Ever been paid to do nothing at work?

Have you ever been in a situation where you really had nothing to do except join meeting and some small talk on projects?

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JamesKurtovich

At my last job, yes. Most of my co-workers got paid to watch YouTube. I did some of that, but I also spent a lot of my downtime with WGU.

jcundiff

Mike7 wrote: »

Common for employees in certain positions and/or joining a direct competitor. Another phrase is "gardening leave".

Yeah, he was executive director level, and while not a direct competitor, it was 'same seat' with us, and within the same sector. Yep, gardening leave...

FillAwful

Once, while waiting for a clearance. Couldn't even get in the building and got paid to stay home. I used that time to study and get some certs but it was maddening. Had a lot of time to to work out and keep myself busy that way. Lost 15 pounds and built some really great habits with fitness.

Now a days there is definitely downtime but I get involved in other projects around the office. I particularly enjoy facilitating courses/think-shops and its helped me network better and get to know people who have other jobs in the organization.

DatabaseHead

Please don't take this wrong, but any one complaining of too much time or being bored is being ridiculous.

There is always something to do.

jamesleecoleman

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Please don't take this wrong, but any one complaining of too much time or being bored is being ridiculous.

There is always something to do.

I agree. I say that a good worker will create work when everything is done. If there's nothing to do then figure out how to make something easier, better or learn how something works within the organization. I think that if no work can be created after everything then it's time to move on to something else. Nothing wrong with studying though.

NetworkingStudent

Yes, I have been bored at work.

I usually try to find something to do.

Sweep the floor, empty trash, update documentation, go through outstanding tasks/tickets, ect...ect...

If none of those options are available, then I try to just go up and talk to my co workers, and see what they're working on, and how things are going.

If I can't find nothing to do, or If I even working on something I always let my manager know.

Then he or she knows that even though things are slow, and I'm working on something.

Your manager will usually have something for you to work.

Idle workers=profit lo$$

SpetsRepair

Make your own work usually, there's always something to do and someone who might need help just need to figure it out and speak up.

Replicon

FillAwful wrote: »

Once, while waiting for a clearance. Couldn't even get in the building and got paid to stay home. I used that time to study and get some certs but it was maddening. Had a lot of time to to work out and keep myself busy that way. Lost 15 pounds and built some really great habits with fitness.

+1 lol wish I had that kind of break, at least for a month to get paid and relax

TechGromit

CiscoASA2202 wrote: »

Ever been paid to do nothing at work?

Some days yes. At times I'm so busy there not enough hours in the day to do everything. Other days nothing is going on all day, I almost feel guilty getting paid what I do. I try to utilize my down time to study, but I have to admit, I spend my fair share of surfing the internet, watching Youtube and having stress ball fights with my co-workers.

skswitch

IT field / support can be hot/cold throughout the day. Sometimes you have nothing to do then next something is down and everyone is running around crazy like. Those times you usually learn how a process REALLY worked (instead of we thought it worked another way) and it does make the day go by faster lol. Like everyone has mentioned use this time to study up. Getting paid to study?! Check!

If you need a break from computer related area I usually use this time to start research on my home projects.

ande0255

At a contract job for a companies that sells rings for high school events up to sports events like the superbowl, however once the school year was over, my contract had another month left with noone calling in for support.

So I spent 3 weeks watching netflix on the PC, then I told them I just had to end the contract early cause I couldn't take doing nothing anymore, even if nothing was netflix I'd rather watch it at home.