Help please disciplinary re clocking in times

MollyJoe

I work in an administration office, at the beginning and end of each shift we "clock in" with electronic swipe cards.
The machine is approx 30 seconds walk from the desks.
We have previously been told that we must be sat at our desks, phones and pc's ready at our start time.

As an example 8.30 am staff (as we all start/ end different times), this week we were told that we must now be clocked in by 8.29am.

Then this changed to 8.28am.

If we are not clocked in by this time we MAY face disciplinary action.

My question is - how much time can they stipulate we must be clocked in before we are actually paid to start work?

Thank you

Liz_the_Whizz

Amazing lack of trust, your management are straight out of Charles Dickens!

It's sad when managers are so desperate to be in control that they lose sight of the fact that there are real people behind those numbers on their payroll. And real people may be forced to accept petty terms and conditions, but will always find a way to even the score.

How does the clocking on system work? Is it simply time recording or do those extra minutes accrue as overtime or time-in-lieu? I'm guessing no - iif not, your employer is requiring you to work an additional 8 hours per year. Not a huge amount, but then they are making things petty and small-minded here.

Have you got a union or staff respresentative at work who can take this forward, pointing out that people have gone along with this so far, but cannot be expected to work extra for no benefit. It's time to draw a line collectively to minimise any backlash.

May also be time to find a more enlightened employer?

Good luck!

El_Rey

I can only echo what Liz the Whizz said. I have never heard of any other employer doing this. I would definitely seek advice from the union on this.

DCFC79

I take it your employer wont let you finish 2 minutes earlier

bestpud

It's probably just me, but I would be clocking in at about 8.25 anyway as I'd like a couple of minutes to get myself together anyway. The thought of rushing in and starting instantly doesn't sit well with me!

But I guess this is more about them being control freaks?

A relative used to work for a law firm and they had to swipe their card every time they left the office, and at the end of the week, they had to account for any extra time they'd had out of the office.

They were allocated so long at the photocopier, for example, and any time over was measured in half seconds!!

He said he went down to the road outside once to collect some papers they needed urgently (otherwise the customer would have needed to park and walk in etc and the job would have been delayed) and his boss told him he'd taken 1.5 minutes longer to get up and down the stairs than they thought was necessary!! He was on the fourth floor and was stood a minute or two waiting for the bloke to drive his car round because he couldn't stop outside!

I'm sure this kind of environment is unproductive.

MollyJoe

Thank you all

It is simply a time recording - used as a tool to monitor.
We all appreciate that punctuality is important and accept that if we were late then it would need to be addressed.
This isnt an ideal time to be job hunting - quite a few of us to no avail.
We are not paid for overtime - or receive time in lieu - we work as per our contracts - "hours as required".
No we are not allowed to leave 2 minutes early - we are not allowed to switch off the phones / pc until 4.30pm.

Other than joining a union what would we say individually to our manager should we receive the disciplinary meeting.

Liz the Whizz - " its sad" you echo many of our team - I too used the words sad and also pathetic at the trivial depths our manger is sinking to.

MollyJoe

Best pud - The majority of our team agree and are at our desks a good 10 to 15 minutes early. However as many of our team are mums on school runs and school doors / traffic dont always go to plan and 8.29am happens.

This is just one in a long line of silly / petty things that happen.

thank you

bestpud

I do think it is normal for employers to stipulate an employee is ready to start work at their start time. DH certainly has to.

His old employer used to say they had to be changed ready for work at his start time but they could finish 10 minutes early at the end so they were ready to leave as they finished. There is no concessions with his new one and I've always had to be ready for work at my start time and worked until the finish time too.

The anal clocking system is the unusual bit as far as I am concerned.

bestpud

MollyJoe wrote: »

Best pud - The majority of our team agree and are at our desks a good 10 to 15 minutes early. However as many of our team are mums on school runs and school doors / traffic dont always go to plan and 8.29am happens.

This is just one in a long line of silly / petty things that happen.

thank you

Yes, I know what you mean. It's as good as saying they think you want to steal from them isn't it?

CFC

Your best option is to avoid a disciplinary hearing to be honest.

If it takes 30 seconds to walk to your computer, it takes at least 1 min 30 seconds for you to boot up and be ready to start work. The company are not being unreasonable; they are ensuring that you are ready to start work at your required time by making sure you are actually in the office at that time.

I would expect that one or two incidences of late checking in would be addressed by a conversation, but that after this you may go to a disciplinary hearing. I feel it would be difficult to give an outcome just on the basis of one incident.

In light of this, you would struggle to find grounds on which to escape an outcome if you were late to clock in more than once or twice.

If you think that the grass is greener and that this is unreasonable, your only option is to find another job.

tinkerbell84

bestpud wrote: »

The anal clocking system is the unusual bit as far as I am concerned.

Is that where they swipe their cards?? :eek:

(sorry - couldn't resist )