Pressure to present project time differently on timesheet

[PerfectPairinggggg]

I work in an engineering consultancy. There is pressure to generate high project profits while also working to a high project utilisation target. It is very demotivating to put in considerable hours to deliver a project, then not be able to record all that project time on your timesheet and then the monthly utilisation charts showing you much less busy than reality. OR you put a more realistic portrayal of your time then your project profit is lower. The system is broken. I know this happens at a lot of similar types of organisations but it feels ridiculous as isn’t an accurate record of your work ? How do others deal with it? I got pulled up this week (rather unfairly) on the time I had booked to a project despite it being a lot lot less than reality including many evenings working overtime.

Its all bollocks to allow various people to show off internally.

Make sure there is a record of what you’ve really done in case HR accuse you of being under-utilised or something - just an email to your boss saying ‘As discussed I’ve put X in my timesheet, but for the record my accurate hours were Y’. Then decide it’s not your problem and put it out of your mind!

I’ve worked in the same role and my husband does the same albeit he’s now at a senior level. I hated it and am now back in the public sector. I really disliked that element of it and all the stuff around profitability, but I think it’s unfortunately how it seems to work (and obv private sector has very different focus to public)? My advice would be (same as the PP) to keep a record of what you’re actually working even if you have to ‘tailor’ (putting it politely) your timesheets for projects and fee based work. My DH’s view on all of this is that the time allocated to a job in the fee proposal should be sufficient, and if you’re spending longer then there’s an issue, and you’re either doing too much, or providing too much detail, but he’s nearly 25 years in the job now, so maybe that just down to experience?!

Also, I’d be asking whoever had a word with you what they actually want you to do?

It was one of the reasons that I left consultancy. The official line was to record time accurately but this was never actually enforced and you were encouraged to be creative with your time. It just stunk. I would get pulled up in end of year appraisals for not having enough chargeable hours even though I did, I just hadn’t been able to record them (which was not accepted as a reason).

Don't you record it as o/t nil. The idea being to see how badly estimated the budget is and why?

This was typical of the Big 4 I worked at - pressure to under-estimate a bid to win it, but then of course we needed more time, which we couldn't charge to the project so we looked under-utilised to make the project profitable. Then of course our year-end appraisals were bad because we hadn't charged enough hours.

I dealt with it by getting out. But with hindsight... if it was me under-estimating how long I'd need, I would chalk it up to experience and plan better next time. But for the projects where I was pressured to under-estimate and I knew it was too little... get my estimate in writing, and bill honestly.

That sounds very much like my experience. From Reddit it seems quite common, unfortunately.

I have similar problems, but my billing hours are at a tightly funded non-profit. There is constant pressure to work more than we bill. If you bill too much, you won’t get picked for the next project, but we get reminded under-billing is illegal. Lots of people quit in frustration.

I worked for a big construction consultancy who never let us put more than 37.5 hours per week on our timesheets. I now work for a smaller company who ask for and honest timesheet.

Thanks for your reply. The fee allocated to the jobs is incredibly insufficient. There are a few unicorn (London based) projects where this isn’t an issue but no where. It’s v compete to win a lot of these projects right now…

I wish there was a code to do this but alas no. Overtime outside my 37.5 hours is unrecorded, unbilled project time goes to ‘training.’ Then I guess they would then be confronted with how widespread the issue of their making is

I have been seething about this so yes I think I will be saying something along those lines!
to the point but professional