Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I wondered what the opinion is on being paid for learning a job - not specific training, but learning that makes someone slower or more methodical, or prone to mistakes that take time to fix or extra checking of work.
I have known quite a few employees whom are uncomfortable taking pay when they are still learning, and admit I feel this way as well. It is embarrassing to be slower at something than you want to be, so sometimes I will short my hours if I feel I shouldn't have taken so long.
Of course, now days this is for things I am teaching myself. I don't have anyone that can train me. So it is frustrating.
I wonder especially what is the employer perspective. I had a manager make a comment about gaining experience on his own time - and I remember thinking that when I do something on my own time it should be for me, not for the benefit of the company. Yet, still I short myself for the benefit of the company. There is a grey area in there somewhere, isn't there?
It simply comes down to the law. An employee must be paid at least minimum wage for working hours now matter if they are willing to work for free or not.
Absolutely not. Do not short yourself ever. The company has hired you because they believe you are intelligent and are trainable. If they guessed wrong, they will fire you. More likely than not, they hired the right candidate and fully understand it takes time and money to get a new hire up to speed.
From a managerial perspective, you should be paid for this time.
Every new employee will be less efficient than ideal and face a learning curve. That new employee, in addition to their own time, will use the time of others as they are trained. Under no circumstances should they be responsible for bearing this cost.
There is no gray area. Training employees is part of the cost of doing business. An employer that has a churn and burn philosophy also has to eat the costs of constantly having employees who don't know how to do the job efficiently and effectively.
Some employers think that they can hire a newbie at $10/hour and get rid of the $15/hour employee to save money. If the $15/hour employee is good at what s/he does, then the productivity might very well be 50% more than that $10/hour new employee if not even more.
In my field, it probably takes at least a year if not 18 months to learn how to do the job effectively. We also get new duties every day and no one expects us to learn the new duties on our own time. We had an employee in my unit whose position was eliminated and I got assigned to most of her duties. Most of us assigned to her duties had never done those duties before, but you can bet that we expect to be paid fully (and possibly get a raise) for having to take on these new duties. The fact that we don't know how to do them yet is irrelevant.
I wondered what the opinion is on being paid for learning a job - not specific training, but learning that makes someone slower or more methodical, or prone to mistakes that take time to fix or extra checking of work.
I have known quite a few employees whom are uncomfortable taking pay when they are still learning, and admit I feel this way as well. It is embarrassing to be slower at something than you want to be, so sometimes I will short my hours if I feel I shouldn't have taken so long.
Of course, now days this is for things I am teaching myself. I don't have anyone that can train me. So it is frustrating.
I wonder especially what is the employer perspective. I had a manager make a comment about gaining experience on his own time - and I remember thinking that when I do something on my own time it should be for me, not for the benefit of the company. Yet, still I short myself for the benefit of the company. There is a grey area in there somewhere, isn't there?
and how does you employer feel about this? I know when I find an employee has done this, they are fired..time-card manipulation, because this creates a huge potential for liability.
As the manger who likely is on salary it is a little different and how he/she chooses to go about it is a different story. Improvement and experience is for your benefit, it makes you a more attractive employee to your employer and potential employers.
I'd fire you if I knew you were shorting hours. You are lying and cheating. You are saying you are getting 10 widgets done in 7 hours instead of 8 so you are lying to increase your productivity rate.
so sometimes I will short my hours if I feel I shouldn't have taken so long.
by doing this you are fraudulently representing yourself as being more efficient and productive than you actually are. this will hurt you (taking less pay), your coworkers (you possibly set an unrealistic benchmark), and the company (they won't be able to accurately price a job if you lie about costs).
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,206,701 times
Reputation: 57821
As a manager, I select the person based on their experience and education related to the duties, so the learning is limited to our policies and procedures, specific software they might not have used before, and becoming familiar with the department/persons to contact for various issues. My lowest pay employee starts at $22-25 depending on qualifications, but after the 6 month probationary period in which they are learning all of the above, they can get a raise of up to 5%. Some are totally up to speed by then, others take longer and may get a smaller raise, but I have not had anyone fail to pass probation in the last 8 years at this job.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
