AIBU Work from Home Timesheets

[Mum2b43]

A bit of background...
I work as a deputy manager of a nursery school. It’s 4 days a week. Council offered funding to pay for my salary 2 days a week to WFH. Basically for the council ... I work specifically for children moving onto reception. It entails lots of zoom meetings with other prof, planning and phone calls. Therefore I do this work from home 1 day a week. Council pays for 2 but I was asked to do it in 1 as they need me in the building the rest of the time.
I work my butt off often WFH on my day off, never claim overtime.
My manager told me she is happy with my work, but, from now on wants me to fill in a time sheet for my 1 day a week I WFH. Basically listing every phone call, every email, every single thing I do with times and minutes taken. I have done nothing to deserve this reaction, everyone including council really happy with my work. I work my arse off.
I find this new timesheet patronising and insulting... AIBU to say No way!

A timesheet is insane, you must feel really insulted and baffled. I would go back to her and say you're happy to provide a quick bullet point report of work progress at the end of that wfh day if necessary, but that filling out a timesheet would take up precious time that you spend doing the actual job. Crazy micro management! You're right to resist.

In my job I have to account for every 15 mins of my time. Some law firms do every 5 mins.

Timesheets are fairly standard protocol in lots of jobs.

In my job I have to account for every 15 mins of my time. Some law firms do every 5 mins.

Which makes sense if clients are billed by the hour but that isn't what is happening for OP. It sounds like an over zealous "good idea" person who has no clue making up rules.

Yep I have to do the same thing, we allocate our time against a list of tasks and it should total to a minimum of 6.5 hours per day.

Surely a timesheet is just what time you start, what time you take lunch, what time you finish? All of my team so that kind of time sheet whether WFH or office, mainly as I say to them, so I can make sure they're taking their TOIL and not working loads of unpaid overtime (public sector easily done) , but what you've been asked to do I'd only ask for as part of a formal process around someone's work output and after lots of coaching and support hadn't helped increase productivity. Does your manager not like you don't this other role? Does she think it's taking too much away from your main job or that the council should be paying more of your wage?

Maybe they need it for being able to allocate the funding correctly in their accounting system. Its probably nothing to do with your performance. I work for a company where the entire staff have to do timesheets, each hour is broken into 6minute units and we have to be accurate to the nearest 0.1hour for our whole day. After a while its just second nature and takes all of 10mins to complete. Not sure why you're reacting the way you are?

I would fill it in and include every time sheet entry too.

So;

9:00- called Mr X
9:08- wrote “called Mr X on timesheet”
9:09- wrote “wrote called Mr X on timesheet”
9:10- ......

I would want to know why! Is there a problem or concern is this done to everyone or just you etc. Also ask if your manager does it and how much detail they provide? and also how you account for time on the time sheet for filling in crazy paperwork

I would assume the "why" is because the council is funding OPs salary and the funds have to be accounted for.

A timesheet is when you start and finish plus recording breaks.

You are being asked to account in detail for your work - which is completely different.

Sounds like management do not trust you. Its a very poor way to manage.

Couldn't you just copy and paste your diary into a word document put your start, finish and lunch breaks on the top of the sheet?

@KingdomScrolls

Surely a timesheet is just what time you start, what time you take lunch, what time you finish? All of my team so that kind of time sheet whether WFH or office, mainly as I say to them, so I can make sure they're taking their TOIL and not working loads of unpaid overtime (public sector easily done) , but what you've been asked to do I'd only ask for as part of a formal process around someone's work output and after lots of coaching and support hadn't helped increase productivity. Does your manager not like you don't this other role? Does she think it's taking too much away from your main job or that the council should be paying more of your wage?

No it doesn’t bleed into my other role at all. When I am in the setting I am purely a deputy manager. No council work at all.

Do it including the time taken to keep updating the spreadsheet. Then claim the overtime due.

Am I reading your OP correctly in that you are doing the work required in one day and your Nursery are charging the Council for 2 days a week? If so, that is fraudulent.

Also re solicitors - they can use charging software. You click when you start to work on their file, including phone calls etc and then click stop once you finish with a brief description of the work completed. Much easier than this spreadsheet which sounds like overkill.

@hemhem

Maybe they need it for being able to allocate the funding correctly in their accounting system. Its probably nothing to do with your performance. I work for a company where the entire staff have to do timesheets, each hour is broken into 6minute units and we have to be accurate to the nearest 0.1hour for our whole day. After a while its just second nature and takes all of 10mins to complete. Not sure why you're reacting the way you are?

Nope. I deal with council directly. They require monthly forms and weekly meetings but other than that they don’t care how long I work as long as the work is done and I tick the boxes. They don’t speak to my manager at all. They just pay the funding as long as I attended the meetings and filled in the forms.

@UhtredRagnarson

I would fill it in and include every time sheet entry too.

So;

9:00- called Mr X
9:08- wrote “called Mr X on timesheet”
9:09- wrote “wrote called Mr X on timesheet”
9:10- ......

I am definitely considering this option and also then adding in all the unpaid overtime I do on my day off and my weekends.

@UhtredRagnarson

I would fill it in and include every time sheet entry too.

So;

9:00- called Mr X
9:08- wrote “called Mr X on timesheet”
9:09- wrote “wrote called Mr X on timesheet”
9:10- ......

Sorry meant to post a at UhtredRagnarson's post not just a random

@Twickerhun

I would want to know why! Is there a problem or concern is this done to everyone or just you etc. Also ask if your manager does it and how much detail they provide? and also how you account for time on the time sheet for filling in crazy paperwork

I have been doing this job since February and only now has she requested it. I asked why now? She said because she wanted to know what I was doing at home all day. No other reason.

@StandWithYou

Do it including the time taken to keep updating the spreadsheet. Then claim the overtime due.

Am I reading your OP correctly in that you are doing the work required in one day and your Nursery are charging the Council for 2 days a week? If so, that is fraudulent.

Also re solicitors - they can use charging software. You click when you start to work on their file, including phone calls etc and then click stop once you finish with a brief description of the work completed. Much easier than this spreadsheet which sounds like overkill.

Yes this is true. I stupidly agreed to it thinking I was doing them a favour by doing it in 1 day instead of 2. So yes essentially the council pay my salary 1 day a week when I am not working for them but for the setting.

I'd suggest sending a screenshot of your diary so she can see all the meetings, your inbox and out box for your emails and your call log for the day.
If that doesn't suffice then I'd set a timer and time exactly how long the logging takes and advise her as she has requested it, you will be stopping working early by this amount since it's now part of your role

I would point this out to your manager and the fact that this will create a paper trail proving that the work is being completed in one day while the council are paying for it to be completed in 2

@Crazydoglady1980

I would point this out to your manager and the fact that this will create a paper trail proving that the work is being completed in one day while the council are paying for it to be completed in 2

Yes this might be worth mentioning. Does your manager have other staff? It might be a department wide thing.

Nope. I am only one doing extra work by council. But I like this idea, maybe pointing out the paper trail might prove council are paying me for 2 days and I am only working 1.

I have to do something similar in my job (LA peripatetic teacher) and it takes ages. It came in during the 1st lockdown because the manager wanted to know in minute detail exactly what we were doing every day and it continued once we were back in schools.

Log entries include clean and sanitise room 15 mins, reply to emails 20 mins, photocopying 15 mins... It's soul destroying. We have to account for every minute, including all our directed time hours.

I'm not really sure that you should take this as an insult.

I've always had to do this. It's partly about billing clients. But it's also about being able to track how much of the budget went on planning meetings, how much was X, Y, etc. You need to know what people are spending time on in order to manage the workload.