Upper management (who are the owners of the company) recently brought up that there are too many people going on the morning coffee run at a nearby cafe at once, and that it "disrupts the work routines" of other people. The group is usually 3-5 people, and today it was 6-7 that all went simultane...
The message was quite vague, claiming it was an issue brought up by some other unspecified team members. Perhaps it was because the group consisted of people from multiple different teams?
Added country tag. The coffee place is next door. Not sure what country you're referring to, but not being able to leave for any reason without signing something seems very unusual. I have yet to hear of a startup in Canada that does that.
How are breaks regulated in Canada? Are you "off the clock" so to speak? If you do that on company time, I can totally see why your managers are unhappy.
@xdtTransform in France as well, you would not be liable for "abandonment of post" for such motives, unless you are working under very specific regulation (army, some health sectors, ...). For white collar jobs, it's very common to see people leaving their desk for 10-15 minutes to go buy snacks at the local grocery store.
@xdtTransform If you're not too busy contacting unions yet, you can check in Belgium as well: unless explicitly stated in your contract, stepping outside of the office won't get you fired or even reprimanded.
@xdtTransform Maybe you can now supply 1 country where "abandonment of post" is something that exists.
You seem to think of laid back office work with flex time. Any other contract, "abandonment of post" is a serious issue and you all know it. When was the last time your bus driver just jumped out to grab a quick 10 minute coffee and let you wait? When was the last time the cashier at the supermarket wasn't at their post because they went for a coffee across the street? When was the last time you imagine a factory worker just said "wait, stop the conveyor real quick, I want to take a leisurely stroll across the street and get a coffee, anyone wanna come along?".
That's not how the normal working world works. Having a laid back office knowledge worker job has it's perks, and this might be one of them, but don't act like everybody has that privilege.
Discussion on question by Arthur: Bos…
Discussion on question by Arthur: Bos…