# Thoughts on a time clock system that rounds to the nearest 15 minute increment? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-a-time-clock-system-that-rounds-to-the-nearest-15-minute-increment/636215 "2012-09-29T05:39:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-a-time-clock-system-that-rounds-to-the-nearest-15-minute-increment/636215/21 "2012-10-02T10:57:13Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > In my experience, people will get back at bosses who do that. They’ll punch in at 8:55 and spend 20 minutes having coffee before doing any work, or they’ll pack up and stare into space for 10 minutes before punching out at 5. Or they’ll start lining up at the timeclock at 4:50 to make certain they punch out exactly at 5. That’s exactly what happened at my last job. Other departments were clocking _out_ 5 minutes early because they’d clocked _in_ 5 minutes early, and their managers were okay with them evening things out. Our manager, on the other hand, would send nastygrams to anyone who checked out before exactly 11:30pm, with official reprimands coming down after three strikes. So most nights, we’d have a ten minute chitchat at the time clock and then all attack the thing with our badges when the number was right. Guess which department had the lowest “employee morale” scores of the whole hospital? ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-a-time-clock-system-that-rounds-to-the-nearest-15-minute-increment/636215/22 "2012-10-03T11:23:52Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > In my experience, people will get back at bosses who do that. They’ll punch in at 8:55 and spend 20 minutes having coffee before doing any work, or they’ll pack up and stare into space for 10 minutes before punching out at 5. Or they’ll start lining up at the timeclock at 4:50 to make certain they punch out exactly at 5. That’s exactly what happened when we had our old system 5 years ago, which makes me wonder why they would go back to it. Oh, and we will now need to punch out for lunch (before, we only punched out if we left the premises). So another chance to be dinged. I get trained on the new system today. Oh joy. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-a-time-clock-system-that-rounds-to-the-nearest-15-minute-increment/636215/23 "2012-10-03T14:19:47Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > If you’re supposed to show up at 9:00, but you show up at 9:05 and get in trouble, that’s not the fault of the timekeeping program; that’s your fault for not showing up on time. Luckily for me, my boss isn’t that concerned, so if I show up at 7:05 i just leave at 4:05 (even though I could technically leave at 4:54, since both will round to 4:00). I see no reason that you need to clock in early and clock out late. If the reason is “because the boss is a jerk and will punish you if you do otherwise”, then again the problem is not with the timekeeping system; in that case the problem is with the boss. > > If you clock in late and leave early, of course you’re going to be in trouble…like I said before, if you’re supposed to work 9-5, then clock in at 9 and clock out at 5, and I don’t see how anyone can complain. Think about shift work jobs or customer service jobs where you have to be at your station working at a specific time. For example, a cashier at Target has to be at his post at 8 and won’t be relieved until 12. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-a-time-clock-system-that-rounds-to-the-nearest-15-minute-increment/636215.md?page=1)