation but it would force her to acknowledge she’s not actually fully at work when she’s dicking around with her cereal.

I understand the kind of workplace you want to foster but truthfully that’s not workable unless everyone is on the same page and 90% of the time workplaces aren’t. Petty little disagreements have the potential to turn into full blown dramas if you’re not careful. I’ve seen it happen so many times where bosses are amazingly reasonable and flexible and then come across one or two members of staff who push and push until everyone is resentful because someone manages to get away with treating their job like they’re doing someone a favour. That’s when people pick up on the slightest little things too.

It’s great you have an amazing staff member but that doesn’t make her infallible. She has a role to fulfil and shouldn’t be obstructing other people’s roles.

Just to add, no one should be indispensable to the degree you think she is. What if she disappeared tomorrow? If that would be truly a disaster you need to start planning contingencies because you’re in a very precarious position otherwise.

She is behaving in an absolutely outrageous manner! You are enabling it. Let's say she is doing 48 full working weeks (assuming around 4 weeks of holiday out of 52) a year at 40 hours a week, Mon-Fri. If she is refusing to work for 2.5 hours a week, thats 120 hours or 3 x 40-hour weeks a year that she is getting paid to eat her breakfast! She is essentially 'stealing' 120 hours of company time every year! I'd be livid as a fellow employee.

You could try 'I have no objection to you having breakfast at work - in fact, you are welcome to come in as early as you like to do so, but if you cannot be finished and ready to start by 9 a.m. sharp you need to eat at home.' If she objects, suggest that she works half an hour longer as a compromise. Those are her 2 options. Obviously she has a 3rd option where she behaves like a sullen toddler and quits but that would be her choice. You don't need that type of employee.

bingbongnoise

I’d say you must have worked Angry Admin Karen

Once asked by her manager to put names on phone messages as it would be helpful to know who they were, what they wanted and for calling them back and she rolled her eyes, huffed loudly, then banged some notepads on her desk and stormed off for half an hour.

You couldn't be more wrong Wishing, managers like you who have obvious favourites and are afraid to raise perfectly reasonable issues with them for fear of upsetting them are the worst to work for.

None of us are perfect but we are supposed to be adults and able to take praise and criticism/correction where necessary.

or what if she’s on a medication that takes half an hour to kick in before her brain can settle (like pain medication or certain steroids).

Well in this wildly unlikely scenario she can just take her painkillers or steroids half an hour earlier so her brain is ‘settled’ by 9am so she’s ready for work.

It's not about the time, she is as productive as two regular workers. She trains juniors, her written work is flawless, she understands the business and the clients, she finishes her own work like a machine and then looks around to see where she can pitch in with other people's work. She has made improvements to our processes that save time and money. In an emergency she is there, working overtime without complaint. She is popular with and valued by the whole team not just me. I just don't see the point in nit-picking someone who goes above and beyond in so many ways over one eccentricity.

Likewise I'm happy for people to take smoke breaks, call their babysitters, go out for coffees as long as they do their work. I am not going to set a clock watching culture and she will rightfully feel picked on if I single her out.

I'd expect an end to all of that and for her to work to rule from when you raise this then. I'd also expect constant reports of what everyone else is slacking on too from her every time they do it.

It's just the rudeness to others that needs addressing. If her work is fine and satisfactory then her attitude to others during brekkie time needs addressing.