Employee playing games at work

jonnygee2

the odd minority with something stupid like I’m a toxic manager or slave driver

Yes, how dare you start a small business, provide people with jobs, and contribute to the country's economy.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

getmore4less

You still have not said what tools you are using to do this

Masomnia

Normally avoid employers' threads on here but this quite a nice one.

With <2 years service you can get rid no problem provided you pay his notice, provided you can back up what you're saying. Even if you can't back it up you're on relatively safe ground dismissing.

I think it kind of depends on how good he is normally. If he's a valued member of staff I'd probably just give him a b0llocking and leave it at that, you could hold a formal disicplinary hearing a give him a final warning. Either can be effective depending on the individual/business.

In the real world I think employees, when the boss is away, will take the !!!! if they think they can get away with it. It might be that he isn't performing the role that you need him to; ie do you need someone who will run the company in your absence? As it looks like that's not him. All really comes down to your discretion.

suki1964

TBH Im gobsmacked at some of the replies here

Surely, if you are being paid to work - you actually work for the business you are employed by?

So the boss is off, S/he says this is the bare minimum that needs doing, and everyone thinks the bare minimum is all that should be done?

I start at 7am and Im working at 7am, not walking in and sorting my work station out, Im working

I get 30 mins break, I take 25 mins so I have time for the loo

My boss isn't stood there with a stop watch timing our every move, he trusts us to get the work out in time and give ourselves some breathing space just in case. If we need to pop home in work hours, that's fine, if we need a day/half day not a problem, because he knows we have the work covered - ie, on quiet days we look ahead and see what we can get done in advance

Which Im guessing the OP is expecting of his member of staff

Whats so wrong in that?

Savvy_Sue

Planet_Switzerland wrote: »

There once was an old lady who worked 8 hours a day at a petrol station where she would put petrol in peoples vehicles and take payments.


The reality was that she spent less than an hour a day actually doing that and the other 7 hours doing puzzles and knitting which you could probably say was her equivalent of championship manager.

In my youth I had some similar receptionist / switchboard operator jobs. This is in the days before we were all online, so I brought my own book to read in quiet times. Was perfectly happy to do anything asked of me, but for a temp there wasn't that much I could do.

Knitting would have been a step too far, I fear ...

TELLIT01

Planet_Switzerland wrote: »

There once was an old lady who worked 8 hours a day at a petrol station where she would put petrol in peoples vehicles and take payments.


The reality was that she spent less than an hour a day actually doing that and the other 7 hours doing puzzles and knitting which you could probably say was her equivalent of championship manager.


I seriously doubt anyone had a problem with that, after all whenever someone would come to get petrol she'd do what she needed to do and in fact last time I saw her many years ago she told me her bosses didn't want her to retire.


If your employee has done all they need to do then it shouldn't matter if they fill the rest of their time with non work related activities. I don't buy the whole "there's always work to do" mentality, either the tasks need to be done or they don't, if they don't need to be done then there's no point in doing them.

The 'old lady' really had nothing else productive she could do. She had to be there as and when required to operate the pumps. I'm guessing she wasn't also a mechanic and could do that between times. That's totally different to the situation the OP describes. The individual was supposedly covering for the boss in their absence, and although it doesn't state so, I'm guessing their normal work wasn't being done by anybody else. That being so, if management work didn't fill their day, they could/should have been doing 'normal' work. That is the attitude I would expect from somebody placed in a position of trust and authority, not taking the p by slacking off.

Marvel1

Is the employee getting paid extra to cover or just just their normal wage?

System

shaunhouse wrote: »

It’s not extra work, what I am saying is he has got the bare minimum done that has to be done otherwise we’d have big issues. All the other work is expected in working hours.

It’s a quieter week because we are coming to the end of the month

I don’t pay people to sit on computer games and that certainly isn’t what happens when I’m in the office!

Is he being paid minimum wage? Certainly if I was in a job that was minimum wage I'd put in just enough effort not to get the sack. Nothing says "I think so little of you that I'd pay you less if the government didn't prevent me from doing so" than paying someone the minimum wage especially when you expect that person to run the place when you're away.

System

suki1964 wrote: »

So the boss is off, S/he says this is the bare minimum that needs doing, and everyone thinks the bare minimum is all that should be done?

Depends on how much I'm being paid. Minimum wage they'll get the minimum done.

warby68

Seriously? Are people saying it might be ok to be playing online games in work time just because the boss is away and he isn't on a high wage?

And minimum wage gets minimum done? What about taking the chance to impress and move up from minimum wage?

Some of the answers here explain a lot of problems - compare and contrast with the work ethic I recognize in suki1964's posts. In over 30 years of employment the most slacking I've seen when bosses aren't around is a little bit more chit chat, and I mean a little bit - a few minutes here and there. We are professional and accountable whoever is around and generally don't have to be told what to do. Although I must admit its a professional environment with no minimum wage issues.

Sympathies with OP here. Its a small business, very hard to take 100% breaks and not keep an eye on things - everything stops with him 24/7/365.

I wouldn't go in guns blazing no matter how it looks. Have the chat first. Perhaps he came in ridiculously early to do the core tasks and keep himself free for problems during the day is one ok explanation. However do ban gaming on work kit. We have reasonable use - eg appointment booking, personal finances - most social type sites cannot be accessed on work systems albeit this is a large PLC. Phones can go in lockers in work time if this is actually a problem - my husband has to enforce this, not lockers but vehicles to avoid staff playing on phones at great heights for one thing!

Its tough and always a bit of a shock when people who you thought were decent workers turn out to be slackers. If they haven't got the self motivation the workplace rules might need to be tighter.