Time theft” within workplace is topic.
ENG112 Wk 4 Rhetorical Analysis Feedback
Hi
Well done for the effort here. Good work, but you focus more on describing the ad and what is going on in it rather than analyzing the strategies
Recommendations:
Always consult the student examples that I use.
Here’s the rubric:
Category |
Points Possible |
Points Earned |
Comments |
Audience and Purpose Writer has chosen a current or vintage ad for analysis that is appropriate for a college-level audience. Thesis clearly states whether or not the ad was effective or influential. This purpose is clearly conveyed throughout the essay, meeting audience needs and expectations. |
50 |
45 |
Clear thesis |
Organization and Development The introduction grabs the reader’s attention, introduces the subject, and clearly conveys the overall purpose. The body paragraphs work to support the essay’s purpose with appropriate content that meets the readers’ needs. The conclusion ties the essay together and leaves readers with the dominant impression. (40 points) Writer provides details and descriptions to introduce the ad visually. Identification of rhetorical strategies supports the promise of the thesis by explaining how or why the ad was or was not effective or influential. (40 points) |
80 |
70 |
Some analysis. Too much focus on description Good conclusion Well organized – but get rid of the subheadings. This is an essay, not a report. |
Style and Mechanics The voice of the writer is clear, distinct, and appropriate. The writer’s message is clearly communicated with appropriate spelling and use of grammar and punctuation. Errors do not significantly interfere with meaning. |
20 |
Good work here |
|
Total The assignment meets or exceeds the above criteria. |
150 |
135 |
“As Long as the Job Gets Done”: Managers Talk about Time Theft
ABSTRACT
Previous research suggests that workers often engage in “time theft” at work (e.g., using
work computers for personal use, taking extra breaks, daydreaming, etc.) but the
consequences of these activities for organizations are debated. Most researchers suggest
that time theft activities are unproductive, costly, and detrimental to organizational
functioning and highlight ways employers and managers can minimize or eliminate them.
Others suggest they can benefit both workers and organizations through decreased levels
of stress and fatigue. Regardless of the effects, researchers often assume that management
is avidly against allowing time theft; however, past research rarely questions this
assumption. In this paper I examine the extent to which managers problematize time
theft. Using interviews with managers across a variety of workplaces, I show that the
beliefs of managers regarding time theft are not monolithic. Findings suggest that while
some managers may prohibit workers from engaging in time theft, others express
ambivalence or actively encourage workers to engage in these activities within limits.
“As Long as the Job Gets Done”: Managers Talk about Time Theft
Work is temporally structured, and time serves as a central organizing component
of the working day for employees and employers (Fine 1990; Heyes 1997). Both seek to
manipulate time to their advantage: employers to maximize labor power by focusing on
efficient production (Taylor 1911), workers to increase their autonomy and freedom (Fine
1996; Hodson 2001). Though not inherently at odds, attempts to control the ratio of labor
power to unit of time (i.e. the effort-bargain) have often created employer-employee
conflict (Marx 1967; Thompson 1967), especially in relation to the time spent at work
(i.e. the length of the day) and the rate of tasks completed in a given time period (i.e.
work intensification).
Time theft, or unauthorized moments when employees are not working while on
the job (e.g., taking longer than allowed on official breaks, taking extra breaks,
daydreaming, or using work computers for personal use), represent a potential site of
conflict between employers and employees. On one hand, employers have an interest in
minimizing time employees spend away from productive activities (Marx 1967); on the
other hand, workers may be interested in taking breaks from production, for example, to
handle personal affairs, smoke, rest, or avoid work (Dababneh, Swanson, and Shell 2001;
Fine 1990). While some researchers believe taking breaks from work helps maintain
overall production levels (e.g., Coker 2011), employers and employees may have varied
expectations about how many breaks per day are necessary. Indeed, some literature
suggests that employees are costing companies millions of dollars every year in
unproductive activity (Atkinson 2006; Ketchen, Craighead, and Buckley 2008). This
literature tends to concentrate on explaining the overall costs of time theft to companies
and what managers can do to correct or counteract it (e.g., Ketchen et al. 2008), or how
employees justify or rationalize their time theft behaviors (e.g., Lim 2002). However,
researchers rarely investigate the extent to which managers actually problematize
workers’ unproductive activities. To address this gap, I analyze 21 interviews with
managers across a variety of workplaces about their feelings and opinions on time theft,
specifically how they feel about informal work breaks.1 First, I briefly outline past
research on the importance of maximizing labor time for employers, the benefits of work
breaks, and time theft. I then discuss my data and methods before analyzing how
managers make sense of informal breaks. Overall, my findings suggest that while some
managers may attempt to prohibit workers from engaging in informal breaks, others
express ambivalence or actively encourage workers to engage in these activities within
limits. I close by discussing the implications of my findings for future research on time
theft in the workplace.
Literature Review
Control Over Unproductive Labor Time
Prior to the implementation of wage labor under industrial capitalism, the working
day was often structured around particular tasks or the natural cycles of day and night.
With the advent of industrial capitalism, however, a new form of time management, or
clock time, arose. As employers increasingly paid workers for their labor time (rather
than for a completed task), employers subjected workers to a rigorous clock discipline by
1 The definition of time theft in the literature is broad, encompassing such activities as “buddy punching”
(coworkers clocking each other in and out), calling out sick, and coming into work late or leaving early.
However, in this paper I concentrate on a subset of time theft activities more aptly termed “informal
breaks”. This includes daydreaming, using a work computer for personal use, surfing the internet, personal
conversations with coworkers, playing games, and taking extra breaks outside of formal offerings (e.g., an
official lunch break).
setting predetermined starting and quitting times, and increasingly holding workers
accountable for the hours, minutes, and seconds of the day (Thompson 1967).
This was intensified by new factory organization which allowed employers a level
of supervision and discipline previously unattainable when workers worked out of their
homes (Clawson 1980). Indeed, the time spent on unproductive activities (e.g., lunch
breaks) could now be heavily regulated and even encroached upon. In the early British
factory systems, for example, evidence suggests many employers blatantly disregarded
the Factory Act of 1850 (requiring two meal breaks) by attempting to “nibble” and
“cribble” away minutes of meal times (Marx 1967: 242). Thompson (1967) also
describes factory employers barring employees from wearing watches at work. This gave
workers little recourse to challenge employers when the bell for the start of break rang
late and the bell for the end of break rang early. Ultimately, this made sense from an
employer’s standpoint because breaks in production often conflicted with short-term
profit generation (Narayanan 1985; Jackall 1988). As Elger (1990: 69) argues, quoting
Marx (1967), we saw changes to the “‘porosity’ of work routines, through the paring
down of pauses, resting and waiting time and thus [a] ‘closer filling up of the pores of the
working day’.”
Positive Benefits of Unproductive Labor Time
Though the organization and experience of work has changed profoundly since
the advent of industrial capitalism, labor time remains a central concern for employers
(Heyes 1997). Clock time continues to dominate managerial thought (Crossan et al.
2005), and labor time remains a scarce resource to be manipulated and controlled
(Rubery et al. 2005). In other words, efficiency and the elimination of unproductive
activities remain major concerns for employers.
Research suggests, however, that breaks in productive activities need not concern
management at all times. For example, the ergonomics, management, and occupational
psychology literatures often encourage employers to provide workers with breaks
(Kirkcaldy, Trimpop, and Levine 2002; Mayo 1924; Tucker 2003). These researchers
suggest that breaks are vital for worker health and productivity and studies generally find
that breaks help employees reduce muscular discomfort, fatigue, accident risk, and stress
(Schleifer and Amick 1989; Tucker, Folkard, and Macdonald 2003) without
compromising overall productivity (Dabeneh et al. 2001; McLean et al. 2001).
Sociologists also occasionally describe the benefits of breaks for workers, suggesting that
breaks allow workers to reduce boredom (Roy 1959) and keep their spirits up through
games and humor (Homans 1950; Perry 1978). Health experts, popular management
consultants, and advertising campaigns echo these academic findings (Gioia 2011;
Goodman 2011). McDonald’s has even recently attempted to profit from these
campaigns, inviting workers to “Put an end to the working lunch and work on eating
lunch” (Vega 2012).
Employers also have an extra incentive to provide workers with official down
time (e.g., lunch breaks) when states or companies create formal break policies.2 When
breaks are mandated by law or through company rules, the government may fine, or
employees may sue, employers for not providing breaks (Sanburn 2012). Indeed, recent
2 Currently no federal law in the United States mandates break periods (except for minors, nursing mothers,
and certain workers who may endanger others—e.g., bus drivers) and less than half of US states require
breaks after a certain period of labor time (Department of Labor 2012; Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration 2012). Employers, especially large and national chains, may have their own break policies;
however, the extent to which employers follow them is an empirical question.
news reports document cases where employers have fired workers who “chose” to work
during their designated breaks to avoid potentially paying fines (Sanburn 2012;
Schmadeke 2012).3 Thus, formal breaks may be in the best interest of not only workers
but also employers.
Unproductive Labor Time as Time Theft
While many (though not all) states and workplaces have adopted formal break
policies, the literature suggests that informal breaks have become a major concern for
employers. Indeed, a sizable literature on “time theft” has grown across the management
and organizational behavior disciplines over the last 30 years (Lim 2002). Time theft falls
under the umbrella of “production deviance” in management literature and encompasses
such acts as taking personal phone calls at work, unauthorized break use, “cyberloafing”
(browsing the internet or playing games), personal conversations with coworkers, and
daydreaming (Atkinson 2006; Henle, Reeve, and Pitts 2010; Lim 2002).
While these types of activities are not new to workplaces (Hodson 1995),
researchers have increasingly suggested that these activities cost companies billions of
dollars every year in lost productivity (De Lara 2007; Lim 2002). Indeed, this research
often suggests that the level of time theft in organizations is “alarming,” claiming that
workers frequently and consistently engage in these behaviors (De Lara 2007: 464; Henle
et al. 2010; Martin et al. 2010).4 For example, Malachowski and Simonini (2006) suggest
that the average employee wastes 1.86 hours per day outside of regular scheduled work
3 While some workers may freely choose to work during lunch in order to, for example, leave work early
(Garey 1999; Perry 1978), research shows that many workers have no choice but to work during lunch due
to heavy workloads and/or normative pressures (Fraser 2001; Kuna 2006).
4 The causes of time theft have been amply investigated and researchers have suggested both individual and
organizational antecedents to these behaviors; however, discussing the causes of time theft is beyond the
scope of this paper (see Atkinson 2006; Henle et al. 2010; Ketchen et al. 2008; Martin et al. 2010).
breaks on unproductive activities. Most of this research, however, concentrates on white-
collar workers and the consequences of “internet deviance” in the workplace (also known
as “cyberloafing,” non-work-related internet activity, personal web use, etc.—see Kim
and Byrne 2011 for a discussion of different conceptualizations). Similar to other aspects
of time theft, internet deviance is said to be highly problematic for organizations. For
example, researchers suggest that the vast majority of (white-collar) workers spend some
time during the workday and that surfing the internet can decrease worker productivity by
as much as 40% on a daily basis (Lim and Teo 2005; Verton 2000).5
Time Theft and Management
Overall, the literature is consistent in its portrayal of workers’ and managers’
interests. Workers are often described as both willing and unknowing time thieves while
employers and management are painted as completely against time theft. Management in
particular is said to bemoan the loss of productivity from time theft (Lim and Teo 2005),
and managers are often tasked with the responsibility for figuring out ways to eliminate
these activities (Ketchen et al. 2008; Martin et al. 2010). As Coker (2011: 239) writes, in
reference to workplace internet leisure browsing (WILB), “The incongruence between
employers’ and employees’ views on the acceptance of WILB creates a conflict of
interest in the workplace. While workers believe they should be allowed to WILB,
management believes they should not be allowed.”
Despite the consensus, the assumption that managers are completely against time
theft is rarely tested. Indeed, it is unclear to what extent actual managers problematize
5 In contrast, a growing body of research also suggests that, like formal breaks, informal breaks can benefit
workers and organizations, especially cyberloafing activities (Coker 2011; Oravec 2002). As Oravec (2002:
63) argues, “Allowing for reasonable and humane amounts of online recreation (during work hours) can
indeed have considerable advantages,” including decreased levels of stress and increased problem-solving
ability.
time theft activities. Most research simply highlights the extent to which time theft exists
and discusses ways of eliminating it; however, researchers have yet to actually
investigate empirically how managers feel about, and make sense of, time theft. The few
researchers that do mention managers feelings speculate that managers may not police
time theft because they want to avoid conflict with employees or do not want to be seen
as hypocrites because they also participate in these activities (Ketchen et al. 2008), and
rarely do researchers suggest that managers may actively tolerate, or even encourage,
time theft (for an exception, see Verton 2000).
This is surprising given literature suggesting that management may actively trade
“compliance or obedience in certain areas at the cost of tolerating disobedience
elsewhere” in order to ensure the organization runs smoothly (Sykes 1958: 56—see also,
Anteby 2008; Burawoy 1979). For example, Morgan (1975) describes workers often
returning from break late or “preparing” for break by slowing their pace and inching
closer to the door. Morgan argues that management tolerated these practices because they
kept worker morale high and gave management leverage to ensure that workers
completed their tasks efficiently. Thus, rather than police time theft, it is possible that
managers may actively tolerate and encourage it to ensure that overall production levels
remain at a satisfactory level.
To address this gap, I consider how managers think about their employees’ time
theft activities and how their own experiences and positions shape their understandings.
Ultimately, my analyses reveal that managers are not monolithic in their feelings about
time theft. While some managers actively seek to thwart time theft, others are more
ambivalent about it and/or actively encourage their workers to take a little time to
themselves in moderation.
Data and Method
The data and analyses offered here are based on 21 interviews with managers (i.e.
both mid- and upper-level workers with supervisory power) across a variety of industrial,
service, and professional workplaces. I recruited and conducted these interviews between
January and December of 2012 as part of a larger, ongoing project investigating the
experience, use, and negotiation of time among workers and managers. All managers
who supervised at least one subordinate worker as part of their job description qualified
to be included in the study and I recruited study participants mainly through network
referrals since attempts at on-street solicitation were most often met with refusals. Indeed,
the managers I attempted to recruit in-person worried that their participation would
somehow get them in trouble with their company, despite my assurance that their
participation was confidential. In contrast, my relationship with my network contacts
helped establish a sense of security and legitimacy that helped respondents feel more at
ease about participating.
The interviews lasted on average an hour and a half. All of the managers
participated voluntarily without promise of incentive, and I assured everyone that their
identities and responses would remain confidential. I digitally recorded the interviews
with participants’ permission and transcribed them, assigning all managers pseudonyms.
Of the managers interviewed, seventeen identified as white, while three identified as
Black or African-American and one identified as Latino. The average age of the
respondents was 37 (ranging from 21 to 54) and eight interviews were with women while
thirteen were with men. A little over half of the respondents reported receiving a
bachelor’s degree or higher while the remaining managers all reported some college
experience. Twelve worked in low-level service industries like retail or food-service,
three worked in industrial or factory settings, and six worked in professional or white-
collar workplaces. For more detailed information on the managers, including their rank in
the organizational hierarchy, see Table 1.
I began this project with a general interest in managers’ and workers’ experiences
of, and conflict over, break time. Initially, I told the managers that I wanted to hear about
their daily work experiences and challenges, broadly defined, both as a worker (i.e. with
their own set of tasks) and as a supervisor of employees. I provided more details in
follow-up correspondence, informing managers that the interview would also focus
specifically on how they deal with time-related issues (e.g., whether they have break or
down time; how they manage their employees’ time). Each semi-structured interview
began with descriptive questions about the interview respondent’s workplace and position
in an effort to understand a typical day in the life of each manager. From there, topics
ranged from what they liked and disliked about their current position and what they saw
as the most challenging aspects of their job, to questions about how they managed their
own and their employees’ time throughout the day. During the latter set of questions,
respondents often spontaneously brought up their feelings about the use and abuse of
informal breaks at work. If respondents were not forthcoming, I typically asked a
question like, “How easy or difficult is it for you to keep workers on task throughout the
day and why?”
Overall, I approached these interviews with a broad interest in how managers
manage their own time and the labor time of their employees, but I relied on inductive
coding methods associated with grounded theory to identify themes and patterns in the
interviews (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). I conducted several
readings of the transcripts and field notes I wrote immediately following each interview. I
then coded the interview data using Atlas.ti qualitative analysis software, writing memos
to define and elaborate initial coding categories. As the analysis developed, I focused my
coding by discussing, comparing, and combining coding categories (Strauss & Corbin,
1998). For this analysis, I identified passages where participants described their views on
break time at work, and passages where they described monitoring the time use of their
employees. I paid close attention to passages where participants described whether they
took time away from productive activities at work and how they felt about and dealt with
employees who may also participate in nonproductive workplace activities. While I make
no claims of generalizability due to my non-random sample, I believe the study provides
important insights into the study of time theft and the functions and dysfunctions of
nonproductive time at work.
Managers Talk About Time Theft
Most of the managers and workers I interviewed worked in companies that had
some degree of formal policy written down about lunch time or break periods and all but
one of the managers I interviewed reported allowing their workers to take these breaks.
This was especially true for managers and workers in blue-collar and service industries
who often lived in states or worked for companies where violating break policy could get
the company in trouble. As Bella, a shift supervisor in a retail clothing store, reported, “A
minor has to take a break. We will get fined if they don’t take the half hour break after
four hours. So that definitely has to be done.” Similarly, when asked a question about
informal break opportunities, Hilda, a pharmacy manager, frantically backtracked:
Well, you mean as far as other breaks besides lunch? (Yeah). Yeah, that’ll be kind
of determined based on the work flow. Um, but I don’t want you to think we ever
tell people that they don’t get lunch because, oh my God. We’d have to deal with
the union and all kinds of craziness. That doesn’t happen. Everybody is entitled to
that and gets it no matter how busy it is.
Overall, most of the managers, regardless of setting, thought formal break time
was beneficial to their workers and the company. Edith, a compliance manager in the
real-estate industry, reported: “My own management philosophy is that you need to take
a lunch and I kind of push that down to my associates, at least a half hour. I think it’s a
performance issue. I think you can’t sit at a computer for nine hours a day without taking
a lunch.” Similarly, Lou, a retail store manager, echoed Nelson’s comments: “Good
workers are happy workers when they get their breaks. So it’s important to give them to
them.” In contrast to formal breaks, however, the managers I interviewed had varying
opinions about allowing informal breaks at work. I turn to this discussion below.
Eliminating and Allowing Time Theft
Consistent with the time theft literature, my interviews with managers revealed a
regular pattern of time theft at work.6 When asked why this occurred, managers,
especially ones from retail and service settings, often attributed the behavior to immature
6 The few interviewees that reported not taking informal breaks were usually either too busy or locked into
their positions. As Kristina, a former cashier turned shift supervisor discussed the possibility of taking an
informal break: “I could duck behind the counter but it wouldn’t be very effective. So no, there’s no getting
out of work.”
workers. Nelson, a retail store manager, explains: “It’s almost like babysitting, I have to
babysit some days. Because people just don’t want to do anything.” Similarly, Gwen, a
retail manager, joked:
It’s probably a weekly thing where…a couple of people decide that they’re not
going to do what they’re supposed to do…[And] there are some moments where
I’m like, aren’t we all adults? [laughs]…I’m like—you’re twenty years older than I
am, aren’t you way more of an adult than I am? What’s going on here? [laughs].
Edgar, the owner/manager of a catering establishment and restaurant, was the most
candid:
Productivity wise…I think that hourly employees aren’t motivated employees.
Need and want—well maybe not want—need to be told what to do because they
are unmotivated, uneducated, um, a lower part of the workforce I guess, you
know what I mean?…They’re going to sit down if you don’t tell them any better.
However, not all managers blamed an immature workforce for time theft. Lou, a retail
store manager, put the onus on managers themselves: “[Some workers] just get
complacent with…just walking around and straightening things when really there’s a lot
of things that can be done…And one way I avoid that with my people is I give them
constant list of things to get done throughout the course of the day.” Gwen also
acknowledged how the company’s scheduling practices could influence workers’
penchant for time theft:
If you staff the store appropriately, it doesn’t matter if you have a thousand
customers walk in at the same time, if you’ve got the right people there, it’s not
going to feel like it…When the schedule’s right, all that other stuff kind of falls
into place and people don’t feel like they need to run off some place to hide and
breathe for a moment.
Whatever the cause of time theft behavior, I expected the managers I interviewed to be
avidly against the practice—especially given the time theft literature’s emphasis on
losing millions of dollars due to unproductive time (Lim 2002). While this was the case
for a few managers, others were largely ambivalent towards time theft and some
managers seemed to encourage it in moderation.
“I Keep Them Hustling…”. Contrary to the assumptions of the time theft
literature, only a small minority of the managers I interviewed thought informal breaks
were detrimental to the organization. These managers were determined to ensure that
workers made the most of their time at work. For retail and service managers, this
seemed largely the result of payroll pressures that often forced them to run a tight ship.
Indeed, almost every retail and food-service manager reported that “payroll” was one of
their biggest problems. As a fast-food store manager, Andrew’s response was typical,
“It’s hard to run the labor they want and still provide the service they want.” Jordan, a
retail store manager, echoed: “The company’s payroll expectations really make my life
difficult.”
Yet, at the same time, as Jessica, a retail store manager, reported: “Payroll is our
number one most controllable expense.” As such, these managers explained that if they
were diligent enough in keeping workers on task, they could reduce labor costs. As
Andrew brags, “I keep them hustling on my day shifts. I keep everybody moving [so]
when there’s not much to do I can start cutting people.” In Jessica’s words:
As a manager, that is my number one priority….My job, my biggest job of the
day is walking around my store and just saying ‘Hey what are you working on?
Hey what are you doing? How much longer till you finish this?’ Because then that
puts to them, really the sense of urgency, and when I assign them a task I do give
them a time expectation…And then that’s going to save me money at the end of
the day because I didn’t have to call in someone extra to do all that work.
In their minds, these managers had a large incentive to eliminate workers’ informal
breaks to maximize payroll and save money. By eliminating time theft, managers
potentially made their payroll issues less problematic.
Outside of service and retail, the managers I interviewed seemed much less likely
to keep a watchful eye out for employees taking informal breaks. However, some
exceptions existed. Nikoli, a shop manager in an engineering firm, described himself as
laid back with the employees he supervised but recounted a story of his previous boss:
We used to call it the hairy eye ball when my boss would creep out of his office…
He pretended to…look at a computer or something but at the same time he was
just keeping a secret eye on everyone on the floor. Making sure they weren’t
slacking off or anything…If I took a quick lap with my engineer…he would come
rushing over and say ‘Hey hey hey what are you doing? Why aren’t you getting
this done? What’s this project doing?’…He would just attack you like a wild
wolverine.
Edith, a compliance manager in the real-estate industry, recounted a story about workers
clocking out early at the end of the day:
The one area that I think people tend to abuse, which drives me a little bit crazy,
is the time clock…It used to be that we actually had a clock that they would
punch and for some reason…you can punch out seven minutes before the hour
and it will bring you up to the hour. So people were punching out seven minutes
early and so what I did one day is I put on a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses and sat
in a beach chair by the clock. And, did that for two days, and then nobody was
punching out early. Because they didn’t realize—I mean when you do the math,
and you see how much time that is, it translates into dollars that we’re not getting
a service for. You know?
The company ultimately fixed the issue by implementing a new time keeping system so
Edith rarely worries about unproductive workers now. However, Edith, along with
Nikoli’s old manager, believed that unproductive time could add up and cost the
company dearly.
“As Long as the Job Gets Done…”. Surprisingly, however, the majority of
managers I interviewed did not view informal breaks as a major issue. Most often, the
managers I interviewed displayed a high level of ambivalence or indifference towards
time theft. For example, Edgar, the owner of his own catering service and restaurant,
exclaimed:
I mean there’s a lot of goldbricking going on you know, for instance I [recently
had an] inspection, [and the inspector asked] ‘Do these employees get breaks?’
And I bust out laughing. And I said well look around right now, while we’re
sitting back here talking, two of them are sitting up there watching television
[laughs], one’s outside smoking [laughs]—I said ‘Get breaks? It’s more like, do
they do any work? [Edgar laughs, pauses, and then shrugs his shoulders]
Whatever.
While Edgar may see his workers’ break habits as more comical than detrimental, when
asked if his business was being hurt by the goldbricking, Edgar admitted that he could
probably be more profitable if he was stricter with his employees. However, he
continued: “Well you know, I got people in place that I think will at least half-ass do the
job you know what I mean? So, you know, most of them are good. Pretty good.”
Ultimately, Edgar displays a high level of ambivalence towards time theft
(“Whatever”) even if correcting the issue might lead to greater profit. Perhaps this may
be because of the “type” of workers he describes employing (e.g., “a lower part of the
workforce”), workers who he says will inevitability steal time. However, it may stem
more from how Edgar imagines an ideal boss should be: “I’m not a whip cracker or a guy
that’s always pushing pushing pushing…I know I don’t want somebody breathing down
my neck all the time and so I feel that my employees probably feel the same way.” Other
managers were lenient about informal breaks for the same reason:
I don’t want to be a [the interviewee growls/barks] in your face kind of manager. I
had that past experience and I didn’t like it. I’m more laid back. (Kristina, shift
supervisor, entertainment)
A lot of senior managers come from outside the company…but they don’t have a
true understanding of what it takes to produce something or to complete
something as well as an employee does. Me coming up through those ranks, I’ve
seen it, I’ve lived it, I’ve felt it. So as a manager I have a better understanding that
these things do occur. (Alvin, inventory and compliance manager, production)
Yet, there is also a sense of “satisficing” implied by Edgar’s comments (Perrow
1986)—an acceptance of sub-optimal performance, as long as a satisfactory level of work
is completed (as he said, the work is at least “half-assed”). Even Edith, who recounted the
story about sitting in front of the time clock, explained: “If I don’t notice it, if you’re
taking a little bit extra time but the work is still getting done, it’s probably not a big deal.”
Indeed, most of the managers echoed this refrain:
As long as my time expectations get done, or whatever job that needs to be done
or can get done faster, I don’t see any problem with anyone you know just taking a
minute, taking five minutes, just to have a quick conversation on a personal level.
(Nikoki, shop supervisor, engineering)
As long as you get your job done, you know, I don’t mind the breaks. You playing
a game on your computer, surfing the internet or whatever, I don’t complain about
that. (Charlie, sales and rate manager, shipping)
Managers in retail and service settings also seemed to think the occasional theft of time
was acceptable. Lou, a retail store manager, explained:
I kind of put up with it, I think it’s just depending on who it is and how often it
happens…if someone’s been here for six or seven hours already and they just
want to, a quick, clear their mind for a second…chat with an associate for two
minutes…then I don’t have a problem with that.
Ultimately, while workers may not be working to their fullest extent, they are completing
an acceptable amount of work in the managers’ eyes. Indeed, it may not be worth the
aggravation or potential conflict to eliminate workers’ time theft completely. As Alvin, a
compliance manager in manufacturing, remarked, “[If you allow it to happen], you’ll get
a better response from your employees.” In other words, Alvin believed that the workers
would become more committed to the organization overall if some leeway was granted
regarding time theft activities.
The managers’ projected nonchalance over informal breaks could also stem from
the fact that most of the managers believed abuse was rare and anecdotal. Bella’s
response was typical: “I mean it’s not a lot of employees that waste time.” Similarly,
Edith reported: “I think it’s something that actually just happens once in a while. Once it’s
addressed it seems to go away…Occasionally someone just needs a reminder…[and] you
just deal with it and you move on.” While these interviewees may be playing down the
extent of the problem, the managers were quick to point out that abuse, if it did occur,
was easily remedied. Indeed, some managers reported that they never allowed time theft
to get out of hand because, at the end of the day, they had the power to dismiss the
workers. As Lou, a retail store manager, explained: “You simply just address it and if it
continues to happen then you no longer need the services of that person.” Similarly,
Nelson, a retail store manager, stated:
If you’re abusing your breaks…you’re abusing lunches, stuff like that—eventually
it catches up to you. When we build the schedule…we can go in and change the
schedule and adjust this and that…[so] if you’re…for lack of a better way to put
it, a waste of my payroll, you’re not going to get that much of my payroll.
Thus, the managers had the power to address the issue if it ever got out of hand by either
limiting that person’s hours or removing them altogether. While this may create costs for
the organization in other areas (e.g., the cost of a new hire), the managers’ control over
who stays and who goes may contribute to thinking about time theft as a non-issue.
Finally, beyond ambivalence and satisficing, some managers actually believed
time theft was beneficial to workers and the company (in moderation). Informal breaks
acted much in the same way formal breaks did—to allow workers an opportunity to
energize and refocus, or even create a better working environment through camaraderie
building. As Vicki, the Vice-President of a non-profit, suggests:
Throughout the day, at any point and time I might just stop and start chatting with
someone for five or ten minutes and that’s pretty common for just about
everybody in the office. (So that’s allowed?) Yeah. And nobody takes advantage
of it. You know, five or ten minutes and that’s it. We know, ok, everybody’s got
stuff to do so let’s move on…[It helps to create] a social aspect to the relationship
you have with your colleagues…It’s not just straight business that you know, we
realize people are people, everybody’s got personal things going on.
Similarly, Alvin, an inventory and compliance manager, explained: “Yeah, that’s
perfectly okay, because…it enhances your work environment if you can just open up and
talk to someone about common interests…It builds a family environment.” Thus, in sum,
contrary to the assumptions in time theft literature, the managers I interviewed expressed
a range of opinions about employee time theft suggesting that the issue is far more
complex than a dichotomy between deviant employees and frustrated managers.
Discussion and Conclusion
Time theft, or unauthorized moments when employees are not working while on
the job, may cause conflict between employers and workers. On one hand, employers
have an incentive to keep this unproductive time to a minimum and may seek to limit the
number of breaks workers take per day. On the other hand, research and popular media
often tout the benefits of breaks for workers and ultimately the organization.
The question thus becomes, how much do employers problematize workers’ time
theft? If the time theft literature is to be believed, time theft (in the form of extra breaks,
personal computer use, or personal conversations with coworkers) costs companies
billions of dollars annually and is a serious problem that management seeks to eliminate.
However, my analysis highlights how concerns with time theft in the literature may be
overstated. While some managers may be concerned with maximizing productivity and
eliminating time theft, other managers are ambivalent or actively encourage their workers
to be unproductive in moderation. Indeed, the managers had a variety of reasons for
policing or allowing time theft. For some, payroll pressures often encouraged managers
to ensure that their employees made the most of their work time. In contrast, other
managers expressed a nonchalance or ambivalence regarding time theft because the
workers still completed their work in a satisfactory fashion or because the managers had
the ultimate power to remove any workers that they thought were abusing their time
privileges. Finally, some managers actively encouraged workers to take some time to
themselves in order to create an overall better working environment.
This study is not without its limitations. First, while I have attempted to interview
managers from a variety of workplaces, my sample does not systematically represent
variation in managing experiences. Thus, I cannot generalize my results to the entire
population of managers; my findings suggest patterns that may be found in the wider
population. Second, my definition of time theft does not encompass the full range of time
theft activities. It could be that managers are consistently concerned with more serious
activities like buddy punching or taking excessive amount of sick days and future
research should investigate managers’ feelings about these activities as well. Third, my
data represent the perceptions and opinions of one high ranking member within a given
organization, which may limit my ability to understand the nuances and dynamics at play
in these workplaces. Observations at each workplace or interviews with other managers
and employees may have provided me with a more complex picture than the one my
respondents reported from their unitary vantage point. For example, employees may
reveal that time theft occurs with more regularity than the managers know exists.
However, it is plausible that workers may actually help managers detect and police time
theft activities, especially if a coworker’s time theft affects another worker’s ability to get
their job done. This is an empirical question for future researchers to answer.
Additionally, while I did interview a few highly-ranked managers (e.g., a vice-
president of a non-profit, an owner of a restaurant), interviews with other high-ranking
officials in these organizations may also reveal patterned bias against time theft activities.
Indeed, more interviews may suggest that owners and managers have distinct opinions
about time theft activities. On one hand, owners may better understand the overall
organizational costs of time theft and thus desire to eliminate time theft completely. At
the same time, however, higher-ranking officials may not understand the potential effort-
bargain negotiations that are necessary on a daily basis in order to keep the businesses
running smoothly (Sykes 1958). In this sense, allowing time theft in moderation may
minimize conflict with employees and allow managers to secure a satisfactory level of
productivity. In other words, allowing time theft in moderation may simply be a cost of
doing business.
Overall, my study adds to the literature on time theft and breaks by investigating a
commonly held assumption about management’s feelings toward time theft. The analyses
offered here can help inform debates about the pros and cons of time theft activities and
provide a sense of perspective to researchers who claim time theft has reached epidemic
proportions. Indeed, it is not enough to show that time theft occurs and estimate how
much it costs as past researchers have done, future researchers must seek to understand
whether actual employers and managers problematize the issue. By continuing to
investigate the actual opinions and feelings of managers and employers (and workers),
we can further understand the potential costs and benefits of time theft.
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Pseudonym Age Self-Reported Race Self-Reported Job Title (Industry)
Kristina 24 White Shift supervisor (entertainment)
Bella 21 White Shift supervisor (retail)
Charlie 42 White Rate and sales manager (manufacturing/shipping)
Hilda 27 White Head pharmacist (health)
Vicki 51 White Vice president of finance (non-profits)
Lou 50 White Store manager (retail)
Nelson 31 White Assistant store manager (retail)
Edith 54 White Director of compliance (real estate)
Nikoli 26 White Shop manager (engineering)
Gabriel 54 White President (computer support)
Jordan 27 White Sales manager (retail)
Marco 22 Latino Shift supervisor (fast-food)
Brandon 45 Black General manager (fast-food)
Gwen 27 White Manager (electronics)
Andrew 33 White General manager (fast-food)
Colin 44 White General manager (fast-food)
Sarah 38 White Sales manager (food-service)
Edgar 54 White Owner/manager (food-service)
Jessica 28 White Manager (retail)
Danny 46 African-American Manager (manufacturing/retail)
Alvin 40 African-American Inventory and compliance manager (manufacturing)
TABLE 1: Demographic Characteristics of Sample
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