This Boss Says Their Employee Has “Good Work Ethic” But Is Mad Because They “Always Clock Out 5 Minutes Early” — Here’s Why People Say It’s Problematic
Unfortunately, horrible bosses exist — and an anonymous one may be getting some much-needed feedback after asking this question on Quora: “I have an employee who always clocks out five minutes early. They seem to have a good work ethic, but I recently have been questioning it. What should I do as a manager?”
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Let’s get right into the feedback…
Current bosses started sharing how the quality of work is much more important than the time it takes to do the work:
“I have run my own company for 30 years and, before that, ran racing teams internationally. Any boss who thinks the hours worked are more important than the work done should revert to sweeping the shop. As a boss, you have to work with your employees. If the five minutes impact the business, talk to the employee. As far as I am concerned, once you have completed the daily workload, you can go home — unless that means the shop is left unattended. I hate people who are pedantic for no reason!”
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“I don’t give a fuck what employees do up to the point of not doing a good job, being reckless, dangerous, or theft. Leaving a little early or being a little late, I don’t care — it happens and it happens a lot. As long as the money rolls in and the tardiness isn’t causing unhappy customers, why care.”
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One teacher even chimed in, sharing their own personal experiences witnessing the effects of how focusing on the wrong thing can actually cause good employees to quit:
“As a teacher, I’ve seen custodians come and go. Most do the minimum, but we had one guy who was amazing. Our rooms were always vacuumed, the bathrooms were cleaned and stocked, and he had a great attitude when the classrooms were extra messy. He worked so hard and so fast that his work would be finished before the end of his shift, so he would take off early. But the head custodian had an issue with this and told him he had to stay until the end of his shift. He quit and took a job elsewhere. Now our rooms are dirty and the bathroom is out of soap and paper towels half the time, but the custodian is there for the full number of hours. The moral of the story is….value the work instead of the contract.”
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Others talked about how annoying it is to have a micromanager for a boss:
“Stop micromanaging. It’s five minutes. The world would be a better place if we valued our employees’ hard work and stopped worrying about why one employee isn’t sitting at their desk for five minutes. Bad employees can sit for eight hours and do the bare minimum…and great employees can finish their work ahead of time. Believe me, you want the employee that puts in effort.”
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There were also those offering creative solutions for resolving the problem if it was bothering the boss that badly:
“How about start a new policy: If you have completed your work for the day and never are not falling behind, go home for the day. Be on call until your eight hours is up. Why sit at a desk with nothing to do? Watch how productive people get when they can go home early.”
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Some shared how beneficial it could be for the employee to have their schedule tweaked if they were excelling at their job:
“Former HR manager for a hotel here. I had a housekeeper who did great work. She was efficient and got the rooms turned really quickly, and they were all perfect. She was always willing to stay over if needed, but she always got to work late…”
“The head housekeeper had a meeting promptly at 7 a.m. each morning to go over the day’s workload and give directions. This particular housekeeper always arrived about 15 minutes late. The Head Housekeeper loved their work ethic and really didn’t want to lose them, so she sent them to me so that we could discuss the importance of being on time.
I asked the head housekeeper if she wanted to keep this employee, and she said absolutely. I then asked if it would be a lot of trouble or a problem to schedule her to be at work at 7:15 instead of 7. The employee would miss the morning meeting, and the Head Housekeeper would have to give her instructions separately. The Head Housekeeper said that she was worth it, so from then on, the employee reported at 7:15. She was never counted as ‘late’ again. She was a great employee for many years and was eventually promoted to assistant housekeeper.”
—David Maloney, Quora User
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So, as conversations surrounding toxic work environments become more open, people are also addressing why bad bosses are not only miserable to work for but also the negative impact they can have on your mental health. Forbes even wrote an article last month titled “Bad Managers Are Reason Enough To Quit, According To LinkedIn.”
In conclusion, instances like this can be helpful learning lessons for navigating what a healthy workplace looks like today — for both the boss and the employee. If you have additional thoughts or suggestions, let us know in the comments!
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