I work in a client based job that is heavily dictated by our internal scheduling. If a client/our scheduling staff say a job is supposed to begin at a certain time, that’s when it starts. Not earlier, not later.
This is a policy that has tightened in recent months, mostly due to aggressive policing of overtime. If time is not accounted for on the schedule, ownership is likely to bully you for “stealing”. I was previously nearly fired for a pay period that I clocked 26 total minutes of “unaccounted” time. As a result, most employees have minimized their time on site outside of their scheduled hours.
Today I found myself a bit ahead of schedule, and decided to come into work a bit earlier than expected with no intention to clock in early. Grab a coffee, settle in, etc before clocking in for the day. I started receiving slack notifications when I was driving and, when I arrived at 9:47 for my 10am shift, saw they were from middle management criticizing me for “cutting it so close”.
I followed up later in the day to ask about scheduling expectations. I was told to show up at least 30 minutes early for every shift. Directly contradicting ownerships policies.
When I mentioned that, it was insinuated that I should be here and “digitally available” (checking emails etc) beforehand, on my own time, without clocking in. After gently reminding them that our staff shouldn’t be expected to work for free, my schedule for the week was swiftly changed to some…less than desirable jobs.
The hills are alive with the sound of workplace retaliation today