Work ethic during "downtime"

How does everyone here handle "downtime?" I ended up quitting my last job because they insisted I was engaged in something, even if it was phony busywork. I felt like I had to pretend to do stuff, which I refused to do. They "caught" me studying an MCSA book on a slow day and I was reprimanded. This was a help desk job that paid $28k. I quit, even though I didn't have another job lined up. Was this poor work ethic on my part?

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Comments

Snow.bros

This is a really good thread, our organisation gets a lot of downtime these days. I have always been wondering if studying is ethical when there is down.

Well I also study during downtime and read articles relating work environmental ethics on linkedin, reading some posts on TE, basically I always read anything that would be beneficial to my career and my job, I believe that's all work related but I always keep an eye on the help-desk tickets and monitor networks every 5-10 minutes. I always have a guilt feeling when someone walks in while I am studying or reading an article, that's when I start acting as if I am busy doing something work related.

philz1982

I do one of three things:

Study for a skill I have seen us need but are lacking.
Network with others in the company and help them out with side projects.
Evaluate past engagements, see where the inefficiencies were and then try to close those gaps.

I also post here occasionally...

Claymoore

UnixGuy wrote: »

Granted I won't be the 'winner' here.

Sure you are, because you will no longer be working in that toxic, dysfunctional environment.

Downtime is unavoidable and I would rather you have your nose in an MCSA book than Facebook. My company has a different attitude about that. If we have downtime, we are expected to be training and expanding or deepening our skillset. They also consider us to be professional adults that can manage our own time. As long as my deliverables and deadlines are being met and my billable hours are on target, they really don't care when or where I work.

Zartanasaurus

majestic_pecan wrote: »

Definitely unethical and a crappy work environment but whether it is actually illegal depends on the state. In my state of Texas, for example, employers are legally allowed to tell their employees where they can take their breaks (off-premises in this example). This would at least be something the employer tells the employee beforehand though, not after working for a while. Shady stuff.

You can't tell someone that they forfeit their lunch break.

Zartanasaurus

Reading my VMWare book for today's downtime.

snadam

during "Downtime", I utually browse TE, Google News (mainly tech pages), or reading my 'fun book' Junos Enterprise Routing. Usually there's always something going on, but if there's a 10-15 minute window in between tasks, I typically just try and expand knowledge in the industry one way or another.

CCNTrainee

This is a great thread... I always thought that majority of IT companies would be open for people self-studying on down times. I always thought that was a lot better then having people on FB/Utube or even worst sleeping. Well I guess I got another question to ask in interviews as well as another factor to look out for when I become a Civilian again. Great Post!!!

Expect

There is no problem doing stuff related to anything during down time, our company encourages this, they even allow going to conferences related to the job during work week, and once in a while get us a random training session (last time it was Linux Optimization & Tweaking)

N2IT

I always make sure it's in my companies best interest and mine. I'll either start scripting to build up my repository or research my company and our competitors. Since I work for a large company I also learn the different LOB.

dankentucky75

I rarely get downtime at work. But when I do, I go to the restroom and browse the web and reply personal emails through my phone.

Talonize

One of the things I was looking for in my job search, was being allowed to study during down time. That's part of the things I love and the job i just got, I may still have to leave it 😞

Krones

What is this downtime that you speak of? haha. sigh. I am actually trying to force myself to have downtime at work because I am not really advancing my technical skillset. If I worked for a company that disciplined employees for advancing their skillsets in some form that was beneficial to their work during a slow period - If given the luxury to do so, I would leave.

Kai123

I had a months worth of downtime and spent it figuring out what cert to study for in my downtime.

Now I'm too busy to study in work at all, granted that im learning enough on the fly anyway.

If I have a a few minutes to spare, I normally spend it on forums. No manager has told me off (yet).