Timesheet / billing for general availability in lieu of a current task?

[northernladuk]

Thank you for your insightful reply. I guess I am looking to be "beyond reproach" if this gets audited. I have a pretty cushty arrangement, and the idea is to milk a cow; not kill it. That's the ethos i'm working to, anyway. Perhaps this is naiive.

Perfectstorm is on the right track but 4 hours work for 8 hours pay is a bit beyond acceptable IMO. It's not naiive and you do right to question it in your situation. The client won't be happy at all if it comes under scrutiny so I'd be looking to some how up the hours. Doesn't have to be 8 on the dot but more than half a days work for sure.

[NotAllThere]

How many hours actual work would you do if you were in the office? Hint - it won't be 8.5 hours. If you spend 50% of your time on task A, 50% on task B, then it's 4 hours on each.

You have to factor in "thinking time", coffee breaks, admin... I don't record anything in less that 2 hour chunks.

[bigrog]

Perfectstorm is on the right track but 4 hours work for 8 hours pay is a bit beyond acceptable IMO. It's not naiive and you do right to question it in your situation. The client won't be happy at all if it comes under scrutiny so I'd be looking to some how up the hours. Doesn't have to be 8 on the dot but more than half a days work for sure.

Thanks lad for your reply. My issue is not that i'm billing 8 but doing 4; it's more that i'm expected to do 8, but can only do 4, and therefore will only bill for 4.

My original question was badly articulated - my bad.

[bigrog]

How many hours actual work would you do if you were in the office? Hint - it won't be 8.5 hours. If you spend 50% of your time on task A, 50% on task B, then it's 4 hours on each.

You have to factor in "thinking time", coffee breaks, admin... I don't record anything in less that 2 hour chunks.

Hi NAT - this is a very good point. I've found myself accounting a task of 3 minutes, for example! Just not doable. In the office, i'll do much less work in much more time, for the very reasons you mentioned. Interestingly enough, i'm even getting a back ache sitting in the home office, as I just don't walk around as much as I did in the actual office itself.

I'll decrease the resolution of the time chunks into extents of around 1 - 2 hours. Good call.

[bigrog]

Is the time logging on each task a client requirement?

Hi Lady -- not an explicit requirement, but I am doing it to be beyond reproach. I converted from perm, and some ruffled feathers are already ruffling back in the office at the fact that I just double my salary, albeit out-going as I train my replacement.

[bigrog]

Do you log the time taken to log your time on the timesheet anywhere?

I love this suggestion - based on recursion alone and compounding "interest", i'll fill up to 8.5 hours every day

[bigrog]

Time to speak to your client and clarify the situation.

This is ultimately what I need(ed) to do, yea

[ladymuck]

Do you log the time taken to log your time on the timesheet anywhere?

This was actually a requirement in a company I was perm at back in the late '90's. The new online timesheet system was so awful that in order to track productivity lost on filling it in, they did ask people to log time spent filling in the timesheet. It was phased out after a while and the skivers were much upset.

[SimonMac]

This was actually a requirement in a company I was perm at back in the late '90's. The new online timesheet system was so awful that in order to track productivity lost on filling it in, they did ask people to log time spent filling in the timesheet. It was phased out after a while and the skivers were much upset.

I jest but I had a similar thing when a permie for West Yorkshire Police many years ago, once a year we have to track every 15 min period for two weeks

[PerfectStorm]

perfectstorm is on the right track but 4 hours work for 8 hours pay is a bit beyond acceptable imo.
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YANCOTBAC


Common practise in my experience.