Comments on the following situation

[fredericofonseca]

Hi all,


I would like to hear your comments on the following situation.

Background.

Foreign IT Contractor working for a multinational (short term contract).
Company policies are
1- Free internet access outside working hours
2- No restrictions on received calls outside working hours
3- Normal restrictions on internet/email use during working hours (e.g. work related only for internet, and personal email should be avoid)
4- Strict restrictions on calls MADE. Company may ask you to pay personal calls.
5- Use of mobile phones is VERY restricted, and personell is advised to use call forwarding to company land line numbers.

Contractor dependency is as follows.
Contractor->Team Leader->Project Leader->I.T. Manager.
and only reports to Team Leader.

Now the facts.

Policies 4 and 5 were not part of documents supplied to Contractor as part of company policies, and were only found out on a memo laying around on the canteen two weeks after start date.

As contractor is from another country it is a lot cheaper for HIM to have his family call him at work than at his mobile (roaming charges are avoided), so he stays after normal work hours and receives 1 call normally after five (work normally ends at 4:30).
This period after work is also used to go to the internet.
This is done with knowledge of Team Leader.


Now the situations that occurred and that require comments

Situation 1.
(At this stage the Contractor is still not informed of who is the I.T. manager as he had been away for the previous two days)

Third day of working a call is received on the Mobile, and lasts for around 15 minutes.
During call the Contractor is "told" sharply to go outside by the I.T. manager which is accepted and executed.

Shortly after call is ended the I.T. Manager goes and says the following two things to the Contractor.
1- Please don't use the Mobile phone here.
OK. This is fine and is followed for that point on.

2- Quote "We pay you to work, not to be on the phone". end-quote
Now in my opinion this raises the following issue.
---
We (company or himself?) don't trust you to control what time you work and charge us for.
---
This is the same as saying the contractor is unprofessional, untrustworthy, and will possibly charge for what is not done.

Situation 2.
Three weeks on the contract, long time after work hours (5:45) contractor in RECEIVING a call from home when..
1- I.T. Manager comes and sits on Contractors desk
and when adressed to says
2- quote "I don't believe this is a work call" end-quote

The reply to him is "I'm not working anymore, and it is my wife that is calling me".

At this point the I.T. Manager just stays shut, turns it's back and leaves.
No "Sorry, my mistake" or anything else said then or after.


Now bearing in mind point 4 of the Company Policy I find this very weird, as if it was suspected that the Contractor was doing personal calls then this could very easly be brought to his attention with facts, instead of this lame attempt.

Any comments on this behaviour are welcome.

Sorry for the long post





Regards

Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd

http://www.syssoft-int.com

 

[sleipnir214]

It seems to me that the company really has either no clear idea of what the company's policies are, or no clear idea how to implement them. Also, in the IT world it is difficult at times to know then "working hours" have ended -- often, IT works on an "until the problem is solved" basis.

Rather than trying to guess at a supervisor's motives, I strongly recommend an open dialog with the supervisor to ensure there are no misunderstandings.


Frankly, I will not work for a company that will not allow me to accept personal incoming calls on my cell-phone. It is the most sure-fire way that my family can get hold of me in an emergency.

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[rosieb]

fredericofonseca
You're stuck between a rock & a hard place...

Sounds like the IT Manager is trying to make a point and is insecure about his/her position.

I suggest you discuss, in general terms, with your line manager, the issues about being away from your family. Make it plain that you are concerned to keep within company regulations but that time difference may be a problem to your family. Make it plain that you intend to make up for any working time lost due to family interruptions. Ask if s/he has any problems. That way you get it on record.

If the IT Manager questions your behavior, explain that you have discussed, and agreed, it with your manager and ask if they have a solution which they would find more appropriate.

You're a contractor, push the time/distance issue, provided you deliver, any reasonable company should accomodate your issues.

 

[BJCooperIT]

Perhaps the IT manager is the type who never apologizes or was unaware of the time of day and embarrassed by his mistake. Sleipnir214 is on the mark about open dialog, the manager needs to know you are honoring the terms of your contract. Contractors who hold personal conversations on the client's time are universally frowned upon. It is unprofessional to charge a client for time spent on personal business and I am sure you do not want to be perceived as doing that.

Perhaps the earlier 15 minute conversation caused him to watch you more closely or perhaps the conversation was disrupting the work of others. Do not take it too personally, but do learn from it to prevent a recurrence.

^{Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw}
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000

 

[bi]

Maybe the manager didn't know you had "clocked out" and were talking on your own time, rather than the company's time? If you can demonstrate you are scrupulous in keeping your billing for hours accurate (not billing for times you take a break, or for lunch, or for personal phone calls), maybe s/he'll ease up.

But I don't know how much hope you have in getting to this point with this company. They want you to forward your personal mobile phone to your office phone when you are at work? Pretty backwards, if you ask me. And an invasion of privacy.

 

[fredericofonseca]

Thanks all for the comments.



My Team manager was well aware that I received calls after work, and that I used that time (after 4:30/5:00) to surf the net, as this was one of the things I spoke with her on the first day, as I do not like to do what is not normally allowed to the others.
Also the issue is not time differences as the hour is the same in both countries, hence she will only call after work hours.


I do keep a very tight time control, and I know exactly how much time I spend on each task, being it work related or not, as I am used to work for several customers at the same time (I worked on a software house, so you get used to do this), so if they ever raise an issue with working hours versus internet use I can easly prove to them they are wrong.

As for my work performance, I have to say that I do perform better than they expected (my manager words), and so far I have spent around 60% of the time they have allocated for each task (e.g one of the task had 120 hours allocated to me, and I took 65, and another one 14h took 2, other not so good), so I am really not worried about this particular issue.

I am a contractor for over 12 years, and I have never had any issues with this, so I am just very surprised with this behaviour.

Luckily it is a very short term contract (will be over in January), so I'll just keep doing what was agreed with the Team Manager.


Thanks again



Regards

Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd

http://www.syssoft-int.com

 

[BJCooperIT]

Federico,
I came into a government agency that previously had had several bad experiences with contractors. It was several months before the suspicious glances stopped and they began to trust me. Perhaps you are in the same situation. It sounds like the manager does not have good communication with your team leader. It might help to do something obvious when you go off the clock - like a humorous sign on the side of your cubicle: "Want to discuss the game? I am off the clock!" or whatever is appropriate.

^{Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw}
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000