Colleague buggering off home early. As their manager, would this bother you?

[Marie2022]

I have been in post for a few weeks and have had some problems with one of my direct reports. Nothing serious, mainly of the “Not my job” type of response from her, regarding things that very clearly are her job.

I sent her an email a few days ago at a time when she should have seen it. She didn’t reply. At which point someone said that she wasn’t actually there. The following day I asked her to confirm her hours, which she did.

I have just checked the CCTV for the past 2 weeks and she has been leaving 10-20 minutes early every single day.

Is this a big deal? As a manager, would this bother you? I just want to get some opinions before I do anything.

Many thanks.

@Panatone what on earth are you talking about? There has been no drip feed. It’s all there in my first post. No need to be so nasty.

@Panatone Why the unpleasantness? You have no idea what the OP is like at her job based on this thread, so why put the boot in?

@Marie2022
You haven’t answered any of the questions asked On this thread. I find it very difficult to believe that a manager would be completely unaware of the implications of using cctv on unsuspecting employees.
Also if her conduct is as slipshod as you say then why haven’t you spoken to her?

@CallmeAngelina Plenty of posters have made the same observations!

The OP is under no obligation to "answer any of the questions on this thread."
If you find it difficult to believe, then scroll on past and get on with your evening.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I’ve been very hurt by some of the comments on this thread. I was out of work for a couple of years and really need this job. But I was beginning to feel that I’m not up to it.

@CallmeAngelina I could say the same about you!

Say what about me? Why do I need to scroll on by? I'm reading the thread but if I didn't believe what the OP was saying I'd close it down and ignore, not make snarky remarks.

@CallmeAngelina Stop trying to police the thread! Plenty of people have questioned the OP’s version of events. If you don’t like that, then feel free to scroll on by!

It’s not. If you’d said it was a reception role you’d have had a completely different response. From me at least.

It doesn’t matter if it’s reception or not - it’s obviously not one of these jobs where people can happily wander off whenever they feel like it otherwise surely op would have mentioned that. She is obviously expected to work the hours she’s contracted. And let’s face it, there are very few jobs where you confirm you work 9-5 then just fuck off at 4.40 if you fancy it. If you are in one of those jobs that’s a different situation but then op wouldn’t be concerned about it, it would just be normal. And I’m sure all these saying op is a ‘nightmare boss’ and it’s ‘just presenteeism’ wouldn’t have that attitude if they showed up to nursery and couldn’t drop their child off as the staff fancied showing up at 9.30 instead of 9. Or if they called the GP to file a repeat prescription and the receptionist had decided to leave twenty minutes early so you just had to call back. If you need a job where you can just come and go as you please you need to look for work that offers flexibility - not take set hours then think of your boss as a bad guy for saying you need to work the hours you asked for.

20 minutes a day - 100 minutes a week - 4800 minutes a year (assuming 4 weeks holidays) is 80 hours she is taking free which is the equivalent of 2 extra weeks holidays which is also known as taking the absolute piss.

Assuming they never get in early, take a short lunch or work through lunch.

But even if they do any of that, they haven’t actually cleared it. They may not be allowed to or needed to work through lunch, but they may be needed to work their contracted hours. If you want to work different hours/use your lunch hour to leave early you need to communicate that. Not just sign your contract then decide you’ll start coming and leaving as you please.

@Panatone Lots of people have questioned events, yes. But you went further and posted: "Can’t believe your level of incompetence!"
That was uncalled for and just plain nasty.

Working through one's lunchtime is usually by choice. Leaving earlier than your official finish time without clearing it with those in charge is not/should not be.

It was really clear it wasn’t a job that you could come and go as you please and only based on work produced.

If it was a job that was only based on on work produced, then there would be set hours. And there wouldn’t be any ‘going 20 minutes early’ because there’s no going early if your job isn’t based on hours.

what’s really interesting some people who have berated the op and talk about flexibility are the same posters (in some cases) that have been very vocal about how much wfh and flexible working was awful and everyone should be back at an office.

Its also really not that unusual for a company to promote someone, who has some skills but not direct line management experience and then not support them from the get go, so they can develop these skills and gain the experience. The Op clearly needs some sort from her employer to learn how to manage people.

I used to work for an employer who did exactly this. Would promote people out of nowhere as they needed a manager then leave them to it. Then wonder why their managers never performed. It was known, internally, as the magic weekend. On Friday you were admin, on Monday a manager.

But I think for quite a few MNers it’s just more fun to have digs and be dicks to an op instead of trying to understand how this comes about. Rather than build someone up, it’s easier to make them feel like shit, right?

It isn't necessarily illegal to view the cctv. As I said, it depends on what your policy says. You really need to find that out. Have you done any GDPR training at all?

@CallmeAngelina Nasty, yeah right. Give over!

I called the OP incompetent because, she’s obviously completely out of her depth!
Firstly, her communication skills are severely lacking!
Instead of communicating directly with her employee, and I don’t t mean passively aggressively asking her about what hours she works, she makes assumptions, drip feeds about ‘incidents’ and most shockingly of all monitors her for two weeks on CCTV.

This has shocked me most of all!! The OP obviously doesn’t even have the most basic knowledge of data protection and and how it relates to businesses and their employees.

if she doesn’t get up to speed very quickly on these very basic requirements of managing people she’s not going to last very long!

@Panatone you are being nasty. The OP acknowledged she's got some things to learn and there are things she didn't know or understand.

You're just bowling in chucking insults around. How are people supposed to learn if they're not allowed to ask for help?

Great post.
OP just forget about the CCTV for now. You know she is leaving early. You could just as easily have gone down to reception and found noone there. Now you know it needs addressing though.
Do you have a reporting manager a HR advisor or another experienced line manager you can discuss this with?

Most jobs I have been in (senior finance) you at least politely mention to your boss if you want to leave a bit early for sone reason.

Ie leave an hour early Friday to get a train to family -it's never an issue (as we work long hours) but it's always mentioned if people want to leave different times to normal leave. (Or drop an email to say I'll be in late as I have x appointment)

No one just gets up and leaves without having sone form of clearance/or at worse email at the time if last minute and say you'll make time up next day.

I think in the first instance I'd address her leaving early by casually being down there at the end of the day just before she usually slopes off. Would be a good time to chat about her job description perhaps.

OP none of us are born experts at anything - you clearly want to do a good job and that is brilliant as you are open to learning. There are courses that are available on people management etc, I sent one of my direct reports on one and he was raving about it. Check with your line manager what is available within your company?

Panatone I fear there is something about the OP/the situation that is triggering you as your level of nastiness is unwarranted. "cant believe your level of incompetence" is needlessly horrible and doesnt add anything to the issue. Why attack her? she is asking for help

In other words continue to behave passive aggressively. How fruitful would any discussion be when the employee’s mind is leaving as soon as possible? At the very least there should be a private one to one discussion scheduled into the working day, not a casual chat ten minutes before she leaves.