is the employer obliged to provide work?

donkeykonky

Hi there.

I work in a production establishment that seems to be hard hit by the recession. Now I do genuinely understand that incresed productivity is required I'll do my share but one of the latest policies introduced is that I have to account for all of my 8 hr day in an end of shift report. Our Department (engineering) is responsible for machine repair. There are frequently times that we have little or nothing to do because all machinety is working fine. Waiting on work is not deemed acceptable in our shift log. Would it be fair to say that if I am obliged to account for 8 hrs work for my day then the employer is also obliged to provide me with sufficient work for 8 hrs?

D.

the_syco

donkeykonky wrote: »

one of the latest policies introduced is that I have to account for all of my 8 hr day in an end of shift report

Sounds like they're looking for ways to sack people. How about checking all systems every hour, and taking an hour to do so? Lots of paperwork for them.

donkeykonky

It would appear that way I agree but I would always have imagined the onus is on the employer to provide work for the employees.. which in our case doesn't happen.

D.

Karoma

donkeykonky wrote: »

It would appear that way I agree but I would always have imagined the onus is on the employer to provide work for the employees.. which in our case doesn't happen.

I can see where you're coming from, but unfortunately I don't believe so. Just fill reports with status checks of working machinery and make sure you're seen walking around: make the best of a bad situation.

Poof Lantern

Walk around with a clipboard monitoring the machinery(or pretend to) and just fill in the data sheet accordingly at the end of your shift.

gerrycollins

donkeykonky wrote: »

Hi there.

I work in a production establishment that seems to be hard hit by the recession. Now I do genuinely understand that incresed productivity is required I'll do my share but one of the latest policies introduced is that I have to account for all of my 8 hr day in an end of shift report. Our Department (engineering) is responsible for machine repair. There are frequently times that we have little or nothing to do because all machinety is working fine. Waiting on work is not deemed acceptable in our shift log. Would it be fair to say that if I am obliged to account for 8 hrs work for my day then the employer is also obliged to provide me with sufficient work for 8 hrs?

D.

I had this in a previous employment and it covered all areas including maintance of equipment as well as time spent on a product, if you moved or changed work bench you had to also put down what product you were working on. It was brought in to prove to customers the amount of time that was used for their product, again manufacturing, and to back up the price etc

in an enviromment where cost of a product is key they might be trying to calculate the price of work that they do per product or re calculate an actual output rate and value.

kittenkiller

From an employers point of view, if there's not enough work to keep you busy... bye bye.

They can't guarantee that all employees will be utilized effectively all the time, but should be obliged (to the bottom line) to ensure that each employee's productivity is assessed regularly and if someone's not used 100% of the time you're paying them for, they should cut hours or heads to make things as effective and profitable as possible.

I'd make up stuff to do pronto.