One of my coworkers is lying on the time sheet. She seems to be adding an extra hour a day. I know this because she and I work the same hours but where I write 6 1/2 hours, she writes 7 1/2 hours.
Myob or say something? I did already say something to her and she kind of muttered “yeah I’ve got to find the white-out” and walked away.
Personally? MYOB. She’ll be discovered if warranted. Perhaps there are personal reasons right now. Cut her some slack. We’re all human beings with external lives to lead and take care of. It’s none of your business.
Turn her in. She’s basically stealing 5 hours pay a week from the company. That’s everyone’s business.
If I saw a female employee lying on the time sheet, I’d lie down next to her.
Was she lying naked on the time sheet?
My first response - Turn her in…
My sober second thought… what will the response be?
If fired - is your career close knit enough that you may encounter her again, somehwere else? What is she is your superior there?
If not fired (disciplined, or even yet a “meh” response from management) - What will be the long term effects of having to work with her. She obviously will know you are the one that “squealed”… do you want to work in a situation where you have to work with a potential enemy?
there are too many variables/unknowns here to give you a cut and dried answer…
Regards
FML
Do you like this person?
This happened where I worked. Management had delegated the time reporting to a guy who really didn’t care, and he let a cow-orker put in for 30 minutes overtime (“working through lunch”) every day. He moved on, and the task was given to someone who DID care. She didn’t turn the person in, she just rejected the time cards and sent them back. It pissed the cheater off big time, but there wasn’t anything they could do.
I don’t dislike her. She’s too new for me to know her well. Seems nice enough. At one point she did say to me that she wouldn’t care if she got fired or quit because she doesn’t need the job.
Let it come to management’s attention that they may benefit from taking a closer look at the timesheets. If they find something unwarranted, they can decide for themselves how to deal with it. If they want to make a big deal out of it, it obviously matters to them and she can STFU. If they don’t, hey, it’s not your problem and she doesn’t need to know.
I say turn her in.
I busted one of my coworkers last year for this. She was responsible for administering the timekeeping for our company. She had the ability to adjust and edit clockin/clockout times for everyone in the company, including herself. As one who manages projects -I have the ability look at everyone’s timesheet to see they are charging time to my projects (look only-no edit capability even for my own time), and I noticed this person would stroll in late everyday and also take a half hour extra for lunch than what was recorded. I held my tongue for months thinking that someone else would notice, but the time cheating went on unabated, so…
Finger pointing and tattling are frowned on in my company. I typed an anonymous note and placed it on the HR manager’s desk. Within days, the cheater’s timekeeping responsibilities were taken away.
If you do tell -stay anonymous. Avoid crossfire and repercussions.
Is she counting an hour for lunch that you aren’t?
You’re a lot less funny than you think you are.
No. Today she and I both worked from 9:15 - 4:15. We take off 1/2 an hour for lunch so it comes to 6 1/2 hours. Even if she was counting her 1/2 hour lunch, she still only would have actually been there for only 7, not 7 1/2 hours.
Maybe she is math challenged and thinks it is 7.5 hours.
Generally speaking new employees should be in the “honeymoon” phase, they do what they are told, show up on time, and try and learn how to keep their job.
This to me sounds like someone who basically does not give a crap and should be replaced by someone who needs a job and would appreciate the opportunity to have a life.
With some amount of subtlety.
There is a huge difference between “Lori is cheating on her timecards!!!” and “I think you might want to do a timecard audit this week.”
If you have a paper timecard system and are paid hourly, the process should be that management reviews and approves each timecard. So to assume that she is getting away with this means you are telling your manager that they aren’t doing their job. That’s sort of a sticky place to be. Its possible that your manager is doing her job, and Lori’s timecards are being bounced back due to her “math error.”
Is this an hourly job where your weekly pay depends on how many hours you write down? Is it possible that something’s happening where she’s picking up extra responsibilities on the job or from home to make up for the extra hour? Is it possible she’s worked out something with the boss?
MYOB. No one likes a tattletale. The manager who you tell will think less of you because when the manager wants to slack off, they’ll not want you to run a rat line.
It doesn’t affect your life. If management cares, they’ll catch on soon enough.
And another vote for minding your own damned business, something that many people should do much more often.
Since she is still new, you might mention it as a training issue. “Who trained Lorie on the time cards? She still seems kinda confused.”
If it comes to management’s attention that you knew and didn’t say anything, they will also think less of you. IME when someone gets canned for something this blatant, it’s often pretty ugly. I also don’t think it’s obvious that “she’ll know you told.” Because it will come to light. She’s not going to get away with charging 5 extra hours a week indefinitely. Is she always going to assume it was you who told when management notices the problem?
As far as her turning out to be your boss someday, I think you can take this as a big red flag of someone you wouldn’t want to work for.
I would normally MYOB but it would depend on what I thought of the rest of her work. If she is basically not giving a damn about anything and causing other people unnecessary work then I could certainly consider doing something about it. Assuming that to be the case, I’d comment about it within hearing of others a few times and then possibly make an anonymous tip to her superiors. No need to let her be certain who she should be taking revenge on.