Employee playing games at work

System

warby68 wrote: »

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?

You get what you pay for. If you want someone to diligently run your business when you're away then compensate them appropriately.

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

After a year if you're still on minimum wage with the same employer and they're showing no sign of upping it despite your best efforts then that isn't happening.

warby68

Tarambor wrote: »

You get what you pay for. If you want someone to diligently run your business when you're away then compensate them appropriately.

After a year if you're still on minimum wage with the same employer and they're showing no sign of upping it despite your best efforts then that isn't happening.

Agree with first point and possibly second although I'd say a year or two not just 12m but unless I've missed it, we don't know what this employee is on.

Generally though, shouldn't striving to get away from min wage be a goal, rather than accepting min wage but skiving in protest?

shaunhouse

Completely different in our industry, which is why it has come as such a suprise. The company is a design and production company. The employee is being paid the living wage per hour but the offer of company share is on the table if he steps up and shows he can add value.

Agree some of the comments are not in the real world. We aren’t talking about someone taking petrol payment at a pump.

There is always something to do and the employee knows this and has always been working while I’ve been in the office. There is no justification for playing computer games >50% of the time at work.

He has took the chance to have a little holiday of his own while finding the sweet point to keep things ‘floating’.

I haven’t contacted him on holiday as it was a chance to prove himself, i believe in trusting employees to work without me constantly having to check on them. I’ll address it when I’m back with all the information in front of me and advice from our legal team.

Fiona_CW

So you are paying him living wage and expecting him to run the business while you are off without paying him any extra???????

TELLIT01

I have to say the worst abuse of company time I came across in my working life was in the years I worked in the public sector. There was one guy who owned a number of holiday lets and openly worked on that during the day. This wasn't just a few minutes during breaks, it was extensive periods of time. Managers would have had to be blind not to know what he was doing but did absolutely nothing to stop him. Had I been his manager he would have been a long way down the disciplinary route. Another used to spend a lot of time on his phone, both on social media and texting. When he left his manager actually joked about the fact that he had ignored warnings not to use the phone. Some people will take the proverbial at every opportunity whilst others effectively carry them. That type of behaviour needs to be nipped in the bud.

warby68

Fiona_CW wrote: »

So you are paying him living wage and expecting him to run the business while you are off without paying him any extra???????

Its very common to be given challenges and development opportunities BEFORE you get the actual promotion/pay rise or in this case a share in the business.

OP has said the incentives have been discussed beforehand with an employee who has only been there 12m and been offered what looks like a great opportunity.

My husband has a small business , he rewards people who step in and up when the need is there and do it reasonably well, but only after the event. I work in a large PLC - people often do the higher role or many parts of it long before getting the cash or promotion.

Its a two way street - a skiver could just as easily take the higher pay and still skive if given it upfront with no performance conditionality.

SingleSue

Tarambor wrote: »

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

I'm on minimum wage, my job isn't exactly taxing as we only respond when a customer comes in and at all other times we are free to watch the (company provided) television or surf the internet on the (company provided) laptop - an absolutely perfect job for someone with my disabilities who was struggling to find anyone who wanted to take me on.

I've taken to inventing new things to do as part of my role though as I get bored easily which have quickly become things we all need to do as part of our role as I attempt to drag the place into 21st century professional standards. As a result, I have jumped from the new girl at the bottom of the rung to second in command with a heck of a lot more responsibility (but no more pay) in less than 18 months.


I am different, I put in maximum effort for the minimum wage return because I have pride in my work and in my professional reputation. It also serves my ultimate aim of getting back an employment history (I was a carer to a family member for many years) which shows that I am able to work and to a high level with absolutely no time taken off for my disabilities to enable me to progress further.

parking_question_chap

Whats the hourly rate and a rough breakdown of tasks?
Could anything have demotivated them recently?

shaunhouse

He isn’t running the company while I’m away, anything that comes in is still being put my way, I’m still taking calls etc... Jobs are in with production for the 10 days while I am away and everyone knows what is expected. This employee is more design orientated hence greater scope to mess about if he chooses to.

I should have said he is working without me at the office while I am away so expected to work in the same way just without me around.

ruperts

Sounds like you definitely want some proper legal guidance to make sure you are squeaky clean with regards to monitoring. I believe that while it's legal to monitor employees IT usage, it's not legal to do it in secret and by the sounds of it you have some pretty extensive monitoring going on which your employee should have been aware of.

I wouldn't necessarily say instant dismissal though. The boss is away and the employees are taking a few liberties - nothing new there. If he's otherwise a good employee then you could consider using it for a bit of leverage.