Taking the piss - Lunch break

[DeedlessIndeed]

Okay, so work for an organisation where contracted for 37.5 hours a week + a 30 minute, unpaid lunch break each day.

Everyone works remotely, but visits clients etc in pairs most days.

A couple of members of the team have started to take extended lunch breaks together, when they are working together. This isn't everyday, but fairly routine.

Other team members annoyed. Nothing has been formally raised to management and due to nature of role its easy to falsify timesheets to say a client visit ran over etc.

Today it happened again, it was noted that they took at least a 1hr 30 lunch break.

The staff are mixed, one is a great worker, great attitude etc and gets job done. One has got good experience but hit and miss when it comes to hitting targets. The other is in probation, but has shown good promise.

If report to management likely result is cracking down on flexibility to role, which would impact whole team.

The AIBU (i know, not really an AIBU)

1. Should team report to management?

1. What is likely outcome to the staff? Only can prove most recent incident.

1. Should all staff members involved be treated the same?

Taylorswiftly23

It’s pretty clear you have an issue with care workers. Unless the OP comes back and updates her thread to say her colleagues are care workers, which so far you are in a minority of one to have reached this conclusion, it is pretty irrelevant.

I don't know; how are you monitoring this?

@Taylorswiftly23 your losing the plot, where does she mention care work

You can't just presume and by remote work OP will mean at home as she already clarified the visiting clients part as separate

No I don’t have an issue with careworkers-that’s a real stretch.

But I do have issues with safeguarding and vulnerable clients. If this is the background to this scenario I stand by my original post.

What a place to work. Sounds like school or prison.

I just don't see how carers would be able to take an hour and a half lunch, they would have to strict time schedule for each client and their lunch break would be set in stone each day for when they are not scheduled with a client.

Did you mean to sound as rude as you have done?

If you care to re read my first post I said ‘IF I’ve got this right?’ Which is an assumption based on the information in the OP and my professional experience. Happy to stand corrected by the OP if I’m way off the mark 😉

How do you think the exact amount of time a carer spends in a home is monitored?

How are you going to explain the time you've spent on your investigation and dossier?

If you're not their manager and there's no knock on effect on you, I'd say nothing. Having the flexibility would matter to me and I'd leave them to get through their own issues if their performance is poor. They may be working flexi and/or have a different work pattern to you so I'd stay out of it because I hated working with clock watchers.

If it did have a knock on effect on me, I'd probably talk to a manager about the specific impact and say "X is a challenge. Can we review our systems/policies/workflow in this area so I can maintain my own workflow" but I wouldn't mention the lunches. It's the manager's job to get to the bottom of it.

Remote work generally implies you work from home...

Are you accusing them of falsifying their timesheets?

Unless they report directly to you I'd suggest you mind your own business and cut out the gossiping with your mates, it's got sod all to do you.

The narrow mindedness of some people beggars belief.

Please don’t be THAT person. Unless the money is coming directly from your pocket, it would be best if you mind your own.

If it didn't impact my work, I'd mind my own business.

Lol, this ^

Also, two things to note:

1. They might be having a working lunch - discussing ideas, mentoring/coaching/sound board type arrangement over lunch
2. With that attitude you aren’t suitable for a managerial role. If you have aspirations in that area, you need to look at the big picture and get some people skills

IT’S A JOB. if they get caught, they get caught- that’s their fault.
Don’t be a bootlicker and go running to management. Get on with your job and mind your business

It sounds like OP could do with long lunch to unwind!

I would expect management know. I have a real slacker on my team and he's been going through the poor performance procedure for ages. It takes a while for these things to impact. He may lose his job but it will be another few months from now.

I expect most of my team see this person takes long breaks, turns up late etc... I expect they think I don't know and nothing is happening. I expect many find it unfair and annoying. It's all confidential so I can't tell anyone what he'll it is managing him and how many meetings we've had about his timekeeping and other issues, and how he's on his final final warning. It is what it is.

If a member of my team came to me with concerns, I'd just add it to the list of growing concerns I already have about this worker . It wouldn't impact how I treat them. I trust all my other staff so they in turn have flexibility.

If your manager is otherwise trusting of you, knows you r a good worker, then no reason why someone else's performance would.impact you. But if your manager is new or anxious or a bit micro-manager type, then I guess they could enforce less flexibility for all. Only you know what kind of manager you have

How can you prove they took a long lunch break? Have you been watching them? Sounds a bit creepy tbh.

My view in any such situation would depend on how I was affected. If I was kept waiting for answers and held up in my job, I would be tempted to complain, probably not otherwise.

Stay out of it and concentrate on your own job.

How is it being 'noted' that they are taking longer lunchbreaks?

Are they not meeting targets are they cutting short time with whoever they're meant to be with, is this being recorded.

Who is suffering as a result of this? Anyone?

You are not their manager. It is for their manager to manage their performance.

Raising this is unlikely to go well for you.