I recently left a company that required time keeping down to the 5 minute level. If you went to the rest room or got a soda you were supposed to report it on you time sheet so you would not recieve credit for that time.
My manager told me that this was how all companies ran though I have yet to find any that did. I was given an example of how my manager was keeping her time sheets and I found she had logged on her timesheets personal conversations with others with details including medical problems the person was having, doctor’s appts, family issues etc.
The philosophy of this company was that full time people worked until the job was done and on the flip side management was to make sure that there was always more work to be done. So you had to show you logged hours for evenings and weekends and recieve permission to be out of touch for more than 15 minutes during those times.
Example would be if I wanted to see a movie with my family on a Sunday. I would get told I could go on the condition that I page her when I get back so she knows I am available.
I would even get calls on my cell phone on the way to the doctor because my manager wanted me to be thinking about this or that problem while on the appt. The time for the call and the time at the doctor’s while I was thinking about the problem was not to be logged as work time however.
Anyone else ever get themselves caught up in this kind of problem? Any managers out there actually think this is the way to run a business?