Nothing to do at work - AIBU to think it's not my fault?

[7ghghg]

I work using timesheets, so having no work to do is stressful in its own right as I have nothing to bill, and it will affect my billable target. I'm also still in probation.

I flagged to my manager at the end of last week that I was nearly done with my project, and he said that was fine as there was something new for me to start on Monday. However, that project has now been delayed leaving me with nothing to do. I sent an email to my whole department asking if anyone had anything they needed help with and nobody responded, I told my manager and then emailed the wider team. Again, nobody has responded. I have no admin to do and no training to do either.

I'm not sure what to put on my timesheet, I've finally been given something to do and I'm not sure if I should work this evening so that I can fill my timesheet with enough billable hours for the day? I'm still in probation so not sure what the correct thing would be to do?

AIBU to think it's not my fault that I had nothing to do, and I was proactive as I possibly could be?

Are you paid by piece of work or by the hour op? And do you have contracted hours or are you on a zero hours contract?

I'm in-house so I have contracted hours (9-5:30pm), but I need to record 7.5 hours of time in my timesheets each day.

Then you put down 7.5 hours per day lovey. It's up to your workplace to provide you with work to do or send you home.

If you have proof you've asked for more work and it's not materialised that's not your problem.

You've been available for work for those hours and have done all within your control to get something to do. Don't stress it, it's beyond your control so not for you to worry about. Don't do over your hours, save the work for tomorrow. ☺️

Do you need to charge those 7.5 hours against a job/project code? I wouldn’t work tonight but I would check how your manager wants you to do your timesheet tomorrow.

What others said.

It’s your boss’s problem to provide you with work. You put down 7.5 hours either way

also look for training/learning and housekeeping opportunities (likely they’re disorganised so why don’t you review their sharepoint /folders situation 😉)

I would just fill the time with some training of my own. Maybe advanced Excel or something?
It's not your fault they've given you no work. Is this a Local Authority or Civil Service role?

You need to request a code for non billable hours to allocate your time to - it would be fraudulent for the company to bill them to a project. The prospect of this showing up on your timesheets is likely to prompt them to find you something to do.

I would also ask my manager how they wanted me to record the time where I had no work. Have worked in time billing environments and time tracked environments and there is always some sort of admin charge code even if it isn't given to you straight away (or it has to be signed off).
It's more likely you have void time in probation as you are not upto speed on everything around you yet.

At my work, which seems to be similar, we'd be expected to try and find training to fill dead time. If no training could be found, there are timesheet codes for being 'on the bench' or 'available but unassigned'.

Is there no admin / BD / faffing around code?

I had this in practice many years ago. I used to hate it. Make sure it's well documented. Follow on from the email to manager and ask what admin code he wants you to post your time to yesterday, so that you can prove you asked.

As a one off put it to an admin code and note you were chasing/waiting for work.

as an owner in a business that records and charges time id be disappointed to see this more than once. It does/can happen early on in people employment, how you handle it, your current position and your desired future position are all reflective in how you handle situations like this.

though if you were highly ambitious and keen to impress you’d be working this evening and booking the time! … which I’d record the time waiting and the additional evening spent working to make a point.

I know this is a huge problem, but my job is like this and we don’t really have overhead codes. If I don’t have anything to bill, it doesn’t matter if I am sitting at my desk, I’m not getting paid. it’s a non-profit and something we all kind of put up with as a quirk of the job or get fed up with and leave.

so I would have to work late so I could bill a full day.

you need to talk to your manager and find out specifically how it works for you. Hopefully your company does not run like mine.

I don't feel it's fair to say that you would be disappointed if this happened more than once? I don't really know what more I could have done to mitigate this.

I flagged the possibility of this happening to my manager last week (we are process-driven and I'm the last step in the process, if those ahead in the process are running behind schedule it ends up impacting me, there's nothing I can do to mitigate that). My manager reassured me that things would be ready for me to work on on Monday but unfortunately they ended up not being due to delays that were outside mine and my manager's control. I told my manager, and approached several people in my team, then sent out a blanket email to the company and still nothing came forward.

So what more would you want an employee to do to avoid you not being disappointed?

Could you have done some on-line learning, lessons learnt exercise, writing up any new processes or updating the ones you were given? It’s too late for now but maybe next time. Also keep any emails you sent just in case. I wouldn’t work in the evenings. I don’t think we should blur work and personal time.

Either you're a business owner/ partner in a business that is big enough to have/ should have processes in place to prevent or minimise the amount of time people are available for work but unassigned, or you are the owner of a small business and have direct responsibility for ensuring people have enough work to do.

Time spent on the bench is stressful for people and rarely their own fault. Any actual business owner will have read the OP and understood that it wasn't their fault. You'd be quite a poor business owner to be disappointed by this.

I didn’t say I’d be disappointed with you. I said I’d be disappointed.

often it is the manager/supervisor is at fault for not understanding how fast someone is working.

if you have been more efficient than expected that’s great. But if you’re paid on a time spent basis you should be able to continue to work, not be idol and bored. That’s no good for anyone & is tedious & concerning for the individual.

but HOW you handle it us important. Record that you’re waiting & inform others you are. Next time you see it happening shout up sooner so it doesn’t.

not your fault, but still reflective on you by how you behave.