'One big problem is we are given way too much time': Management enforces employees be paid for exact project time only, employees rebel by taking maximum time to complete tasks

Author image for Isabella Penn
Isabella Penn
Jun 15, 2024 4:00 PM EDT

For all the bosses out there, forcing your employees to work as fast as they can will not get you anywhere in the long run. If you decide it should reasonably take an employee X amount of time to complete a task, and they give it to you in that amount of time, that should be considered a win. And that's exactly how this company used to run. Even if an employee could complete a task in ¾ of the time allotted, they were still compensated for the time requested. But not anymore. Now, even if an employee gets a project done early, they are only paid for the length of time it took them to complete it. So now the employees are getting creative. Even if they are done a bit early, they will run the clock until they can be fully compensated for the time they were quoted. The employee below has been getting away with this tactic for six years now, even using her free time to catch up on her personal to-do list or scroll on social media.  

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  • 01
    r/ r/MaliciousCompliance • 20 hr VampArcher I must take the full time to complete a task or I get penalized? Okay, free social media time.
    via u/VampArcher
  • 02
    For the longest time, my job has allowed us to take the full pay for completing work even if we finish early. For context, I am assigned a zone and I complete all jobs assigned to me in that zone by a time limit, at many different locations, I check in via GPS tracker to prove I'm at the location, they pay me
    via u/VampArcher
  • 03
    milage and I make my own schedule. Each job has a time assigned to it. Previously, they've always allowed us to claim the extra time. If I'm given an hour to complete something and finish in 45, I claim the hour. Our managers have
    via u/VampArcher
  • 04
    always said this is fine, saying if we are turning in good work and we are skilled enough to complete it faster than most, we should not be payed less for it, all enforcing that would do is encouraging people to work slow as possible or waste time.
    via u/VampArcher
  • 05
    And it does. Now they say we need to use the full allotted time or take the cut in our check. One big problem is we are given way too much time, it's common for me to be given an hour to do something that takes 10 minutes tops.
    via u/VampArcher
  • 06
    My colleagues are not ashamed to admit they all run the clock, thinking it's they should be paid less than people who don't know what they are doing and stand around doing nothing, so they do it too.
    via u/VampArcher
  • 07
    I started doing it too, I've been doing this for 6 years, I can do the work assigned to me in a quarter of the time they expect, doesn't mean I deserve to make 25% the money I should make for doing the same work. Now I do whatever on the clock, go grocery
    via u/VampArcher
  • 08
    shopping, go get lunch, take a nap, read a book, gossip, whatever. I don't know if our new management will realize the policy is stupid, never enforced for a reason and literally cannot be enforced, but until then they'll be paying the whole district to run the clock.
    via u/VampArcher
  • 09
    ricktoberfest . 1d ago Welcome to every self directed job out there. My wife laughs when I call her an hour after the start of work to tell her I'm done for the day and now I just have to hang around in the area "just in case". Am I gonna ask for more work- no
    via u/ricktoberfest
  • 10
    • jonesey71 1d ago My very first job was setting up computer labs for a new school that had just been built. There was almost no one in the building ever and we finished the first lab in less than a week. Then we found out that as soon as we were done with the rest of the labs we were going to be laid off. The next lab we set up 4 computers and then played LAN games for the rest of the summer. We finished the final lab just in time for the school to open for the new school year and got congratul
    via u/jonesey71
  • 11
    Spiram Blackthorn • 1d ago This is why I like my rural carrier job as the USPS. City carriers get paid by the hour. We rurals get paid by the route. Route 53 takes 9.6 hours and you get paid 9.6 hours each day you do it. Finish in 6? You still get 9.6. Now you might finish in 11 and still only get paid 9.6. Then comes the art of choosing the right route and learning how to properly get credit during mail counts.
    via u/Spiram_Blackthorn
  • 12
    No_Pineapple6086 • 1d ago I went through the same thing, early on in my IT career. I learned early on that if I went back for more work, it would always be expected of me. Instead, I started learning new technologies, languages and databases. It made getting my next job that much easier.
    via u/No_Pineapple6086
  • 13
    H1king33k • 1d ago I learned this the hard way back when I started doing freelance work. If they hire you for the week and you finish the job by Wednesday afternoon, your reward is you don't get paid for Thursday and Friday.
    via u/H1king33k
  • 14
    Cfwydirk . 1d ago Too bad. Good shops pay by the job because.... The customer does not get a discount if you do a job the book says take 1 hour, they are charged for the whole hour. The journeyman mechanic should be paid for the whole hour because.... They can get more jobs done to earn more money. More jobs done = more revenue for the shop and most important, more satisfied customers.
    via u/Cfwydirk
  • 15
    . gort32 1d ago From management's perspective, you are now predictable. They can assign X amount of work to you and know that it will get done with time to spare, and it's going to cost them Y to have that handled. Having an entire sector of your business be a "solved problem" where you know that there shouldn't be any overages on either time or budget is an amazing victory for a manager, and it's worth the "waste" that you are describing. Everyone wins here: workers, management, and shareholder
    via u/gort32
  • 16
    I started doing it too, I've been doing this for 6 years, I can do the work assigned to me in a quarter of the time they expect, doesn't mean I deserve to make 25% the money I should make for doing the same work. Now I do whatever on the clock, go grocery shopping, go get lunch, take a nap, read a book, gossip, whatever.
    via olia danilevich

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management boss employee employment-discussion malicious compliance work Horrible Bosses paycheck reddit thread payment Reddit employment in the workplace
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