Time Clocks

[quogueelectric]

car chip

car chip

There is a nice funtioning obd2 chip that plugs into any modern vehicle which gives 300 hrs of recordable running time and monitors many functions ofyour vehicles. So if joe shmoe is beating the crap out ofyour vecicle you will secretly know. It records key on key off times and basically gives you the entire trip record like hard stops hard accelerations vechi9cle speed. Bottom line combined with nextel tracking for about 20 bucks a month youcan know with 2 different event recorders if your employees are beating the crap ou of your 30 to 50k vehicle. You will have to make the decision as to whether it is worth your agravation or not .

 

[ITO]

I am not sure I want to know any more about their work habits...

 

[Dominator]

Anyone here use a time clock for a job?

Specifically I am interested in a time clock for a larger project to be mounted in the job trailer, that I can connect to via a phone line to down load the time.

This is an experiment, I decided to try after I made the mistake of tracking some of my guys with the GPS on their Nextel. Don't do that, you don't want to know.

I would never work for you. I worked around some insulators and the boss use to track them via the same method...hahah

i guess you do what you gotta do.

Been in the trade for about 4 years and have yet to punch a clock or check it via a nextel phone..feels great

 

[iwire]

I would never work for you.

And why is that?

Do you have something to hide?

Keep in mind I have always been an employee, never an employer.

In my opinion if your taking the bosses money the boss has a right to know where I am (while on his dime)

 

[emahler]

I would never work for you. I worked around some insulators and the boss use to track them via the same method...hahah

i guess you do what you gotta do.

Been in the trade for about 4 years and have yet to punch a clock or check it via a nextel phone..feels great

the last guy who i know who publicly had that opinion.....turned out he was literally a crack addict who took is old companies van to the Bronx and sold all the tools out of the back and actually sold the truck for drugs.

luckily he voiced his opinion before he had a chance to do that to us...

 

[Double Edge]

turned out he was literally a crack addict who took is old companies van to the Bronx and sold all the tools out of the back and actually sold the truck for drugs.

That was one reason I began looking at GPSs on vehicles. A 9 year employee self destructed into drug and alcohol problems while we continued to give him the benefit of the doubt about ever increasing mysterious gas usage, flats, repairs and tool disappearances. We also had a truck stolen.

We tried the time clock in an attempt to take some of the police burden off the job foreman on larger jobs where most of the crew acts appropriately but one element always pushes past the limits on time but otherwise do their jobs. That's not fair to the ones who don't cheat the clock or the employer. The other solutions are to spend effort and dollars to ride them, pay them less wage if you can or replace them.

 

[DIRT27]

I don't think I would have any problem with a GPS on my work truck. I think the employer is paying you for your time and you better have a good explianation of where you are on there time. I have been on contract jobs not approved for overtime and worked late to finish a part of a project. I ussually cut out early another day to make up for this time. I alway log what day I worked late in my day planner and why I left early another day incase there is any question. I never give any of my time to my employer for free and I don't expect them to pay me for any time that I am not working.

On another note. A few years ago I was working for an electrical sign contractor where we built a lot of stuff in house. It was the worst shop I had ever worked for. There was talk when I was there about putting cameras in the shop to watch employees durring work hours. I think this is crossing the line. Its one the thing to know where you are but the big brother thing is a little much. This shop never had a problem with tools going missing or people cutting out early because we clocked in and out at the shop every day. It should be evident if the employee is working by what is producing and what he is producing should determine his pay.
BTW this shop had double the employee turn over of any shop I have ever worked for or even seen before the cameras were installed.

This is just my opinion take it for what it is worth.

 

[augie47]

clock/gps

clock/gps

as an inspector, my GPS is a godsend.....I can't imagine folks running service calls not having one.
Back when I was a shop foreman, I would have given anything for a "time tracker"....not to "check up" on my electricians so much as to get accurate time records. It was amazing and frustrating to try and do weekly time sheets with the inaacuries I knew were in them. I think any "time tracking" device is a good idea for the company, the employee and the customer, who eventually pays for the time.
I know a lot of great electricans who don't "cheat" the company, but, for some reason, can't keep track of time worth a damn.

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

I would never work for you. I worked around some insulators and the boss use to track them via the same method...hahah

i guess you do what you gotta do.

Been in the trade for about 4 years and have yet to punch a clock or check it via a nextel phone..feels great

It will not be long before this will change for you. There are so many ways that your whereabouts can be known, that you will not be away from that for long.

It should not be a problem for anyone who is doing the right thing though...

Note: There is one way I know of to "get around" this. Get your license, become the boss and then watch how you will become aware of how some employees can just reach in your pocket and take your family's money and livelyhood away from you.

 

[Bob NH]

I pay him for 40 hours, if he were working alone it would be a grin and bare it type of deal, but he is a foreman and should behave as a leader.

Now that you know the situation you should be able to determine from other sources that he is not acting like a leader, and discuss it with him.

If he is goofing off you can be pretty sure that those who work with him know it and are making sure they get their share of time off on your nickel. That might be why they are such poor performers. You might want to investigate the whole crew to see what it is costing you.

There are regular reports in the news of formen who are found to be running side businesses with labor and material from the boss's business. It usually makes the papers when it is public employees.

 

[ITO]

I would never work for you. I worked around some insulators and the boss use to track them via the same method...hahah

i guess you do what you gotta do.

Been in the trade for about 4 years and have yet to punch a clock or check it via a nextel phone..feels great

You plan on to walking into an interview and say you have 4 years experience, refuse to punch a clock and let them know you will quit if they check up on you?

Yeah…good luck with that attitude when applying for any jobs; it will probably work just fine, just not like you think it should.