I work for a company where I am paid hourly, and time is reported by minutes. Each job I am given has a time allotted for the job to be finished within. For example: 60 minutes. These times are based on the average time it should take a person to complete the job, but I have found that most of the jobs I have been given have a pretty generous allotted time and I am done much sooner. My minutes are reported on my honor.

I do quite a bit of work for this company and the only projects that I do for them that have come close (or slightly over) the allotted time are resets. When I first started working these jobs, some did take me closer to the allotted time, but many of these jobs are monthly where I have developed a routine, so I am much more efficient.

The problem comes down to the fact that because I finish the projects quickly and when I report my time, sometimes I am actually "costing" myself money by being too efficient. KWIM? I've even tried "slowing down" but still don't come close to the allotted time.

So, what would you do? Would you report for the time allotted to do the job even if it didn't take you that long? These are a lot of 15, 30, 45, and 60 minute jobs. Just curious?

I do group my projects together as much as possible. But when I have one that is 15, and two that are 30 minutes, and one that is 45, but it only takes me 65 minutes to do all of them and I had to wait for the manager to sign (which could be another 10 to 15 minutes!) plus my drive time of 20 minutes each way...sometimes I feel like I am shooting myself in the foot!

Another company I work for is the same way, however their jobs usually take me right at or just shy of the allotted time. I guess their estimates of what an average person can complete are more accurate.

Well you should definitely count time spent waiting on a manager to sign into your alloted timeframe for job completion. And beginning time should start when you pull into the parking space and end when you are getting ready to pull out of the parking space. As far as whether or not you should claim the full hour or expected time allotted for the job, well, it depends on the company. I work for one merchandising company who states that if the expected time is an hour, we are allowed to say that we worked for an hour. If I do more than one job per day, I get paid drive time and mileage in between locations. I'd say it depends on the company's policies, which are sometimes unspoken and unwritten acceptance that the full time will be taken.

I do count my time as when I enter the parking lot and if I have to wait a good amount of time for the manager, I count that as well.

In the company paperwork, it never explicitly says how we should count our time or if we should claim the entire amount allotted, if it takes under the amount. I do wish it were more explicit. However, I assume that I am supposed to claim my actual time, because on the report where you claim how much time the job took, there is a drop down list of minutes from one to the alloted amount. (ex: 1,2,3,4...60). But again, that could just be the way their form drop down is formatted and maybe they do expect one to claim the entire time... But part of me says if that were the case, couldnt/wouldn't they pay a set amount per job, rather than hourly? Or do they have to pay hourly since this particular company is an employer?

I always want to be honest, but if they are "ok" with us claiming the entire amount even if we are quicker, I wish their guidance just said it. Of course, I suppose it benefits the company of we don't take the entire time and claim it. I am sure they get paid by the stores a set amount if the job is completed, so it's more money for them if I complete the job quicker and report it as such.

Exactly.

I was told by a company once to claim the full time. Their rationale was this:

You get a project with a 90 minute time. Suppose you do yours in 45 minutes and merchandiser 2 actually needs the full 90 minutes due to whatever. Between just the two of you the average completion time is 67.5 minutes. Meaning if the client were to go just by the two of you, they'll lower the time to 60 minutes or so. Meaning, person 2 now has no way to hit the project time. I hope that makes sense. Some of us are faster than others for several reasons. In a company wide mindset, we need to remember there are good merchandisers out there that really are not fast, efficient, maybe older, etc. They really do average these projects out.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2016 02:51PM by adlib.

That makes total sense, adlib!

That's sound and logical. I do work for one company that has us sign in and out on our Smartphones at the location with our location services turned on, which makes it impossible to do anything else but report the exact time spent at the location. That really sucks when I show up at a store to set up a display and the store team did it already, especially if it's a location close by and I have nothing else on my schedule for the day

@JASFLALMT wrote:

That's sound and logical. I do work for one company that has us sign in and out on our Smartphones at the location with our location services turned on, which makes it impossible to do anything else but report the exact time spent at the location. That really sucks when I show up at a store to set up a display and the store team did it already, especially if it's a location close by and I have nothing else on my schedule for the day

Wow, and the company won't compensate you a little for your time? It's not your fault you went to do the job and the store personnel already did it! That stinks because you wasted your money (gas, time) to do the job!

Yeah, I get to claim a whole 10 minutes or maybe 20 if I have to wait around for the manager to get done doing something else...I let my supervisor know I didn't want to do those stores anymore unless I have several things to do on my list for the day (so I can claim drive time and mileage in between stores) so it hasn't happened in a long time, but other reps have been complaining about it.

If I travel to a location, I am taking an hour no matter what happens. I get no admin or travel time, or mileage. I would not make minimum wage at the end of the week if I only took time spent in store doing merchandising. Plus, the rate per hour for the jobs has not increased since I have been doing this, so the only raise I will ever see is to get better at doing the work faster. You shouldn't lose money because you are good! On the flip side, if something does take longer than the allotted time, I will eat that knowing I can make it up somewhere else. Very rarely I will ask my manager for extra time, and only if a job has been clearly undertimed.

@ TiggerOh Be sure to add the time it takes to do the report and upload or crop photos. This is part of the project. If the company requires you to log in and out at the location do your report at the site.

You ALWAYS claim the maximum amount of time allowed! Your work time includes planning your trip/route, reading the project requirements, completing the reporting, and if you work a few less minutes than you are paid for, it will make up for a few minutes you will go over on another project at another time. This was explained to me by my DM's manager.