More CNHI

I've often thought that if a company insists on controlling your off-the-clock activities, then you should be charging them overtime for that time.

"You are banned from posting on Facebook on your personal time!"

"But it's my private time. Why is it any of the company's business?"

"Because what you do reflects on the company."

"Very well, that'll be 128 hours of overtime that you owe me for this week. Since everything I do reflects on the company, you can pay me for that time."

"Ummmmm"

 

I totally agree.

 

As do I.

 

I don't know if it has happened yet, in newspapers or an other industry. But I'd really love to see some company try to enforce that and the employee sue. I'd love to hear how a court would rule and what sort of precedent would be set.

I know some professional athletes have clauses in their contracts that prohibit them from things like skiing, motorcycle racing and various other activities where the risk of injury is higher than normal. But those are negotiated contracts. I've never heard of a company being able to micro-manage the off-work activities of a rank-and-file employee. That strikes me as going a little too far, but I'd be interested to hear how a jury would rule.

 

Drip,

In all fairness, the line does get blurred. For many years, I worked as a combo reporter/copy desk editor. There were plenty of times when I'd finish my desk shift, come home, open a cold one and transcribe an interview tape or type out a story in my pajamas at home. Reason: it was just more comfortable to do it that way than it was sitting at my office desk with 20 people talking, phones ringing, etc.?

How did I manage those hours (I was hourly)? Usually at about 1/2 the normal time. If I spent 3-4 hours working on something, taking a leisurely break for a personal phone call or to see something on TV, I'd probably put down 2 on my time card. That way, I felt like the time "counted" and management couldn't come back with an inflammatory "well, you're sitting at home in your pajamas drinking a Bud". It seemed a fair compromise.

 

No question it gets blurred. However, you have to turn the reporter button off and be a person. I've had friends tell me that and I believe they had a point.

 

This is sort of how I operate. I will also monitor the scanner, partly because I find it enjoyable, and if something comes on that is newsworthy, I will go out and cover it, "charging" from the second the traffic indicating a newsworthy event comes across the scanner until I have completed the necessary work.

I typically will work on my furlough, however from home and mostly silently. I look at it as, I'd rather get it done right then have to hear about bitching when I come back from furlough from parents complaining about the hack. But I have to pretend I wasn't laid off because CNHI likes to keep that hush-hush. I actually mentioned it once online to someone asking, I was told by a supervisor to immediately delete it, kind of an "or else" deal.

As I stated earlier in this thread. I heard furloughs could be going away mid-year 2014, so I was going to begin having a positive outlook on the company. If a social media ban is really in the works, I suppose I have again been shown why I need to just keep my pessimistic attitude at all times, lol. And like someone else said...I can't wait until I get my first overtime check for all of the hours I spend being the face of the newspaper and having to hush. I will walk around with duct tape on my mouth...but son of a bitch I am going to get paid to do it.

 

In my dictionary, furlough means off day. I don't care what's going on. My phone is off the hook. I'm out of town. I'm doing me. You want me to work through the furlough?, I've got two words - PAY ME!!!!

 

fair enough, Drip. I can't imagine they would dare ASK you to do anything on your furlough day.

Hey, one day I posted a story to our website at 8 am on a Sunday morning. One of our FCS football teams was on the bubble of making the football playoff field as an at-large team. There had been plenty of discussion about this in the previous week(s), similar to how some people watch the NCAA basketball tournament selection day.

When we finished the section Saturday night, it was 50/50 as to whether they would make the playoffs, I was flying solo on desk Sunday night. Woke up early Sunday AM before church and checked the national web site, saw the brackets and typed out a six-graph story saying State U failed to make the football playoffs for the first time in 17 years and posted it on our newspaper website under a "breaking news" category. Easy and simple --- yet informative to readers --- and did it all in my pajamas from home. Gotta love the digital age....LOL.

 

Don't get me wrong, like many other dedicated dummies, I've logged personal time to get a story or do something work related. It's a case-by-case situation but generally, my time, is my time. Company time is company time. I try very hard to keep my personal life out of my business and vice versa. When you start blending the two, it can become a problem. There are times when working gives you a break from personal woes and there are times when personal time gives you a break from work problems.
This advice came from several "old timers" who passed it on to me as a young pup. Now that I'm much older, I truly understand their reasoning and thank them for sharing their knowledge.
Another piece of advice they told me was look around the news room. Look at the ages of those you work with. You don't see many "old" journalists. Those who are still around, who remember what it was like to type on a typewriter or take dictation by phone, sit down and listen to what they have to say. You might learn something.

 

Wholeheartedly agree with this.

 

Yeah, I understand this issue is a rather common one among people who write, and not just journalists. Writing seems to be a solitary craft, best performed in the company of silence, where one's thoughts flow into the creative process uninterrupted. Some of my best stories were written at home, alone, in the small, dark hours. But maybe that's just me.

I do see the advantages for both company and employee of being hourly (instead of salary).

I do wonder how people in other fields react. If someone is a police officer and notices a robbery in progress on his/her way home from work, do they turn a blind eye? That actually happened to one of my former colleagues on the news copy desk. Passed a house fire one night at 2 am on his way home, grabbed his digital camera and took some really good photos, did an interview and wrote a story for the website and following day's paper.