Anyone here have to complete a timesheet?

[308GTB]

We have to complete a timesheet that is internet based and you have to account for 100% of your time splitting it as a representation of what projects you have worked on during the week and what activities within each of those projects.

There are literally thousands of projects and activities which you have to search for and I have just spent two bloody hours trying to find one activity code

Search results narrow the search down but still 13 pages!

Stupid systems takes approx 10 mins to load each of the 13 pages.

Good use of my time?

I gave up after 2 hours and stuck it down as admin (naff all to do with admin but what can you do).

Anyone else have a ridiculous system to fill in?

[staceyb]

Yup I work for a plastering company and all the jobs have different job numbers and I could be working on possible 20-40 jobs a day and everything has to be costed its a right pain in the ass.

[Jared_m]

I work on different customer sites quite often and they always have their own internal timesheet systems. These I have to fill in on top of my own timesheets.

If a timesheet is too difficult then I don't bother taking the time to select the correct activity, I select the easiest one I can find. Most of these systems are there to keep someone in HR in employment, giving them lots of statistics that they can go to their boss jumping up and down with saying how employees spend their time... Shame that they will see 37.5 hours of 'Admin' and 2.5 hours of 'Misc. Admin' per week for 8 weeks...

I have far better things to do with my time than spend hours filling out a timesheet. Like post on PH

[Munter]

We used to have to fill them out. But when we all put down 100% of our time as "wasted" they gave up asking...

[tomtom]

Yes, and I've already completed mine for the next 6 weeks

[lanciachris]

Yup. For the accountants its a pain, but thankfully as an IT developer its pretty straightforward for me

Work - Internal systems development. Type - Non-chargeable. Time - too bloody long

Job done

[bga]

I have to fill in my employers timesheet + client timesheet.

Previous job had 6 minute time units which was a PITA when working on multiple projects

[NST]

yep, thanks for reminding me!

[KITT]

You've just reminded me, I've got some sitting on my desk unfilled and dating back to July

Time to get creative

[308GTB]

NST & KITT, you're welcome -

[rsvmilly]

KITT said:

You've just reminded me, I've got some sitting on my desk unfilled and dating back to July Time to get creative

Bit like my business mileage claim then.

[Rob-C]

The rate of pay is the same for the dull/pointless tasks as it is for the demanding ones.

[Witchfinder]

Add an hour to your timesheet for filling in the timesheet.

[Plotloss]

They are bollox.

People start with timesheets and duly fill them in, this over time starts to slide and you find that 'filling the timesheet' becomes the very last task post pub Friday for the entire week.

Consequently they have little value due to being patently inaccurate and based primarily on guesswork.

Bunch of arse.

[MilnerR]

Done ages ago but worth a re-hash

5000 Surfing the Net
5001 Reading/Writing Social Email
5002 Sharing Social E-Mail (see codes #5003, #5004)
5003 Collecting Jokes and Other Humorous Material via E-Mail
5004 Forwarding Jokes and Other Humorous Material via E-Mail
5005 Faxing Jokes and Other Humorous Material to Friends not on E-Mail
5316 Meeting
5317 Obstructing Communications at Meeting
5318 Trying to sound knowledgeable while in Meeting
5319 Waiting for Break
5320 Waiting for Lunch
5321 Waiting for End of Day
5322 Vicious Verbal Attacks Directed at Coworker
5323 Vicious Verbal Attacks Directed at Coworker while Coworker Is Not Present
5393 Covering for Incompetence of Coworker Friend
5400 Trying to Explain Concept to Coworker Who Is Not Interested in Learning
5401 Trying to Explain Concept to Coworker Who is Stupid
5402 Trying to Explain Concept to Coworker Who Hates Me
5481 Buying Snack
5482 Eating Snack
5500 Filling Out Time Sheet
5501 Inventing Time Sheet Entries
5502 Waiting for Something to Happen
5503 Scratching Myself
5504 Sleeping
5510 Feeling Bored
5600 Bitching about Lousy Job (see code #5610)
5601 Bitching about Low Pay (see code #5610)
5602 Bitching about Long Hours (see code #5610)
5603 Bitching about Coworker (see codes #5322, #5323)
5604 Bitching about Boss (see code #5610)
5605 Bitching about Personal Problems
5610 Searching for a New Job
5640 Miscellaneous Unproductive Bitching
5701 Not Actually Present at Job
5702 Suffering from Eight-Hour Flu
6102 Ordering Out
6103 Waiting for Food Delivery to Arrive
6104 Taking it Easy while Digesting Food
6200 Using Company Resources for Personal Profit
6201 Stealing Company Goods
6202 Making Excuses after Accidentally Destroying Company Goods
6203 Using Company Phone to Make Long-Distant Personal Calls
6206 Gossiping
6207 Planning a Social Event
6210 Feeling Sorry for Myself
6221 Pretending to Work While Boss is Watching
6222 Pretending to Enjoy My Job
6223 Pretending I Like My Coworkers
6224 Pretending I Like Important People When in Reality They Are Jerks
6238 Miscellaneous Unproductive Fantasizing
6601 Running my Own Business on Company Time (see code 6603)
6602 Complaining
6603 Writing a Book on Company Time
6604 Planning a Vacation on Company Time
6611 Staring Into Space
6612 Staring at Computer Screen
6615 Transcendental Meditation
7281 Extended Trip to the Bathroom (at least 10 min.)
7400 Talking with Divorce Lawyer on Phone
7401 Talking with Plumber on Phone
7402 Talking with Dentist on Phone
7403 Talking with Doctor on Phone
7404 Talking with Masseuse on Phonev
7405 Talking with House Painter on Phone
7406 Talking with Personal Therapist on Phone
7419 Talking with Miscellaneous Paid Professional on Phone
7425 Talking with Mistress/Boy Toy on Phone (also see code #7400)
7931 Asking Coworker to Aid Me in an Illicit Activity
8000 Recreational Drug Use

[308GTB]

Plotloss said:

They are bollox. People start with timesheets and duly fill them in, this over time starts to slide and you find that 'filling the timesheet' becomes the very last task post pub Friday for the entire week. Consequently they have little value due to being patently inaccurate and based primarily on guesswork. Bunch of arse.

We have a global project management department who anal-ise all the time sheets and create "meaningful" statistic upon which they invest millions in making project decisions in meetings overseas

[t1grm]

Jared_m said:

Most of these systems are there to keep someone in HR in employment, giving them lots of statistics that they can go to their boss jumping up and down with saying how employees spend their time...

It’s usually for the accountants because your time gets automatically cross charged to different projects/departments according to what it was you were working on.

And yes it’s a right PITA. My current contract just requires me to indicate the days in the month I was in the office, which is easy, but my previous contract required me to allocate out my time in hours per task. I used to use my email outbox to fill it out as any task usually culminated in me sending an email to someone. So time that email was sent back to the time the previous (work related ) email was sent was the time spent on the task