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I gave up giving a crap what other people did, as long as it didn't directly affect my production.... We just had one 12 year worker quit and people were talking about as to why. When they asked what I thought I replied "There's an opening on Dayshift now"....
What used to get me, is an employee that gets more pay because they have a family to support...
I understand that having a family, kids especially makes for special circumstances, I don't mind a business accommodating, but the employee is going to have to give too, make up for lost time perhaps and not abuse the allowances made, disrupting the normal course of their duties would have to be the exception, not the rule like the woman described in the OP.
I'd have a serious discussion about her future there, and if that didn't remedy it quick she'd have to go.
Having kids is ultimately the employees responsibility and a business can only go so far in making allowances.
Thx
This! At work, I have seen that they got perm. status in full-time position just because they are having a baby, meanwhile it took you over 10 years to get the same and then they show up late, leave early that affect other staff to get their job done because they are a "parent"
This! At work, I have seen that they got perm. status in full-time position just because they are having a baby, meanwhile it took you over 10 years to get the same and then they show up late, leave early that affect other staff to get their job done because they are a "parent"
I was the electronic tech at a medium-sized manufacturer, I was there about five years, three years in we were getting very busy, with the PC revolution of the mid-1980s, business was booming!
I'm the only tech in the factory of about 240 employees.
My duties are expanding, I started programming and operating a new CNC mill we had bought, we had some new robots I was putting on the line...
So I go to the owner and tell him that I need an "assistant."
Just some apprentice that can handle the smaller jobs, since I am involved in much bigger projects.
So, a full nine months later they "spring" another tech on me, 20 year retired Army vet, radar tech, didn't know a blasted thing, was good at "organization" and "delegating," but couldn't fix even relatively simple systems.
I never got to talk to the guy in the interview process, I would have asked him a technical question and probably would have rejected him. He's going to be more work for me...
Anyway, (sorry for my rambling, folks ) the first day I ask him how much he gets and he made the mistake of telling me...
It was $2 an hour more than I got.
So I ask the owner why I'm getting less than the guy I am training...
And that's the answer I get "He needs more because he has a wife and two kids..." (which is what tax deductions are for...)
I was going to leave them anyway, "nepotism" was one of the chief "qualifiers" there, and I could just see myself putting in 19 years and 11 months and 29 days only to be s-canned by the owner's rotten son...
(That company met hard times before I could quit, we went from 240 employees down to 45 in less than two years, and of those 45, half were just basic "support" for a company, secretaries, the janitor, stock room, shipping dept., quality inspectors, purchasing agent, plant maintenance, supervisors, only about half of those 45 actually "made" something."
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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If it’s a health issue, there are laws now like the family leave act in our state that apply, and FMLA. For soccer practice, school events and the like, that’s what PTO/vacation is for. A rare tardiness for many reasons cannot be avoided, but repeated is grounds for a performance improvement plan.
If she's taking off for things like soccer practice (per OP's post) it sounds as though it's not an attendance issue. It sounds more like she works her schedule around her kids, and that's strictly between her and her supervisors. As long as it doesn't have a direct impact on her co-workers they need to stay out of it. I say that as someone who had a manager who didn't care when I came in, when I left, or if I took off for a few hours in the middle of the day to attend a PTO meeting or a school play, as long as my work got done and my reports were handed in on time.
Having kids is a personal choice that comes with consequences and responsibilities. She is obviously one of those people who doesn't understand that her personal choices have consequences and that others should not have to pay the price for them.
I honestly don't know how working parents manage to do it without flexible jobs. I run a business but if I need to take a half day or full day off, I can. My husband has a certain number of hours he's expected to work each week but can make up time on a Saturday or extend it to the next week if he needs to. Even with two teenagers, we use that flexibility. Orthodontic appointments, bringing this one to an activity, someone is sick and needs to see a doctor on short notice or needs to meet with a specialist who is 90 miles away... it's constant. It was even more crazy the one year they were in school (we homeschool, but they went to school one year). One fell off the jungle gym and has a lump on her head and needs to be picked up early, the other one threw up as we were about to get in the car to drive to school, this one's class is putting on a play on a Wednesday morning, that one's class has a science exhibit at noon on a Friday, they're having a Thanksgiving lunch and families are invited, there's a parent-and-me sports day... neverending! I managed most of those issues because my work is more flexible, and it was very difficult. I truly don't know what people do if they have to work Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 5:00 and these things come up. The children at the school they attended had mostly SAHMs (which, I assume, contributed to the daytime family activities).
So yeah, I'd assume it's legit. Kids, even kids in school, are not known for getting sick at convenient times, and parents do generally try to attend their children's class events and sports games and class plays. "Only" three kids, OMG. I often felt like a chicken with no head and I only have two! One more increases the work exponentially.
Unfortunately, if both parents (if there are both parents) are working full-time jobs with no flexibility, then they need to make a choice. Someone needs to be available for the hundreds of things that come up with children. Whether that means one of them (probably mom in this situation, based on the mom being the one who is running late) needs to get a more flexible job or one of them needs to stay home or they need to talk to their bosses about managing their hours so one can go in earlier and take the kids to afternoon activities while the other goes in later and deals with morning activities or whatever. If it's negatively impacting the office, then the mom needs to decide what she's going to do to fix the problem... if she can't, then it's up to the boss to decide what he or she is going to do to fix the problem.
I'm assuming, of course, that it is an actual problem and not that you're just complaining for no reason. People can negotiate whatever they want to with their bosses, of course. So maybe she's already talked to the boss and has gotten the okay for flex time. Even making more money... some people are better negotiators than others. If it's not a problem for the company and for the boss, then there's no issue. If she's increasing your workload due to her habits, then you should talk to the boss about it and see what his/her suggestions might be for evening things up in that respect.
Working full-time and having three school-aged kids isn't a walk in the park. If she does her job, does it well, meets deadlines, doesn't unduly negatively impact co-workers' workloads, and is responsible about not showing up on the dot, cut her some slack. Unless you've walked in her shoes, you won't get it. You have no insight into her life.
At my current place of business, we have a very relaxed policy about attendance. As long as your work and job duties are completed, you are there for meetings and your absence doesn't unduly affect coworkers, if you don't show up at 8:30 on the dot, or you need to leave a little early, etc., it's okay. You'd be surprised how accommodating employees can be when you treat them like responsible adults, and how the entire office morale is positive. They even stay late without being asked when a deadline needs to be met.
There's a woman I work with now who comes in late at least once a week, running later on the days when the boss isn't around of course (half an hour to one hour on some days), and whenever she gets new leave time at the beginning of each month, she will take all of it within that month. I worked on a project with her recently as a quasi-supervisor but I'm not really her boss, and I asked her why she was out so much. Her response was "I have kids. You're single, so that is why you can save your leave."
All of her kids are in school and she only has three. The excuses are always along the lines of "Robert missed the bus this morning, so I'm running late", "John has soccer practice this afternoon so I need to take off," etc.
This same woman also chats on her phone for much of the day and has tried to pawn off her work on me. I think she's just lazy, but I have encountered the "I have kids" excuse from other women at jobs in the past.
Single mom?
Or, hubby working?
IMO, she's lazy from what you describe.
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) the first day I ask him how much he gets and he made the mistake of telling me...
