I get harassed a lot because of the hours I seem to work. First shift starts promptly at 7 AM (it starts at 6 AM if we are especially busy), engineering must be at their desks and working by no later than 8 and office staff start there day around 8:30.
I get to work by 8:30. I have an hour drive to work and mornings aren't the best time of the day for me. I get through my day and end up going home anywhere between 3:30 and 5 (usually, I try to leave by 4). Now for the keen observer, you might note that I am at my place of work for less than 8 hours on an average day. However, just because I'm not at work doesn't mean I'm not working.
I usually get home around 5:00, spend some time with my family, then log into work around 8 or so. On any given evening I will need to apply updates to servers, restart rogue processes, install software on a user's machine, troubleshoot issues with machines, among many other mundane tasks.
My ultimate goal is for IT to be as unobtrusive as possible. In order to meet that goal I often have to do a lot of work on what most people would call their personal time. IT guys can't necessarily leave their work at the office. If something needs fixed, I fix it whether it's at 11 AM or 9 PM.
So go ahead and give me a hard time. I may not put in a full day at the office, but please don't imply that I get by with doing less work than anybody else. If you do harass me though, I might be inclined to give you a phone call and invite you to ride with me as I go into work at 4 AM to fix a RAID that crashed on a server.
That can be said of multiple positions, including maintenance workers and others who have to deal with emergencies and after-hours tasks such as clearing snow from parking lots or making repairs.
ReplyDeleteHaving been in a similar position for several years, I know the kinds of tasks you're talking about. I kept track of my time pretty closely for years (down to the minute) in case anyone ever complained. The problem from the perspective of management or 'users' is that type of schedule can be abused. And in cases where "the IT guy" seems to be falling behind in his work and is slow to respond on a regular basis, people are justifiably skeptical that the hours are really being worked.
If the IT guy is responsive, on top of things, and generally of good character, the complaints should dissipate with a simple explanation like you've provided here. And management should be very supportive of the IT guy in that situation. But if any of those characteristics are not true, management has the prerogative to implement some measure of accountability to determine whether the schedule is being abused, or whether the employee is a bad time manager, or whether it's time to add another person to the team.
It is a frustrating situation for myself because I am proactive about fixing my customers' issues and sacrifice 'personal time' in order to give the best experience possible to the people I work with.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I appreciate you pointing out the other side. There are people who take advantage of situations like these and accountability is key.
I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts and experiences. Please continue to share yours with me as well.