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.

For me as a manager it would depend:

• did they ask?
• do they frequently arrive and start working early?
• do they do the role well? Are they generally a piss taker?
• are they leaving during core hours? Or when they should be available e.g on duty/ frontline etc.

But as a general, no it wouldn't as long as the answers above is good.

Op, did you have permission to access CCTV footage of the employee. If you didn’t you are in serious breach of data protection!

Does she also start early or have a shorter lunch? I have different hours to the standard in our company ( including a short lunch) and when I start new projects managers haven't always realised. Saying that I'd expect her to tell you when you asked her hours,

Data Protection and your business - Using CCTV
make sure the system is only used for the purpose it was intended for - for example, if it was set up to detect crime, you must not use it to monitor how much work your staff do
www.gov.uk/data-protection-your-business/using-cctv

If the employee is on here and sees this you’re in trouble op Is that why you haven’t come back?

a. Leaving 10-20 minutes early
b. Access CCTV records without authorisation to illegally monitor an employee's attendance

In organisations compliant with the law, one of the above would be considered a very serious offence. I'll leave it up to you to guess which one.

Yes because that employee will be the only person in the whole wide world who skives off work a bit early so would instantly know that it was their manager discussing them on this thread 🙄

@Sisisimone How do you know that the employee is ‘skiving’ off work? You don’t, and neither does the Op!
instead of having a normal conversation with the employee, she slags her off on a public forum, and illegally monitors her on cctv.

Except she didn't disappear. A colleague informed OP that she had already left for the day. OP decided to go onto CCTV to stalk her wearabouts for the last two weeks.

Isn't it a type of theft, though? To be paid for hours you are contracted to do, and then not do them? For a couple of weeks?
It feels like theft.

I love threads like this where people pop up with all sorts of bollocks about what's "illegal" coming from a position of absolutely no knowledge of employment law.

You're asking in the wrong place, OP. Being a manager or a landlord is heinous crime on MN. 😂

As long as the work is done and nobody is taking the proverbial then I don’t mind personally, but I’ve never been much of a micromanager. I would have more concern about the impact on their colleagues if they were not able to leave early or get lumped with the extra work because they are leaving early each day. There is an element of fairness to consider above all.

I’d also be wondering if there was a genuine reason why they are regularly having to leave early, such as childcare or transport issues and whether that would need addressing to find a more appropriate solution - maybe a slight change in working hours needed or a more flexible approach if feasible.

I would not be expecting an immediate email response (not a particularly efficient way of working if your team are expected to interrupt their work every time an email arrives).

I also probably would be vary wary around checking CCTV, but then I’m unsure about the rules/policies around this. It also does not inspire a great deal of trust either.

b. Access CCTV records without authorisation to illegally monitor an employee's attendance
In organisations compliant with the law, one of the above would be considered a very serious offence. I'll leave it up to you to guess which one.

@MrsIsobelCrawley

Which law is it against for an organisation to look at it's own CCTV?

What do you mean by without authorisation? Are you assuming that OP lacks the authority within her organisation or are you meaning some sort of external permission?

OP can you at the last minute convene a meeting to run over next days workload, ask the workshy colleague to be in attendance. Or, if possible, if you are in the same office, move your seat to sit among the people you manage, its more difficult for her to stand up and leave when you are sitting there in front of her. I would caution against the use of CCTV as previous posters have noted. Its in contravention of the intended use and can be cited in any employment claim the employee may bring.

I do urge you to deal with this situation though. As a manager your duty is to the company and staff - all staff - if this lady is as bad an employee as she appears it must be crushing morale in that office for other staff.

The lady I dismissed tried to take a case, she was unsuccessful though as I had followed all the procedures. In fact it backfired spectacularly on her as she had told anyone who would listen that she was suing the company, when it didnt happen she found it difficult to find work elsewhere as it was quite a niche sector and word got around about her. The company have yet to be asked to provide a reference for her after 5 years. Last I heard she was temping in a completely difficult sector (strange that the agency didnt contact previous employer for reference, I often wondered if she had a friend give her a reference pretending she worked for them or something).

20 minutes before the end of your formal working hours is still within the time parameter of when you should be working so why can’t you respond?

meh. I'm working at that time. I check my mails in the morning and after lunch and maybe once or twice during the day. Anything I answer most mails with the replies they need, if i need to work on something or it takes time I'll let them know I've seen it and when they're likely to get a reply. If my boss mailed me 20 minutes before EOB i probably wouldn't see it because i don't check mails unless I have time to take urgent actions.

Anyone who wants something from me urgently? call me. I will see if i can handle it. Or not.

And my team will do the same in respect of mails i may send that arrive just before they knock off.

Hi OP, you first port of call is HR, you are currently losing more than half a day a month from your worker. You need to be checking her times when she is badging in and out of the building, and before everyone clutches at their pearls it is a legitimate way to check. I have an old friend who was tipped off by the security guards that her overnight team were coming in at 5:00 am rather than midnight and claiming for the time... so she sat there on a couple of nights and then took action. I managed someone who was payed on an hourly rate but when we checked the security system he was not in the building as it had not been opened. The first was a verbal warning, the second a disciplinary.

Next, you do not get to pick and choose what you do, if you are asked you do it, there will be a cover all phrase in the contract along the lines of, "and any other duties requested by the line manager". I am assuming that you do not want to go nuclear about this and would suggest you hold a meeting reminding your colleague of their roles, responsibilities and the contents of their contracts and take it from there if you need to be flexible... but remember to document this so that future managers are aware if you need to reach an accommodation.

As long as the work is done and nobody is taking the proverbial then I don’t mind personally, but I’ve never been much of a micromanager.

This. TBH it depends wildly on the nature of the role and whether this employee does their job well.

In general if you can treat people well and allow them room then you should because then you will have built up goodwill for when you need them to go above and beyond.

In your situation, OP, I would spend a bit longer assessing how good a team member this OP is and if they are being a jobsworth (as your OP suggests) have a firm word about why you won't be issuing a formal warning for timekeeping on this occaisaion but you expect the give and take to be a lot smoother in future. Focus on what you actually want from her, not the letter of rules. Be specific and clear in setting goals. Be positive about her strengths, even (indeed especially) when having to lay down the law.

With anything like this start gently but don't avoid problems. Find out what's going on and whether the employee has any genuine issues first. If someone is really taking the piss they will give you lots of rope once you decide formal processes are needed, there is no rush.

IME the vast majority of people can be good employees if managed well and given clear expectations.

Hi OP, you first port of call is HR, you are currently losing more than half a day a month from your worker. You need to be checking her times when she is badging in and out of the building

Thing is, if you do this with someone who is really effective and puts in more hours than paid for when needed you will just massively piss them off. It certainly sounds like this woman might be a piss taker but managers who assume the worst get the worst.

This might work for the staff member but it may not work for the employer. Most jobs have (whether written down or implied by repeated business practice) core hours where staff simply must be there.

Even on my own contract it says that I have a working week of X number of hours and the times that the office opens at.
I am on flexi-time so I can start working any time prior to the office opening hours and stay later than 'closing' if I want and work up time that I can take as leave but there are core hours that I cannot disappear for and they are 10-12 and 2-4pm. I couldn't disappear at 3.50pm or show up at 10:15 for example.

Can I also point out that if you are new to a role there should have been some sort of a handover from your predecessor and if that predecessor had arranged with this staff member that they could leave early, it should have been spelled out to you.
There would have been an opportunity too for the staff member to say to you "Oh, by the way, I've agreed with Mr/Ms X (predecessor) that I can leave early each day. I hope that won't be too problematic for you" and you could follow it up with the predecessor to find out how it was working for them and if there were any issues around it.

The fact that they are doing it without so much as a by or leave, would, as their manager annoy me, a lot!

If she's utilising flexi-time then no. Sounds like she's just been there a bit long and has picked up some bad habits. Over to you. Record everything - take notes. Dates. Times. Do not criticise her for any of the official harassment reasons.

What time does she arrive in the morning?

There may be some historic informal agreement that although her hours are x-x, she can start work earlier and leave earlier, maybe to collect dc from somewhere. Might be worth finding out.

@donquixotedelamancha, I've already clearly outlined these.

But just for you:

The Data Protection Act 2018
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/contents/enacted

Data Protection and Your Business
-tell people they may be recorded, usually by displaying signs, which must be clearly visible and readable
-control who can see the recordings
-make sure the system is only used for the purpose it was intended for - for example, if it was set up to detect crime, you must not use it to monitor how much work your staff do
www.gov.uk/data-protection-your-business/using-cctv

I think we can take it from this post that the OP did not:

-seek authorisation to view the recordings
-verify with her organisation that monitoring of staff attendance by CCTV was authorised and that staff had been informed that the CCTV was used to monitor attendance.

The op won’t be back

the op won’t last long in this job

and I suspect the team will breathe a sigh of relief when she departs