How do you start your workday??

[knights68]

An incident at work today for me, and I wanted to get everyones own thoughts/processes on.
Before I go any further, I suspect that I am in the wrong and am readying an apology to give tomorrow morning to a coworker I kinda had words with this morning.

What was the beef?

She normally comes in to work at 8, as expected, but it takes her 10-15 minutes to get settled in to work (check personal emails, get coffee etc etc).
She is a temp, and it was time to sign her time card for last week. I infomed her that I did not think her time was correct for the reasons I just stated. Naturally she did not agree.
The boss does this too, as does probably a majority of employees in the company. I even understand Tilly does this to some degree.

My question I submit for your consideration is this:
What do you do when you get to work.... how long does it take you to get ready for work when you get to work?
Am I just off my rocker, one of those few cranial-anal inversion type folk? Was I out of bounds as I am now believing I was??

Your opinions and thoughts por faver!

[fordgrl00]

I would agree it takes me 10-15 minutes to get my day started. I generally do the same as your co-worker, especially on Mondays. My inbox usually takes 20 minutes to go through, work related though. Everyone says their hello's as they walk by. You plan your priorities for the day and so forth. I think it is normal to need a few minutes of each day to get your game plan together. Helps me get my focus and know what to possibly expect. This the general routine for me and my co-workers. It sounds to me as if this is the only issue you have then it is normal I would think. Since you did not mention it, I assume you are happy with her work efforts and such. One thing I value in my current manager is that she does not micro-manage us. She is very flexible and we can trust her/she trusts us. A quick apology could probably ease any tension she may feel if she needed to approach you in the future.

Good luck!

[captmojo]

It was a fine observation on your part. You didn't say how long she has been with you. If it's been a short time, ye may have been a tad hard-assed. But if it has been short, all can be smoothed over with a positive criticism. For example, she's a temp and if she'd like her best shot at maybe becoming permanent, she should consider another day starting plan. Come in 15-20 minutes early and get those things out of the way before official starting time.

[CathyCA]

I'm usually the first one in the office. I cut off the alarm (sometimes successfully without involving the alarm company or the police), turn on the hall lights, go in to my office, fire up the computer, and start checking emails and voice mail. I keep several browsers open on my computer, including my office email, my personal email, FB, and CTN. I also have a word processing program open.

I try to greet everyone as they come in, so my morning has multiple interruptions. I think that setting a pleasant tone early in the morning goes a long way toward creating the team approach that it takes to get our work done. Many of our staff members eat breakfast at their desks, and they keep personal pages open on their internet browsers, too. We let them do this. We're also flexible with their lunch hours--so long as we have coverage on the phones, they can go to lunch when they wish. Our staff appreciates these small perks, and they are willing to work even harder when we need them to push through on a project.

On days when I'm in court, my work day starts very differently.

[Miles]

You're sweating less 4% of your temp's work day (in an eight hour day). From my perspective, I won't sweat anything that insignificant. Fifteen minutes for e-mail and coffee? I dare a coworker to call me out on that. I take more breaks than my peers, and I'm more productive than they are. I'll argue the mental health breaks are one of the major factors influencing that productivity. When I work, I work furiously so ever hour or so I need a break. Some of my peers; they're candy asses and they take less breaks but the work they produce "on the clock" is crap.

What's more important to me are ratios, most importantly hours:harm and hours:success. So How many hours does a person work and how much harm do they cost the company during that time? Or how many hours do they work and what do they do to help achieve success? If somebody causes 1 problem per hour, then they're seriously impeding our chances for success on a project and we need to figure out what's causing the problem (maybe it's not email breaks, maybe it's bad software or obsolescent hardware), If somebody achieves a milestone for every two hours they work a day, I'll wash their feet, walk their dogs, clean their house and do whatever it takes to keep them that productive.

So, if your temp takes a fifteen minute break every two hours, and then she achieves a milestone or some other measurable amount of success, then you should give her a pat on the back. If she takes a fifteen minute break every two hours, and she causes problems for other employees, then you might have a legitimate grievance. But I would use caution, their might be other factors that affect her productivity.

Forget the hours, forget the pay; does your temp get the job done?

[ArkieDukie]

So, let's say you have an employee (a lab supervisor) that spends most of her day talking on her personal cell phone. Things get done because the work gets reassigned to another person. If that person finally complains to the boss after several months about this behavior, who's the bad guy? In the scenario described (my last job), the supervisor was viewed as having greater hours:success and I was viewed as a the person with greater hours:harm. Especially after I finally got fed up and left. But then, I wasn't the one taking 2 hr lunch breaks with the boss.

[Miles]

So, let's say you have an employee (a lab supervisor) that spends most of her day talking on her personal cell phone. Things get done because the work gets reassigned to another person. If that person finally complains to the boss after several months about this behavior, who's the bad guy? In the scenario described (my last job), the supervisor was viewed as having greater hours:success and I was viewed as a the person with greater hours:harm. Especially after I finally got fed up and left. But then, I wasn't the one taking 2 hr lunch breaks with the boss.

Any employer that views the supervisor having a greater hours:success is a fool and out of touch with "operations". The supervisor above, in fact, does not have a better hours:success ratio if the work is being reassigned, their contribution is worthless. It sounds like their were other factors outside of productivity that gave the perception of "success" or "failure", and there's not much anyone can ever do about that. One of our guys is the exact same way. It's sad how difficult it is for some managers/directors to recognize talent and value. Glad you got out!

[lawgrad91]

Like CathyCA, my day is different when it starts with court. (This morning, for example, I grabbed my docket and my briefcase and left. I was early enough to water my plant, too.)

On other days, I come in, turn on my computer, sync my iTouch, check my email accounts (business and personal), email my BFF, read the local paper online, and generally settle in for the day. I check on my female coworkers most days, finding out how they are, their families are and how various kids did in softball/baseball the day before. When Randy comes in (usually MUCH later than the rest of us), I check on him.

I don't think this is unusual. My coworkers do the same, except many of them eat their breakfasts at their desks.

Once upon a time, before the pointy-headed boss thought he was running the Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney's Office instead of the Mayberry (I mean Henry County) one, he sent the county a memo saying that his employees worked really hard so if they took a few minutes to do personal things online it was fine with him (I kept a copy of that memo.)

We have had limited experience with temps, because there's no money in the budget for it, but I'd say, K68, if you're getting 7 hours and 45 minutes of work out of her every day, she's a keeper.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

I've sure led a sheltered life. All your comments are totally foreign to me.


I haven't the slightest idea of how a day begins......or ends.

I guess it could best be defined with coffee on the front end..... and a glass of wine at the other.
Love, Ima

[knights68]

I'd say, K68, if you're getting 7 hours and 45 minutes of work out of her every day, she's a keeper.

Well, ya pretty much summed up a good thought there! Absolutely!

[knights68]

So with the help of my wise Lady Love Tilly, and my wise friends here at CTN, I have reached the conclusion that I indeed went a little too far.
So with that in mind, this morning on my way to work I picked up Dunkin Donut coffee and donuts and gace them to the Temp with a heartfelt apology. So now all is well and I intend on staying the heck out of it in the future. As long as she doesn't take an hour in the morning to get ready to work, I really have nothing to complain about in this regard.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I start by reading Crazietalk, and posting links on the front page.

[devildeac]

Signing on to my clinical module on my tablet at work and linking CTN.

[fordgrl00]

So with the help of my wise Lady Love Tilly, and my wise friends here at CTN, I have reached the conclusion that I indeed went a little too far.
So with that in mind, this morning on my way to work I picked up Dunkin Donut coffee and donuts and gace them to the Temp with a heartfelt apology. So now all is well and I intend on staying the heck out of it in the future. As long as she doesn't take an hour in the morning to get ready to work, I really have nothing to complain about in this regard.

That was awesome of you! I am sure she appreciated your efforts! So do we all get some DD for helping you too??

[knights68]

That was awesome of you! I am sure she appreciated your efforts! So do we all get some DD for helping you too??

so sowwyyyyy

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[captmojo]

I suppose to be answering the question in the thread title literally, my answer would be...
turning on the coffeemaker and attending to business in the 'Bodily Functions' department.

[bjornolf]

My wife's work computer has so many programs and macros that have to be run that it takes about 25 minutes for her computer to start up in the morning. She logs on and then goes and does all her other stuff like making coffee and checking her email on my computer, which takes 30 second to start up. By the time the coffee is ready and she's done checking email, her computer is finally ready to go. The problem comes when the computer screws up in its start up procedure and she has to start all over again.

[devildeac]

So with the help of my wise Lady Love Tilly, and my wise friends here at CTN, I have reached the conclusion that I indeed went a little too far.
So with that in mind, this morning on my way to work I picked up Dunkin Donut coffee and donuts and gace them to the Temp with a heartfelt apology. So now all is well and I intend on staying the heck out of it in the future. As long as she doesn't take an hour in the morning to get ready to work, I really have nothing to complain about in this regard.

That was awesome of you! I am sure she appreciated your efforts! So do we all get some DD for helping you too??

Yes, you can all have some of me at Brunchgate this Saturday .

Oh, wait a minute. Never mind. You're talking about donuts.

[ArkieDukie]

I drink coffee and eat a protein bar at my desk while reading email and generally getting ready for the day. Alternatively, my coworkers and I will sit around a table in the break room and drink our coffee together. Depending on what's going on, we're either touching base regarding work or shooting the breeze. I have a fun group of coworkers, all with a somewhat snarky sense of humor. We all eat lunch together, too. That's our second favorite part of the day, with our favorite time being quitting time.