Getting paid to do nothing

[MPwannadecentincome]

I go for option 2, bit of work, bit of play, bit of CUK

WHS - and is it possible to informally nosey around the team to find out more about what they are doing, even offering to help them - showing some initiative might go down well depending on the kind of environment it is and how receptive the team is to a contractor having a nosey around.

[Platypus]

On one contract 2 summers ago I had so little to do that I took another contract - and got paid twice for each hour of the day

[Mich the Tester]

On one contract 2 summers ago I had so little to do that I took another contract - and got paid twice for each hour of the day

You are Sir Peter Viggers and I claim my free duck house.

[NotAllThere]

I go to the pub at lunch time. That usually reduces my productivity quite naturally, and makes me feel quite unconcerned about it.

[Pogle]

I go to the pub at lunch time. That usually reduces my productivity quite naturally, and makes me feel quite unconcerned about it.

Doesn't it eat into company profits though?

[Mich the Tester]

Doesn't it eat into company profits though?

Yes, but if the food and drink's tax deductible, do you care?

[minestrone]

I my first cotract I got about 2 weeks work in a 9 month gig and used to go for a kip in the First Aid room after the daily pub lunch and hour walk around the park.

Finished my J2EE architect cert and some self training but you do eventually go nuts with the boredom.

I begged to get out the contract in the end which looking back was a bit insane.

[original PM]

Boreout strategies include:

Stretch your work strategy: This involves drawing out tasks so they take much longer than necessary. For example, if an employee's sole assignment during a work week is a report that takes three work days, the employee will "stretch" this three days of work over the entire work week. Stretching strategies vary from employee to employee. Some employees may do the entire report in the first three days, and then spend the remaining days surfing the Internet, planning their holiday, browsing online shopping websites, sending personal e-mails, and so on (all the while ensuring that their workstation is filled with the evidence of "hard work", by having work documents ready to be switched-to on the screen). Alternatively, some employees may "stretch" the work over the entire work week by breaking up the process with a number of pauses to send personal e-mails, go outside for a cigarette, get a coffee, chat with friends in other parts of the company, or even go to the washroom for a 10 minute nap.


Actaully looking at this the bold bit is eaxactly what they should do - management however then should accept there is nothing more for them to do an 'allow' the surfing shopping etc - what this means is then you have an employee ready in case any last minute work is needed.

I personally hate those muppets who put everything off, drag it out etc and then get caught with a last minute request (which they obviously complain they cannot do because they are to busy having spent the previous 2 days surfing the web)

But then not everbody will agree with me.

[Fred Bloggs]

I agree with that. At the moment I have a drawer full of documents ready for sign off. But I am waiting to hear if my contract is being extended for the next project phase of not. The documents are staying exactly where they are until they're asked for and I'm whiling away my days looking awfully busy. In the present market, it's self preservation. In better times, I'd have got the doc's signed off early and moved on before the end of the gig.

[Grinder]

Some years ago, project was placed on hold while a new strategy was worked out. We played Quake 2 on the office network all afternoon for 4 weeks. About the 3rd day in a bunch of other peeps joined in from elsewhere in the building. We never did know who they were.

Happy times!