First we had the give a penny take a penny ‘rounding’ of expense claims and now we have the 70 hour two week cycle trumping common sense or engagement.

A recent grievance discussion devolved into the employer wanting to ignore more than 30 years of past practise just to fit the ERP system.  When you’re not on flex hours you work 10 seven hour days... 70 hours for two weeks... right? Right.

But when you’re on flex time you work 7.75 hour days x 9 over the two weeks and OMG you end up 15 WHOLE minutes short every two weeks.  This is past practise for an incredibly long time since all managers know it would be incredibly stupid to tell someone to schedule 8 days of 7.75 and one more day at 8...GET REAL already.

But no... HR wants to make a big deal out of this one!  This never would have been an issue had the ERP system not insisted on 70 hours every two weeks, no matter your work cycle.  It’s never been an issue in the past, why make it one now?

The reality of the flex schedule as I have tried to point out, is that virtually every employee starts a few minutes early and stays a few minutes late, and goes for lunch a few minutes late and comes back a few minutes early because big brother is watching.  Well... there is EASILY your 15 minutes every two weeks.

SO, if your manager starts to insist you schedule an extra 15 minutes... then you should start exactly on time, leave exactly on time, don’t start your computer until you get paid too.  Start taking those coffee breaks in the field you usually don’t bother too...you are getting absolutely NO credit for having done so all these years!

If we all did that then the employer would get exactly what they seem to want... effectively LESS time received from us...all because of an infantile position started by the enlightened ERP system where numbers count and people don’t...oh, except for those pennies...I guess the numbers don’t always count either.

There... I just channelled my inner Rick Mercer...did you get the quirky camera angle halfway through?

Be good to yourselves and your coworkers as we head towards preparing to close the roll while being underpaid, overworked, disengaged and clock-watched!

With solidarity in our thoughts and actions in the next few months we can start to close the wage gap, become re-engaged in this great company and loosen the chains of inflexibility that hold us back from our potential.

Yours, as always in solidarity,
M/S/C